Tep Palk/rob pine2016

[This Tep Palk contains strong language, violence and scenes of a sexual nature.]
Yo, so today I wrote 20,000 words for the first time. I had garlic bread and beer in the fridge, and that was my reward for reaching 20k, and I MADE IT YO. Now, I've had quite a few beers, and this is good. I also have the urge to write moar, but I can't do that, because of the beers I've had and also that pain in my left wrist that nags me when I've been writing for a while these days and also hours.
This time last year I had a goal of 80k (which I didn't quite make), but if you'd asked me to do a 20k day I would have done a big ol' poo, right on your lawn. Not to offend you in any way, of course, but purely as a gesture of defiance. I am nobody's dog, or cat, I guess. I would not have been down with it, is what I'm saying. OAing, I think, is the kind of thing you have to build up to. Nobody barely hits 52k their first NaNo and then aces the million on their second (unless they do, in which case, jeez, you win). You gotta work for that stamina, year on year.
Every year I see a ton of people, both in this forum and in others (mostly NAMS) gettin' all down on themselves because some crazy bastards hit the million four hours in. You guys: don't compare yourself to other people, and if you do, make sure it's not those guys, because those guys are ridiculous. Awesome, but ridiculous. You're doing NaNo for your own reasons: because you want to be a better writer, because you just straight-up enjoy it, because you like being part of the community. Don't let other people's accomplishments overshadow that, even when those accomplishments are fuckin' sick. You just gotta sit down, put one word in front of the other, y'know, at your own pace.
I think the best way to write moar words (which we all like) is to stop thinking about what those words are. I'm not saying write gibberish, though if that does happen, I mean, no-one's gonna call the word police, you know what I'm saying? I mean that most cases of "writer's block" happen because the writer is blocking themselves. That's some deep shit, right there right there, and you're getting it for free. One of the main points of NaNo is to get people writing fast enough that they don't have time to overthink the process. I'm of the opinion that when it comes to a first draft, any words are better than no words at all. No words are the worst words; do not write no words. I cannot stress this enough.
One last note: this is the third year I've been in the OA chat, and the first year I'm actually on pace to comfortably overachieve. It's just dedication, y'all. Dedication, devotion, turnin' all the night-time into the day, you know the shit I roll. Every NaNo for the last three years, I've turned up in OA chat with a fairly modest goal, and every year I've raised that goal, on account of being #OneOfUs. This year I'm set to smash it. And you guys get the credit and/or blame for that - if I hadn't found the OA chat I probably wouldn't still be doing NaNo, to be honest. I'd be all like "yeah, well I wrote a novel in a month once," because fuck yeah I did, but NaNo wouldn't still be A Thing That Rob Does, so I wanna thank you guys too.