It's over but it ain't over yet!

It's the end of November and the minutes are ticking away on the last hour of the official National Novel Writing Month for 2008. I "only" got 9,665 words written on my manuscript so I will not rise above the 'Official Participant' status to the winner circle this year but it is SO not over. What did I get out of my participation? I am officially a writer now - no longer merely an aspiring writer who talks about someday writing or one day I'm going to or any of the other crap I've been saying for 20 years. I am still going to finish my novel and one day maybe people will actually make a trip to a cash register or cart checkout screen with it in their grubby or even virtual hands, or download the eBook and read it on electronic readers everywhere. It is hard work and it is like having another job on top of all the other things you do - one that is like an apprenticeship where you do all this hard work and never get paid until the bitter end and then only if you are good enough to get hired. But I've come this far so why stop now. Look out world, I AM A WRITER! I AM AN AUTHOR!