I just got an online award/certificate

If you've ever done NaNoWriMo you know that at the end they give you a blank online certificate you can edit and post on your site or FB or whatever.

I never actually won a NaNoWriMo challenge until this year. I was always too busy working. But this year, I finished the word count in 2 weeks. I verified my word count yesterday.

Once they confirmed I had over 50,000 words I got sent to a page with a video that told me I was a winner. At the bottom of the page was something like "Here's your award!"

It was a freaking blank online certificate saying I won NaNoWriMo. You know, like the kind marketers give out to people who buy their online courses.

I just kind of sat there staring at it. I mean I typed 50,000 words in a month. Big deal. I know people who can do 50,000 words in a few days.

But then, the more I thought about it, the more things just kind of made sense to me.

People like to be rewarded. It strokes their ego. It makes them feel accomplished. And handing out an online certificate is just like handing out a trophy to the kid who did nothing but showed up.

I didn't feel accomplished. I felt cheap. To other people this intangible fill-in-the-blank award meant a lot. But to me, it meant absolutely dick.

At least I didn't pay for it. :|

Think Ste just added you to the list of prospective candidates for a Seal.

That's lame, AI. Sorry to hear that

Cryogenesis said:

Think Ste just added you to the list of prospective candidates for a Seal.

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I think I'll get a Seal when hell freezes over.

Sherbert Hoover said:

That's lame, AI. Sorry to hear that

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It is super lame. I was so disappointed. I've been doing NaNoWriMo for years. This was the first time I won. I wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment, but all I felt was...meh.

Never heard of NaNoWriMo...

What do they with the 50,000 words you wrote?

What's the point of what you did?

I want to read your Novel. What genre is it?

OP upload it here, your site may have fucked you over but we won't.

Yeah Would love to read the novel!

I appreciate you guys being so sweet and supportive but I'm not sharing my novel. It wasn't meant to be shared. It was just something that I've always wanted to do. And now that I've done it I can check it off my bucket list. (Plus it's a fucking mess of typos, plot holes and run-on sentences.)

For those of you who don't know: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It occurs every November. It's a challenge for people to write a novel of 50,000+ words in a month.

I think I signed on with it in like 2008. Maybe even before that. I have done it every year since then but I never won until this year.

They don't do anything with the 50,000 words. You put your novel in a form to validate the word count. That's it. They do encourage you to publish the novel you wrote, but I'm not on board with that. For one thing, the novel is a straight up rough draft. During NaNo you ignore your inner editor and just write whatever comes to mind. It winds up being a real mess, but the point is that you get to 50,000 words. After that you go back and you edit and maybe publish it. Or finish it. Or let it sit there collecting dust like mine will.

It's a pretty big deal in the fiction writing world. I know that a lot of writing companies that sell software, online courses and other things, offer specials to people who participate in NaNo. Sometimes they will even give some winners publishing deals. I don't really know how that works, but it does happen.

I know quite a few IMers who did NaNo this year. I know my sister worked her butt off to reach the word count. :/ She was happy with her blank certificate and I was happy for her. She wants to do it again next year. I'll probably do it with her just to support her, but for me it's lost its pizzazz.