Nanowrimo 2011 is Over

Nanowrimo 2011 is officially over, and once the flurry of dust and debris and clickety clackety has died away wrimos everywhere will be divided into two groups - those who did finish, and those who didn't.  Where do you fall in?

  I, sadly, fall once again into the "didn't" category. I have yet to win Nano, which some would say is a sign to give up.  I would say, or rather I do say, that that's not the point of Nanowrimo.  The idea of Nanowrimo, or at least my idea, is to encourage writing.  It's the kick in the pants, or a friendly competition with the yourself or others, that is the catalyst for your writing.
  Many of us don't succeed, and that's okay.  As long as it has helped your creativity, or you finally began that novel or memoir or screenplay that you've always wanted to, but never got around to, than I think Nanowrimo is a smashing success for you, 50k words or not!  I have a solid beginning for my story, with characters I don't hate, and some I do (but that's okay because their meant to be).  If anything, I can slowly type away on this, or I can put it away for a while, and then come back to it.
  This year was exceptionally hard for me, however.  You see, I'm going to be a father any day now (my daughter is due December 3rd) and I'm also an avid Gamer.  So in between preparing for our little one, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Minecraft I hadn't left much room for writing.  Now, I could have written instead of played games, which is what I should have done, but there's something to be said about consuming other media during Nanowrimo.
  Maybe reading that book, or watching that movie, or playing that game during the month of November gave you a break-through idea.  Maybe it even helped work through a plot problem, or create a character.  The other side to this coin is what happened to me; I simply didn't create because I was too busy consuming.
  So, as another Nanowrimo comes and goes, I tell myself that there's always next year.  And now, if you'll excuse me, there's a dragon that needs to be killed.