I did it! I actually managed to squeeze in enough writing sessions in the mornings, while taking breaks, before bed, after running, while showering (do not dismiss the power of a good shower for brainstorming), and all the in-betweens to reach 50k. Of Blood and Pearls is now begun.
About a week ago, I really thought it was over. I felt drained and tired and was having a hard time catching up after returning from the conference. Despite the best of intentions, I wasn’t feeling very positive, and was ready to settle for whatever word count I managed to swing. Somehow, I kept at it and found myself getting back into a flow, putting out between 1800 and 2200 words a day (the extra word goal really helped in the long run). I reached 50, 232 words when I finished Chapter 14. That was yesterday. I still have about another 3 chapters to go, if I manage to stick to my outline, so that should be about another 10 – 15,000 words for this draft. I’m going to scale back to about 1000 words a day (I need to get out of my chair again) and aim to finish the about mid-way through December. Then it’s onto more drafting for Anúna (which now has a tentative title of sorts).
Now, to catch up on every I put off during November. Ta.
marginalia and such 
Congrats! I totally flunked NaNo this year, haha!