Tag: life

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Marriage or Singleness?

Marriage or singleness? Children or not? Growing up, it’s been a question I’ve gotten a lot as I step out into the world to create a path of my own. I recently turned 18 and got a job. As such, this question is something that’s been on my mind more seriously than usual, as well as something I’ve been asked by more people than I’d expected.

Worldview

It really starts with my worldview. God is the center of mine. It’s Him I live for, Him who controls everything, and Him I trust above all else. Everything starts with the Lord. My goal in this life is to glorify Him. How that plays out from person to person, though, varies. For me, it’s loving with my life—being there for other people, showing compassion and forgiveness, being a light in the darkness. Of course, this mindset doesn’t dictate any particular lifestyle.

This life is temporary. Compared to the next—eternity—it’s but the blink of an eye. Soon, all of this will be gone. Jobs, money, fame—none of it will matter in the end. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste away my life on every whim and fancy that comes my way.

Jesus paid for my life with His. What He did is something I can never repay. It’s something I can’t even try to. However, out of the gratefulness in my heart, I live my life for Him, giving everything I have to follow the path He’s laid out for me—no matter how daunting it looks. The path isn’t clear. It’s blurry and hard and sometimes tedious. Every day comes with new choices of its own. In the moment, things may seem like a jumbled mess that I’m trapped in, but I do my best to live for the Lord. He’s planned everything out already; all I have to do is keep following.

So—marriage or singleness? My answer: I think the Lord will guide me. Things will happen in His timing. He’s got everything planned out, and I think He’ll show me what He wants me to do based on the open doors He gives me.

Preference

Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a preference as to how I spend my earthly life. If you’d asked me a few years ago, I would have easily said marriage. I wanted the traditional American life. A house. A husband with a good job. Kids I could stay at home with and homeschool. However, as I’ve grown up and begun to interact with the world outside of my home, that preference has wavered. I’ve seen all kinds of lifestyles, met so many different people, and lived in one of the most unconventional ways. I’ve seen how God can work through all kinds of circumstances. Every lifestyle has its own difficulties and joys. Each person fits differently into different situations.

And thus, things weren’t so black and white anymore.

Pros and Cons

Being the practical thinker I am, I first like to weigh the pros and cons of my options.

Marriage is difficult. Relationships are challenging. Children are a huge commitment. Out of the two options (marriage and singleness), marriage is the most difficult and probably most stressful option. It requires a ton of growth and sacrifice, and it isn’t a comfortable or easy path of life. However, there are many joys and rewards that do come along with it. It’s a life of extreme highs and lows.

Singleness is “easier” in a sense. There’s a lot more flexibility and freedom in it. If you don’t want to change or grow, there (usually) isn’t someone to push you to do so. There’s more control involved, and you can pretty much do what you want to do, when you want to do it. Your time and energy is yours to decide how you want to spend it.

Singleness

Getting a job has made me realize just how much of a blessing singleness can be. I’ve also seen how the Lord can use it for His glory. I have ultimate flexibility and freedom—at least something pretty close. I can work almost any hours, get almost any job in my area, and choose how I spend my free time however I want. I have the ability to make choices almost unhindered by anything in my personal life, and I’m able to choose who and what I prioritize.

Marriage

However, marriage is still something I hope for. I’d like to have a husband. I’d like to raise my own kids. I’d like to be a stay-at-home mom who homeschools, and I’d love to be a homemaker. And while marriage is on the plate of things I’d like to do with my life (along with having children), I’m fully trusting the Lord to guide me where He can best use me. My preference on how I live out this earthly life is with a family of my own. However, if the Lord has other plans, I’m up for that. Ultimately, I want what he wants, but I’m leaning slightly more toward marriage than anything else.

Living It Out

I’m not going to search out marriage; I’m not going to try to look for a partner. I’m trusting the Lord with His plan, and I think He’ll show me what He wants me to do in His timing. If He wants me to love with my life through work or friends, I’ll gladly do that. If He wants me to do the same through a family of my own, I’ll be more than happy to.

