Last night I realized I was *THISCLOSE* to hitting the final NaNoWriMo marker. I had been typing away feverishly all day, seeing the end of the Work In Progress coming ever nearer. I figured I could finish it and the 50K in a few days. I thought I might get 5K, or even 7-8K, as I had hit my minimum word count goal (for NaNo being much higher at 3.5K a day) very early in the day. I was just zipping along, paying no mind to the lost weekend and relaxing into the flow of words.

And then I found the Holy Grail Of Words.

Awhile ago (trust me this story is worth it) I had an odd dream that is really a sign I may spend too much time on Twitter. @Gripemaster, or as he is more commonly known, Voldetweet, was the starring antagonist in an Indiana Jones-esque search for the Holy Grail of Words. He was a floating, 2 dimensional avatar, evil and scary and hellbent on getting the Holy Grail of words before I did. I prevailed in the end, but was describing the dream the next morning, Voldetweet revealed he had made it into a Horcrux!

So no one could use it, for if they did all the words would flow to Voldetweets pen, which kinda sucks because then he'd have to write every word. Unless he enchanted it to write without needing him. The whole of #amwriting in the Twitterverse could not relish the flow of words from the Holy Grail of Words which was now a Horcrux, a mighty blow to those of us who still needed an extra push now and again. @johannaharness and many others tried mightily to free the evil influence, but alas, it was not to be so.

But I found the *true* Holy Grail of Words yesterday. It was in, of all places, my iPhone. I found a plethora of notes and fully written out scenes I'd typed out on that tiny screen during the weekend without remembering it. With those I was able to hit 49,999 words by 11:57 pm last night *headdesk*. I needed an extra word, just one, but I refused to add something stupid. Thankfully I had the perfect parting word for an irascible, sarcastic and likely my favorite character to say.

"COWS."

And with that lovely word that I've yelled at random moments since @jeannevb and the #cowTIP drinking gang started tweeting odd things cows who drink tequila and if you put them in a Snuggie and tip them they give you limes, I hit the Victory of NaNoWriMo at 50,000 words exactly, input at 11:59 pm on Monday the 16th of November, 2009.

In total, I had 21K words from just one day. Granted, many of them were from the weekend, but I don't know just how many they were. It had been a long day, with a glorious triumph. I still need to finish up a few final scenes, and then to the closing words of "The End." NaNoWriMo has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, but I won out in the end, with many days to spare. When I finish this WIP, I will tuck it away for a month to six weeks and begin anew on its Sequel, and maybe even win NaNo *again* with it. But it is not so necessary, for I already have won, and it has been my finest accomplishment so far in my still young writing career.