Thiiiiis Close

Do you know what I love about horse racing (for those of you who aren't horse people, these frequent horse-related outbursts are normal with me.) I love the moment when the winning horse (or horses, as the case sometimes seems) cross the finish line. Now, there are a lot of things about horse racing that I don't like. The stress on the horses, the betting, the gigantic hats that look like Muppets posing on ladies' heads... Yeah. You get the picture. But that moment--that crossing of the finish line--that's pretty awesome. And there's nothing in the world to describe it.

See the picture I have so thoughtfully provided. Look at the joy. Behold the glory of a race well run. It's a moment captured forever for posterity by a skillful photographer's camera. You can almost taste the immortal feeling of triumph as that horse soars past the finish marker.

Now look in the background. See all those other horses? They are those often forgotten in the frenzy of the win. They are the losers. But we often forget that they were close--thiiiiis close to victory. But it just wasn't enough to get them across the finish line first.

As far as NaNoWriMo 2011 goes, I'm one of those horses in the background. I didn't make it across the finish line by midnight on November 30th. I'm still running along, disappointed that I didn't win, but pushing to cross that finish line nonetheless. I will cross it: I'm only 8,000 words away. I might not come in first place, but I'll come galloping across that finish line--eventually. We'll see how long it takes.

To everyone who finished NaNo, cheers! And to those of us that are still running--don't worry. We'll all get there someday.