So I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not my decision. Yes, I have choices in my day-to-day life, but I’m not actively pursuing one or the other. I’m living by faith and trusting God with the rest. I’m trusting Him to draw out the path. No, it’s not very clear at times. No, it’s not always easy. But because of the love He’s shown me, I’ll follow Him to the ends of the world.

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Growing Up

For the past few years, I’ve had a nervous excitement about growing up. Freedom, opportunity, and decision all come with becoming an adult, and to most young minds, it’s something to look forward to. For me, it was definitely that. I wanted to be in control of my life. I wanted to know what it was like to make decisions for myself, control my relationships, have a job, do taxes, and pay bills. (I know, maybe I’m weird for those last ones, but I consider myself a pessimistic realist.)

Background

Trigger warning: If hearing about mental issues, depression, suicide, etc. upsets you, you might want to skip this section.

For the prior four or five years, I’d felt trapped in a cycle where I wasn’t able to grow. I woke up, ate, did school, and went to bed. On weekends, we’d do something outside like hiking or seeing someone we knew, and then the cycle repeated itself. I went through the week waiting for the weekends, then spent the fleeting weekends worrying about the week days. (I never enjoyed school. In fact, you could probably say I dreaded it. The days got even more tedious when I was put in charge of helping my youngest brother with his homework.) I was finding joy in temporary, worldly things. My joy was not in the Lord.

From the outside, I had the perfect life. I had two loving parents, traveled the country in an RV, got to visit all kinds of places, got to see relatives and friends in different parts of the US, and was homeschooled (ultimate flexibility). For many people, my life was their dream. And to be fair, there were points where I was genuinely, 100 percent happy. Sadly, however, that was rarely the case. From the outside, I seemed poised and put together. Inside, it was chaos.

It started off small—the “I don’t likes” of my new lifestyle. I felt plucked out of my prior, “stable” house life. I never knew when we’d move or where we’d end up next, and I hated not knowing where we were going until we were either driving to the place or already there. I missed the church we’d been at prior—even though I hadn’t really had any connections there. In fact, my first (and only, at the time) deeper relationships as a Christian pulled away right before we left for the road. That really devastated me.

However, it gets a lot deeper. I was a new believer, and I was struggling with my faith. Add on the conflicts of being the firstborn and a new teen (wanting more independence) and all the ridiculousness that comes along with that, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. My relationship with the Lord was not solid. At that point, I didn’t even know what being a Christian was supposed to look like. I was more on the side of “religious” than “relational.” I was so confused, as well as battling some personal issues, and I just wanted a loving, emotionally-available person to help guide me and talk through things with me without judgement. *facepalm* If only I’d been able to give that role to Jesus. But I guess that’s why I went through more than four years of the same trial. *heavy sigh* Eventually, I learned, but in took bringing me to rock bottom for me to finally relinquish control. I felt trapped, alone, and lost. Mostly just alone.

I’d say this was the lowest point in my life. I was crying myself to sleep almost every night, taking out my frustration and emotions in ways that weren’t healthy or beneficial to the rest of my family, and distracting myself from my problems with books and food. I wasn’t leaning on God. Sure, I prayed and cried out to Him, but I was mainly doing everything else listed above. I’m actually really surprised how important food became to me during that time.  It consumed my thoughts to the point that I was fasting to try to get rid of my addiction/idolatry of it, but in the end, I was treating a symptom, not the root.

There was a lot I was holding onto that I needed to let go of. I had so many bottled-up emotions and bitterness inside of me, and I had to learn to forgive…and forgive…and forgive. It was exhausting. It hurt. I was going through the transition of thinking adults know it all and I should follow blindly to realizing that I should actually think for myself; the Lord gave me my own mind and wants to have a personal relationship with me. He wants to know me, not some emotionless robot version of myself. There’s definitely a balance between taking the wisdom of older people and thinking for yourself, and it took me forever to find it.

I learned by trial and error. When I say it hurt, it hurt. My heart got broken multiple times. I was betrayed in my most vulnerable moments, and after years of irrationally expecting humans to react perfectly to my problems, I started to realize I couldn’t put my faith in humanity. (Lol this sounds depressing, but please try to get my point.) It took the Lord breaking me—many, many times—to bring me to realize that my trust needs to ultimately be in Him. People are going to fail me. Everyone is flawed. I need to use judgement in my relationships—no matter how close I am to the person—because the Lord is the only one I’ll ever be able to open up to fully and unabashedly. I need to take responsibility in every relationship. That includes guarding my mouth and heart and using discernment to know how to approach situation—not expecting the other person to act perfectly just because they’re “older” or “more experienced.”

