#InkRipples: Hitting the Finish Line #amwriting

#InkRipples  is a themed meme hosted by Mary Waibel, Katie L. Carroll, and Kai Strand. We post on the first Monday of every month. If you would like to participate compose your own post regarding the theme of the month, include any of the images displayed on this page, and link back to their three blogs. Feel free to post whenever you want during the month, but be sure to include #inkripples when you promote so readers can find you. The idea is that we toss a word or idea into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There is no wrong interpretation.

Soooo, how did it get to be November? Yikes! It feels like 2017 just started. Really. But, it's been a good year on the whole. Lots of craziness with work and generally all kinds of stress, but what else is new? That's life in academia these days everywhere.
Anyhow, this month's Ink Ripples topic feels pretty appropriate for a variety of reasons: finishing that novel. Because it's NaNoWriMo and I know so many awesome people who are participating, it's all about hitting those 50k words, or actually finishing a novel. I love watching people manage this feat, and am always a little jealous of those who get to participate :) November is one of those months that's always insane with work and my mountain of grading, exams to give, and grants to submit don't allow for it to be a month that I can buckle down and get in so many words. But there's a lot to finishing a novel, no matter what, whether that be in NaNo, or just on your own.
Here's the thing, they are both going to require dedication and a whole lot of dedication. For many, that means writing every single day. I don't subscribe to that because, let's get real, not every day allows for that--life happens, and my life is downright BUSY, which I know many of you deal with too. But I do try to prioritize getting in some writing time as often as possible. Because, let's get real, if I don't, it's not gonna happen. I can write in my head all I want, but getting words on the page is all that counts. Even if they're crappy words, haha! I've written quite a lot of those lately, that's for damn sure. But, at least they're there, and I look forward to going back and getting them whipped into shape.
Often, getting to that finish line means that I give up watching a whole lot of TV (no big loss there, except for Stranger Things, because that show was incredible). It also means that I often don't get a ton of sleep, and I take time to myself maybe more than it good. But, if I want to get in words, if I want to show dedication to my craft, I have to do it. And I don't regret it. Because I love writing, even when it makes me frustrated, even when my characters defy me, and even when I'm so exhausted that all I can manage for a day is edit a single paragraph. It's still a part of me and I like working on it.
I know in a lot of ways I'm preaching to choir here with this post. So, tell me, what does it take for you to get to the end of a book?