Some things that might help you with NaNoWriMo this year:
Now that National Novel Writing Month is upon us, we’re faced with the daunting task of writing 50,000 words by the end of the month. Here are some things to do/keep in mind to make the daunting task a little less daunting.
50,000 words in 30 days is a little over 1500 words a day. That’s only 5 pages of your book every day.
If you have a busy schedule, save some words for the days you’re not as busy. If you have work or school 5 days a week, try shooting for 1,000 words on weekdays and 3,000 on weekends.
Skip parts that you’re stuck on. Since NaNoWriMo is all about time, skip the parts that waste it. Don’t know what your first line should be? Don’t worry about it, what happens directly after it? Tell the story, hook your reader later.
Understand where your story needs to go. Whether you’re a detailed outliner or a pantser, knowing where your story is going will speed up the process between Point A and Point B. What’s your inciting incident? What’s the climax? Connect the dots.
Try not to worry about quality. Emphasis on try, because I’m assuming you still want something that resembles a novel after this. But your main goal during the event is your wordcount, you can go back and edit on December 1st.
Find a routine that works for you. What space do you feel allows you to write the most? What time? Do you need your lucky socks?
Put your phone away! Writing can already be pretty distracting on a computer, but I find that phones are even more distracting because you have all of your apps on top of what you have access to on your computer.
Figure out what gets you in “the zone.” I personally use playlists (and if you make one for your project, you can add it to the project information on the site!) that remind me of the story, so I have an auditory reminder to write as well as the task at hand. I also like looking at the Pinterest boards for my project, because it gets me excited to add words to the images in my head!
Less of a tip, more of a reminder: if you drink unhealthy amounts of caffeine (no shame, I do too) I just ask that you drink some water with it too.
Have fun! I feel like I say this in every post, but it’s true. We write because we enjoy it! Don’t let NaNoWriMo stress you out too much, and if it’s starting to become overwhelming or bad for your mental health it’s ok to take a step back. No one is going to strip you of your “Writer” title.
