December 2: just after the end

Well, yesterday marked the end of another NaNoWriMo, and the first year where I did not make it to the finish line.
Oddly, I have come to terms with this, for a few reasons:

1. I still have a novel out, and this year, I really do only have a couple of scenes - no more than two or three - until I can tie together the ending I wrote on the computer.  Altogether, that's better than what I've done in the past.  My first year's novel still has two bosses to beat, not counting the final boss; my second-year novel, I wound up adding a TON of stuff between the final fight and where November left me.  I'm more done than I have ever been at the end of November.
2. In all honesty, I wasn't as excited about this novel as I was with my others.  Maybe it was because I just didn't plan, and NaNo sprang up almost out of the blue - I have a lot of friends who were also doing it, but I lost track of time when I was doing other things to realize, "HEY! IT'S ALMOST NOVEMBER!  How about a plot?"
3. Speaking of which, it seems like an excuse, but business was a factor.  If you are a high schooler and you are reading this, then let me tell you: time management in college is a LOT different than it is in high school.  NaNoWriMo can be done - of the group I did NaNoWriMo with, and of the people that it was obvious would finish, I was the only one who didn't - but it is more difficult than high school.
4. after all, it IS my first year of college.  School is actually important - you aren't paying thousands of dollars to write a novel for free.

I still enjoy NaNo, and I still want to do it again next year, but I'm kind of glad I didn't finish.  Everyone has to have at least one NaNo loss, right?

Unless, of course, your name is Chris Baty.