NaNoWriMo is over. It was long and arduous, with many pitfalls along the way, but I made it through. And how -- over the Thanksgiving holiday I was not only able to pass the 50K mark but I also managed to go 15K words beyond that goal, with a grand sum of 65,089.

This year was also the first year that my wife joined in the lunacy. She won, with a count of 51,548 words. I should point out that through the entire process she managed to keep ahead of my count by one to two thousand words daily, it was only at the end when I was possessed by sheer madness that I was able to pass her count. Congratulations to my wife! A win the first time around is no mean feat, especially when you're taking care of a fourteen month old during the day.

Congratulations to all the other NaNoWriMo participants. The site is reporting that there is a 19% win rate this year, which is pretty darn high. For those of you who didn't make it, don't despair. I've been doing this since 2003 and this is only third time I won... and my failures were miserable, miserable failures.

I'll be doing it again next year. God help me. Until then... comics!