It felt like the trial lasted forever, and honestly, it never really just ended. There were ups and downs and many plateaus. At times, things got so tough, I probably wouldn’t be alive if the Lord hadn’t protected me. I was so tempted to just throw in the towel and be done with everything. I think the one thing that kept me going was knowing that it would be dishonoring to the Lord if I did so. I couldn’t feel the Lord’s presence half the time, but I knew He was with me. Giving up would have been giving in to the devil’s lies.

Things got really intense over the course of maybe two years. I had a lot of false ideals and thoughts that I needed to stop fighting for, and once I started to surrender them to the Lord, things got way easier. About two years ago, my relationship with God really deepened. He became so much closer to me. Although I still struggled with things, my faith in Him became so much stronger, and He was able to use everything I was going through to draw me nearer to Himself. I began to see His hand in everything. Knowing He had me in the palm of His hand, even as waves thundered down upon me—being able to let go amidst it all and know He’s in complete control—was so relieving. Finally, about half a year ago, the Lord removed the trial.

*moment of silence for the Lord’s goodness*

Those years were so difficult. My faith and beliefs were tested in ways that almost killed me, but the Lord was steadfastly faithful. Even if I could rewind time, I wouldn’t change a thing. Because of that period of my life, I know the Lord’s love, mercy, and faithfulness in a way I never would have without going through what I did. He increased so much more in my life, and I decreased.

My Old View of Growing Up

Wow! That got really deep and personal 😅 I did not ever plan to write about that on my blog. It kind of just came out, and now I guess I’ll just leave it out there as a testimony to the Lord’s goodness.

Trigger warning safe spot (Nothing triggering here; welcome back!)

Anyway, now that we’re done with that whole story (which I hope can encourage you if you’re going through something similar), let’s connect it to how it affected my idea of growing up.

To start off, I wanted to grow up in order to escape that particular trial. I wanted control. I didn’t want to have to be in the vulnerable position I was in any longer. For me, growing up meant freedom. Freedom to find my identity in Christ—on my own (going back to the realizing I can think for myself thing). Freedom to manage my own relationships. Freedom to serve Christ in the way I felt He was calling me to.

As a realistic—and pessimistic—person, I knew growing up wouldn’t be easy. And it’s not. It’s not easy at all. Trying to figure out what you want to do with your life in the span of a few years—careers, jobs, families—is stressful. All of a sudden, there are a hundred different pressures on you that weren’t there before, and you have over a thousand options to choose from. It doesn’t make it any easier that basic necessities like housing and transportation cost a ton and are complicated attain.

(Note my use of past tense. You’ll understand why soon.)

For me, I knew where I wanted to be in five years. I had a basic idea of how I wanted to live, as well as several interests that I wanted to pursue. I had a goal, and I wanted to make sure I got there.

However, things weren’t going according to plan (my plan, to be exact). Circumstances dictated that I wouldn’t be able to do what I wanted to do, and because I wasn’t ready to let my plans drop, I was constantly worrying about my life. It may sound silly to some of you, but I was stressing about my possible future failures of measuring up to my goals, as if they were already happening. (One example of this is how I want to be a mom. I took where I was at, looked at my circumstances, and got depressed because things weren’t heading toward my goal.) As someone who is always pushing herself to do better, reach the next milestone, and keep climbing, I was putting a ton of pressure on myself to do things I wasn’t able to do in the moment. Of course, that didn’t help anything. It was all a very stressful, confusing ordeal.

The World

Growing up seems like something that most—if not all—young adults struggle with. It’s rare that I meet someone my age who isn’t worried about their life. In fact, I’ve even met adults in their late 20’s and early 30’s who are stressing about where they’re at. As time went on, and I saw just how many people were in the same boat as me, I started to realize something else—or rather, a question popped into my head.

