Good morning and happy December! This is the month for mistletoe, Christmas lights and latkes. It’s also time for  my traditional ‘Holy Crap Where Did the Year Go, I’ve Accomplished Nothing’ freakout. And eggnog lattes at Starbucks, which are not only delicious but prove that even Starbucks is human. Unless they aren’t. Because if they are an alien race who have infiltrated every corner of the globe to conquer and enslave us when they think the time is right, I think we’re just going to have to surrender. They have us surrounded and we’re all addicted to whatever they put in pumpkin spice lattes. Just saying.

Around the world today, thousands of writers are waking up to those tasty and totally-not-mind-control-related eggnog lattes feeling hungover and exhausted. They are flexing their sore fingers, shaking their literary heads and wondering what they missed this month (hint: Ferguson).  Many of those writers made it to 50,000 words in November, which is the NaNoWriMo goal. If you’re among them, congratulations!

Sadly, I am not among that number, but I’m happy to say that I did surpass my own personal goal of 30,000 words with 32,023. That number is also a palindrome, and I’m going to pretend it’s a more interesting one than 50,005 would have been. Considering that November included not only Thanksgiving and the corresponding vacation for my kids, but also my first time teaching a self-publishing workshop, a random car accident that ate an entire week and a few other unexpected hiccups, I’m calling 32,023 a win.

In fact, let’s just declare November a win month for everyone. Whatever you did this month, it was fantastic, appropriate and/or fulfilling; and more importantly, it was enough. You are Charlie Sheen, baby. Winning. Yay, validation!

I’m pretty excited about the project I began for NaNoWriMo, actually, and I hope to be able to share more with you soon. You guys are probably annoyed with me for all the hints and rumors of what I might be working on that haven’t panned out (yet). The truth is, I’m famous for my ADD-style of choosing, working on, and abandoning projects. And sometimes coming back to them again. In fact, my forthcoming titles include: Shiny Objects, Investigating Weird Sounds that Turn Out to be Nothing, and What Was That Middle Part Again?

Really, I will go ahead and share that one of the main characters in my current romantic comedy project is the divorced dad of a preschooler, and I am really enjoying the story so far. I hope you will, too, and soon! On that note, it’s time to go make lunches, haul my kids out of bed and try to remind them that getting dressed and brushing our teeth before 7:00 a.m. is a thing.

Enjoy your end of year freakout, or your eggnog latte! (And Starbucks, if you’re reading, I just want you to know that I think you’ll be just fantastic at running the planet. And please bring back almond syrup.)

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I’m M.J. (Manda) Pullen, an author and mom in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I blog about writing, publishing, motherhood, health, psychology and whatever else strikes me in the moment. Or whatever I can remember to do.

My books include The Marriage Pact series, a trilogy of funny, semi-realistic Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction novels coming Fall 2015 from Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press in association with Macmillan Entertainment. If you enjoyed this entry, please follow along or join my email list.  Thanks for reading!

MJ Pullen

M.J. Pullen is a distracted writer and the mom of two boys in Roswell, Georgia, where she is absolutely late for something important right now. Her books include quirky romantic comedies and playful women's fiction. She blogs erratically with writing advice, random observations, and reflections on raising very loud kids and dogs. Join her Distracted Readers newsletter list for updates, free content, giveaways and more.