Over the course of November, there’s an event held for writers called NaNoWriMo: National November Writing Month. The goal is to throughout the month, write a novel at least 50,000 words which equates to 1,667 words per day. Upon completing this goal comes rewards from the official NaNoWriMo website and their sponsors, along with the bragging rights that you wrote so much.
I have never “officially” completed NaNoWriMo before, and the last time I attempted was during my sophomore year of high school. While I completed a novel, it was only 30,000 words rather than 50,000. Since then I haven’t had the time or felt motivated enough to try.
This November, I’m not sure what came over me considering I’ve been busier this semester than I have in my entire life. I guess I thought, “what’s one more thing?”
Instead of writing a novel, I decided to write a short story every day since my writings were usually longer in nature. I asked my friends for prompts, thought of them myself, or used a random prompt generator for inspiration. This experience would give me a chance to improve short story writing skills and make me not feel guilty if I missed a day since I could just start anew anyways.
Miraculously, I wrote every single day without fail. It became the first thing I did before homework, which came with its own consequences (but was still worth it). Though I don’t want to share the short stories as a whole, I found my favorite sentence from each day.
November 1st: The Bath
I let myself fall back into the water, in hopes I could live that vision one more time.
November 2nd: Stealing Wishes
He knew this child would change his life for the better.
November 3rd: First Date
“You’ve known him forever. He’s seen you in middle school, what could be worse than that?”
November 4th: The Enemy
With the electricity out and only one small lantern with batteries, they couldn’t deviate very far from each other.
November 5th: Death
“Honey, you’re imagining your friends again.”
November 6th: Sports Game
I ended up in this coffee shop, where I got a latte and sat at a table, eyes glazed over.
November 7th: Space
“Well, you started the sentence. You can finish it.”
November 8th: Feywild Thievery
He brought me here so we could talk, so we could make things right. And now we had.
November 9th: The Impact
She was too smart for all of us, and had big plans for her life.
November 10th: Blackout
All we needed were a couple zombies and this would be the perfect Hollywood movie.
November 11th: Underwater
Above the water was familiar. It was comfortable. And it’s what I’ve known.
November 12th: Citrus Grove
If I were going to give my grandma possibly her last piece of fruit in her life, then it had to be a good one.
November 13th: Achieving Victory
There was a single nod of the head, and Daven knew that this was a new leaf for them. That was a nod of understanding, one of acceptance.
November 14th: Constant Motion
I knew from the moment I laid my feet in the dirt that it wasn’t for me.
November 15th: Out of Prison
I just couldn’t believe that Bailey was the one who decided to stay.
November 16th: Last Train
I decided that if I were going to die, then it may as well be at a secret club in the Czech Republic.
November 17th: Hand it Over
They hadn’t signed all the paperwork yet, so the house was still mine. I couldn’t give it up.
November 18th: Snow Day
We were inches away from each other. If I lifted up my cup to drink from it, it would touch his face as well.
November 19th: Drying Off
For our parent’s sake, I’m glad that there was someone successful in the family so they didn’t think they failed their children.
November 20th: Kids in the Summer
Maybe I loved him too, but I never gave it any thought.
November 21st: The Staircase
The flashlight went out the moment it passed the doorway. I went back out, and it turned on.
November 22nd: The Talk
There was no way another Irish man would be out, looking for someone else’s house
November 23rd: There Was More
I would live my entire life either wondering why we were in here, or worse: killed before I even got to know.
November 24th: Aquarium of Thoughts
For the first time, I was grateful that she was with me and a lost stuffed animal was the least of my problems.
November 25th: Your Name
That’s when I realized I just said my real name. I had never done that before, ever.
November 26th: Switch
If they noticed something bad about our house in the first minute, they didn’t show it.
November 27th: My Prince
“You’ve been happier than how I’ve seen you your entire life, and that’s what you deserve.”
November 28th: One Night Only
The mime stepped over their bodies, opened up the door, and left the bar.
November 29th: Switzerland
Of course I was going to judge Dad’s girlfriends. Maybe I wasn’t capable of liking any of them, no matter how good they are.
November 30th: Grand Finale
Finding a scrap of paper and a pencil, I started to plan the beginning of the next “Grand Finale.”