How much of my fears and anxieties were from the Lord? How much of it was actually helping me to get anywhere? The answer to these questions were, one, none of it was from the Lord, and two, my worrying was getting me nowhere. Instead, all I was doing was hindering my walk with the Lord. I made things a lot more difficult than they had to be, and I caused myself to be hopeless and joyless, because of my despondent viewpoint.

God is in Control

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31–33)

Every human being on planet earth worries. It’s in our nature to do so. However, in this verse, Jesus says it’s what the Gentiles (“world,” when put into context) does. The world is anxious about every day. The world seeks money and food first above God.

In these verses, Jesus is basically saying to be unlike the world. Stop worrying about the future, and trust that He will provide for you. Now, of course that doesn’t mean sit at home and eat chips and watch TV all day. For me, this means that I need to seek to do the Lord’s will above all else, and He will provide everything I need.

He doesn’t promise it will be easy. He doesn’t promise I’ll have the time of my life trusting Him. We live in a fallen world, and as such, nothing will be perfect. It may very well be difficult and painful. However, my Lord died for me. I love Him above all else, and I will gladly do whatever He asks of me. Plus, He’s my heavenly Father. He knows exactly what I need. He knows what’s best for me. Time and time again, He’s shown His perfect love and understanding in the way my circumstances work out, and I’ll never be able to fully comprehend His amazing goodness. (Did that sound like a fried chicken ad or something? 😂)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

Perspective

So how do I live this out?

First of all, I need to be content. *sigh* Contentment is so difficult— especially when I have a list in my head of everything I want my life to be. I want to be a wife and mom. I want to live independently for a year or two. Right now, it doesn’t look like either of those things will be happening. However, circumstances can (and most likely will) change. As an author, I know how fun it is to throw plot twists at my characters. How much more will God, the ultimate author and writer of all our stories, but also a loving father who cares deeply for His children, do the same? I don’t think I’ve gone more than five years without something in my life drastically changing. It doesn’t mean I depend on the change. It’s just that I know anything could happen, and until then, I’m content waiting on the Lord’s timing.

I think contentment means surrendering to God’s will—putting Him first above my wants and desires. His timing and plan is perfect. I need to trust in full faith that He has me where He wants me at the moment. When he wants me to move on, He’ll show me the way. Remember how I said trusting Him to provide doesn’t mean sitting at home and eating chips all day? (I mean, unless that’s truly what you think the Lord wants you to do. In that case, go all in XD) For me, trusting Him means seeking Him out and following where I think He’s trying to lead me.

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

God stresses faith so much. Without faith (as stated above), it’s impossible to please Him. We were created to live for His glory, and thus, He shows His children how He wants them to live. Now, this doesn’t mean He has one set of rules and wants everyone to live cookie cutter lives. No, in fact, He has created so many diverse stories, and each person is unique, so that what one person does in full faith, another may not be able in faith at all.

For me, following in faith means being content with where I’m at now, and if He opens doors or opportunities for me, I’ll follow. If something unexpected comes up, I’ll take it as His way of telling me, “Here, I want you to do this.” Until He shuts those doors, I’ll keep going down those new paths and trusting that that’s where He wants me. He also works through my desires, and it’s kind of the same thing as the doors. I’ll pursue things, and if they work out, then great! I’ll take it as a yes. (Things like applying for jobs, for example. I’m didn’t wait for Pizza Hut to find and approach me with a job offer. I wanted to get a job. Thus, I applied and ended up getting it.) If things consistently don’t work out, I’ll take it as a no.

Conclusion

Learning contentment and trusting that God will lead me where He wants me to go has made life a lot easier. Instead of being anxious and depressed all the time, I’m able to trust that He’s working everything out. (Not saying I don’t worry; I definitely still do a bunch of that.) Ultimately, He’s in control. Even more amazingly, every time I give him more of my trust, He rewards it—whether that be in the small things in my daily life, or in the overarching story of everything.

The Lord is good, and the Lord is faithful. Things may not look perfect in the moment, but sometimes I just need to hang in there and wait for His timing.

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Same Interview, The First Year

same interview one year apart

After stumbling across famous people doing the same interview every year, I decided to steal some of their questions and do an interview of my own—in written form. Some questions are fun, some thought provoking, and others informational. I thought it would be a good way to self reflect, as we are coming to the end of another year. Ready to dive in?

