How to Celebrate Your Writing Success

Photo credit: tseyin on Flickr

So it’s now officially December, which means NaNoWriMo has come to an end. While not everyone who participated and became NaNoWriMo winners completed a full novel (as 50,000 words doesn’t always equate to a full-length novel), chances are those that didn’t will be doing so in the next couple of weeks.

So for those of you who are NaNo winners or have recently reached another writing milestone (or even wrote anything at all in the last month)—Congratulations! You’re awesome.

Naturally then, celebrations are in order.

I admit that I haven’t had the best track record when it comes to celebrating my writing successes (namely, finishing a WIP), in fact more times than not I sort of let the event slide by quietly and celebrated by giving people hugs, not writing for a couple of days, then going back to work.

Now, while hugs are fantastic, I’m making a point of actually celebrating next time I have a writing accomplishment, and I think you should too. Why?

We deserve it. Whether it’s completing a first draft or a final draft or getting an agent or being published or a plethora of accomplishments in the writing world, you deserve it. Writing is hard, time-consuming work and you deserve to take the time to celebrate when you’ve reached a milestone.

Really. You do.

Then of course there’s the question of how. How do writers celebrate completing a novel? Or getting an agent? Or whatever writing milestone they’ve reached?

So I’ve decided to formulate a list of ways to celebrate so no one can claim they don’t know how. Excuses are no longer an option. You’ve been warned. (You’re welcome).

• Bake something delicious. Whether it’s Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies or Butterbeer Cupcakes or Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Swirl, make yourself a delicious dessert to share (optional) with your friends and family. Don’t forget to tell everyone it’s to celebrate how awesome you are. Or that you finished a book/got an agent/are going to be published. Either way. 


• Go out to eat. Maybe you’re not big on the baking or you set your kitchen on fire every time you step into it. No worries! Eating something yummy to celebrate is still an option if you go out to eat. Plus then you can talk about how awesome you are while enjoying your delicious hot meal.


• Throw a party. Hey, why not? This is especially appropriate if you just got an agent or a publishing contract or anything of the sorts. Throw a party—invite everyone—and make sure the cake says “Congratulations on being awesome.” 


• Do something fun you don’t normally do. Go to the theater and watch a movie (or a play). Or go ice skating. Or go on a day trip somewhere. Point is that you do something enjoyable and out of the ordinary so it’s a legitimate celebration. 


• Spend time with your family and friends. Chances are you’ve been kind of neglecting them since you’ve been busy with the whole novel-writing thing. Go out with your loved ones, spend some time with them and let them know they’re appreciated. (And you can mention how awesome you are—just throwing that out there.) 


• Read. I’m sure you have a couple of books sitting on your TBR pile (and if you don’t, go find some). Guess what? You have a little extra time now. Go read.


• Don’t write. Even if it’s only for a few days, take a little writing hiatus. Or at the very least don’t write anything WIP-related.

So it’s not a comprehensive list, but it should at the very least generate a couple of ideas. Now go forth and celebrate.

What do you think? How do YOU celebrate your writing accomplishments? Any ideas to add to the list?