How old are you?

17

What advice would you give yourself a year from now?

Keep going. You’ve got this, and even if you don’t, God’s got you.

What advice would you give yourself a year ago?

Trust the Lord. You may be confused and lost and hurt, but He’s working everything out for your good.

What's your biggest regret?

Not understanding as much as I do now when I was younger. I know that’s just the way life works, but things could’ve been a lot easier if I’d known more. (In all honesty, I don’t really have regrets. Mistakes are a part of life. Without them, there isn’t any growth.)

What is the biggest thing you've learned?

Trust in God. He has complete control over anything, and I really don’t need to be worrying all the time (not saying I don’t).

same interview one year apart

How would you define your style in three words?

Comfy, Black, Unusual

What is the most important thing in your life to you right now?

Serving the Lord.

Okay, I know that’s too basic of an answer, so here’s an alternative one: figuring out where my life is headed. I have many things I want to accomplish. I have many things I want to experience. I’m confused and all over the place, but I know God has already planned out my future. I’m just waiting for Him to make it clear what He wants me to pursue. On a more specific note, however, trying to finish my four WIP’s.

How do you define success, and do you think you've reached it?

People usually define success as fame, money, and power. However, that’s not how I see things. For me, success is having an impact on people’s lives—being able to change someone’s life for the better. I don’t think I’ve reached that point yet, and to be honest, I don’t think I ever can or will. At what point will I think it’s enough? God has called me to a lifetime of glorifying him. I think success is when I reach heaven and he tells me, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

What is one thing you're struggling with?

Relationships. Just…what are relationships supposed to be as a Christian? I know we are to serve, love, and uplift one another, but how does that play out in real life? Currently, all of my relationships (outside of my immediate family) are online. It’s a whole new level of challenging. You can’t do things together, be there physically for each other,  have in person, real-time conversations, or any of that stuff you normally do to get to know someone.  Plus, everyone is different. Learning to love each person individually is a learning curve and sometimes tricky.  There’s also a whole layer of stuff I’m not getting to, but yeah…relationships.

Biggest thing to happen to you this year?

So much has happened this year. However, I’ve got to say getting a phone. The internet has allowed me to grow exponentially in my writing and understanding of the outside world, and I’ve gotten to meet people I never would have otherwise. Getting a phone made everything way easier. It’s been so helpful to me both personally and in relation to my writing journey, and the connections I’ve made I hope will last for many years to come.

Do you feel pressure?

Yes, immense pressure. Mostly coming from myself. I’m really pushing myself to be in a specific place (both life and writing wise) by a certain time. I’ve been working on just laying everything in the Lord’s hand and trusting him with the process. However, as a very self motivated and driven person, I often pressure myself to get things done, taking the fun out of things. Again, this is something I’ve been working on. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about this recently, and I’m grateful for the amount of pressure He has lifted off of me.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

What's your philosphy?

The Lord is writing the world’s story, and everything and everyone is here for a purpose. Glorify Him in everything, and strive to do what you believe He is calling you to do.

What is a place you want to visit?

I’m not big on traveling (says the person who traveled in an RV for years). I’m actually a homebody, and the max “visiting” I like to do is going for day trips to do something out in nature. Thus, my answer is…a hike nearby?

How are you doing?

😃😫😭😜😟😬 Did that sum it up well enough?
Honestly, I don’t know how I’m doing. Stressed and confused are big ones, but there’s also excitement and joy. Life is a journey, and I’m definitely going through it.

What achievement are you proudest of?

I got an editor for my historical fiction book. That’s one of my proudest achievements, but then there’s also the fact that I did NaNoWriMo.

What is one goal you want to reach by next year?

I want to have a steady source of income by this time next year. I’m about 30% sure it will happen, though. Maybe even that’s a stretch.

Favorite memory from this year?

My time with my friend Maya (whom we visit about once a year). I love her. She’s a great friend 😊

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I Finished NaNoWriMo

I did nanowrimo 2022

I actually did it! In 23 days, I wrote 50k words of a brand new novel! It was a grueling, tedious process, but in the end, I’m happy with my progress. How was it? Let’s jump right into that.

Day One

For day one, I stayed up the night before writing blog posts and newsletters for the entire month of November. Once the clock struck midnight, I started writing. I was tired, but I managed to get 1.3k in before going to sleep. I finished the rest when I woke up.

I should also explain that I am a high achiever and like to push myself way too much. Thus, I set a goal of 2k words per day, just in case I ended up not being able to write every day. I also told myself I couldn’t count the thousands of words I was putting into my blog, job applications, IG, and emails. (Some of them were super long.) Spoiler alert: I wrote an average of 2k+ per day. I also finished on the 23rd instead of the 30th.

NaNoWriMo Writing

The first two weeks were probably the easiest. Spirits were high, the novelty was still there, and excitement was in the air. Over the course of 14 days, I got about 31k in—not at all bad for a first-time NaNo’er.

Then, the midway slump hit. Day 15 came around, and I was feeling really tired of writing (as opposed to just kind of tired). I was having issues with my outline, and I didn’t feel “into” my story anymore. However, I kept going through it day by day, reminding myself that I just needed 2k.

I did nanowrimo 2022

I Won NaNoWriMo

And then the 23rd rolled around. I never wake up at 5 am. However, morning came, and instead of seeing it was still early and going back to sleep, I decided to get up and write. Might have had something to do with the fact that there was only 3k left to reach my goal.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d finish NaNo that day. I’d spent some time posting on my blog and social media, as well as sending out a newsletter, and by dinner, I only had 2k (as opposed to the 3k I’d hoped to achieve). I then debated whether I should sprint to the end or save it for the next day.

I chose to sprint.

I was excited, and I was writing a good scene, so by 9 pm, I’d reached 50k. It didn’t feel real at first. I was only 40% or so through the first draft, so it also didn’t feel right. However, after telling a few people and looking at the 16 chapters I had in Google Docs, I felt somewhat accomplished. Honestly, it was kind of underwhelming. (Plus, there’s an outline situation going on, but we won’t get into that.)

My Experience + Burn Out

First of all, I knew what I was getting into when I jumped into the challenge. I knew it would be grueling, tedious work, and I knew I would probably get burnt out—and I did, to some extent.

However, I didn’t entirely get burnt out. Even though I’d done a more manageable version of NaNo a few months back (1.5k every week day) which made me feel dead afterwards, I didn’t get burnt out like before. Instead, I feel rejuvenated in some sort of way. And you know whom I have to thank for that?

1. The Lord. Obviously. Without Him, I wouldn’t have been able to do this (or anything for that matter).

2. The friend I did NaNoWriMo with. He’s been so encouraging and such a pleasure to talk to, and it made November a lot easier. Adam, if you’re reading this, thank you. I don’t know if I could’ve done as well as I did without you. You made every chunk of writing something to look forward to, and seeing your example of consistency throughout your (much crazier) life made me want to grow in that area…and just your less worried, more positive outlook on things. You’re writing style is awesome👌I can’t wait to see more of it!

3. Jessica (@a.faith.so.strong) and our wonderful email chats. The emails are long and sometimes go into great depth. Most people would be horrified by the amount of questions I ask, but Jessica and I have this in common, so everything works out perfectly. Love you, Jessica! *hugs*

4. The young Christian writer community on Instagram. I know some of you are reading this, so I’ll thank you again. You guys have held me accountable and made every day of NaNo exciting. You have cheered me on and celebrated milestones with me, and on those days when I felt like giving up and going to sleep, I knew I had to update my word count, and it couldn’t look pitiful😜

5. And of course, my family. They tried to give me as much time as possible for my writing. Even when I was feeling stressed out and grumpy from difficult writing days, they were kind to me and gave me my space. Thank you, guys.

Conclusion

In conclusion, NaNoWriMo was stressful, tedious, and sometimes tiring, but every day was filled with laughter, surprises, and fun. I’m thankful I took up the challenge. However, I don’t plan on attending again.

*remembers every time I told myself I was done writing, and a new book idea popped into my head and nagged me until I wrote it*

If you did NaNoWriMo, how was your experience? Did you reach your goal? Tell me in the comments, because I’d love to hear about it!