NaNoWriMo
Say you’ve already reached your word count for the day, and you’re only halfway through your writing session. Brilliant! That means you can take the rest of the evening off, right? It’d feel relaxing to have some time off after two weeks of NaNoWriMo pressure.
Don’t do it! As tempting as a little time off sounds, it’s a terrible idea!
You’ve just been handed a golden opportunity. If you find yourself in a creative headspace, where the words are just flowing through you and getting to 1,667 words feels easy, then you want to stay in that headspace. Keep going!!
Who knows what your final word count will be for the day. Hopefully a lot higher than normal. For each extra word written above 1,667, you’ve bought yourself a little breathing room.
With the best will in the world, there are days when the creativity doesn’t come; when the dreaded writer’s block sets in (or worse!). That’s probably going to happen to you at least once during NaNoWriMo. So writing extra when it feels easy is a form of insurance. It gives you breathing room for those harder days when you struggle to get to 1,667. In fact, any time that you can go over your daily word count, it’s a good idea to do so.
No-one likes to think that they’ll miss a day of NaNoWriMo. Still, writing ahead is a good way to to prepare for it. Just in case.
Keep writing! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts and tips, click here.
NaNoWriMo
Has this ever happened to you: you’re in the zone, the NaNoWriMo words are flowing, then your character does something and you have to pause and think, ‘Is that right?’.
Maybe your American protagonist is in Paris and he’s stopped to buy a snack. You write that he buys a Clif bar, but are Clif bars actually sold in France?
Maybe you’re writing a Victorian murder-mystery set in New York. Your character hails a taxi. What does that taxi look like? Is it a horse driven hansom cab? In what year were those introduced to New York? When did they stop using them? When were they replaced by gasoline driven cabs?
Maybe you’re writing a story set in space. Goodness, there are so many things to think about. There’s all sort of questions about physics, and you need to come up with your own technologies to power your spaceships! Help me, Neil DeGrasse Tyson!!
No matter what genre your NaNoWriMo project, there are aspects that need to be researched. Making a mistake in your research can be incredibly jarring to any reader who knows you’re wrong. So it’s important to make sure what you’re writing is as factually accurate as possible. The problem is research is a massive time suck. The simplest questions can take ages to hunt down answers. This is your writing time, you don’t want to spend your time falling into a Wikihole: researching one topic and then getting distracted by reading other articles on Wikipedia.
Avoid this, and save time, by skipping the research. Just don’t do it. Skip over anything that needs research. BUT! Make a note that you won’t lose track off, to come back and do it later. Don’t take up precious writing time with googling answers. Set aside research time, where you can knock out some of these questions in a more efficient way. In the meantime…keep writing! Don’t let research get in the way of your momentum!
Keep writing! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts and tips, click here.
NaNoWriMo
Everyone focuses on the problems of writer’s block. What is it, how you should avoid it, etc. What they don’t talk about is that writer’s block is not the only reason that a writer can stall. There are times when you can have all the ideas in the world you just don’t have the energy to get them out. That is burnout and it can be even more devastating for your word count than writer’s block.
NaNoWriMo is an intense month. Creating a writing schedule, aiming for a word count and pumping out a certain amount each and every day. It’s all beginning to feel like work, a chore that you have to get through each day. Once that happens, it gets harder and harder to get into a creative mindset and that has an impact on your writing and, in turn, on your daily word count.
What can you do to stop the intensity of NaNoWriMo from turning into a slog?
Remember why you’re doing this. NaNoWriMo is not a job, it’s not about making money, it’s about passion, it’s about following your dreams. You chose to write a book this month! So as you stare at the screen, trying to shake off the weariness, remember why you’re doing this. This isn’t some deadline that you have to meet or your boss will yell at you. You’re not going to get fired if you miss a day. This is about following your dreams. This is about completing something that you can look back at with pride. So, when you’re feeling tired and you’re trying to get up the energy for today’s writing, remember that this is not a chore to simply get through, this is your choice.
Keep writing! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts and tips, click here.
NaNoWriMo
Wow, Congratulations!! You’re basically halfway through NaNoWriMo! Seems like only yesterday we were talking about finishing week 1. No matter what your word count is, you should be proud of yourself! Take a minute to bask in the feeling.
It can be difficult for people who’ve never competed in NaNoWriMo to grasp what a big deal this is. Don’t let their lack of understanding dishearten you or dampen your celebration.
There are over 400,000 participating in NaNoWriMo this year. That’s a lot of people! But that means there’s a good chance that no-one around you is participating. Luckily, it’s easy to find online NaNoWriMo groups.
It’s a good idea to connect with other NaNoWriMo competitors. They’re the only people who will understand the highs and lows of this month. The high of getting to the half-way mark and wanting to boast about how great your story is. The lows of feeling like you haven’t written enough today, like you’re falling behind…like your writing isn’t good enough. These are like minded individuals who will understand you and cheer you on, but they’re also people who are living with the same problems as you are…which means they might have solutions to whatever problems you are dealing with.
The NaNoWriMo website has forums where you can communicate with fellow competitors. Looking through the various discussion threads, you’ll be able to find discussions on a massive range of NaNoWriMo adjacent topics. The website also creates groups based on location, where people from specific places can start their own conversations and arrange meet-ups. Perhaps there is a NaNoWriMo group in your town. Often the focus of these local meet-ups is to provide a quiet space for everyone to get some writing done, and then afterwards chat about how your month is going.
If that doesn’t sound like your cup of tea then how about something that takes less work? Reddit has a fairly active subreddit. It’s easy to lurk and there’s no pressure to leave comments, but you’re still part of the community and can pick up lots of great NaNoWriMo tips (and writing tips in general).
Whatever is right for you, being in touch with fellow NaNoWriMo competitors is a great way to keep your spirits up.
Keep writing! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts and tips, click here.
NaNoWriMo
If you’ve been following our daily NaNoWriMo tips, you know that we love the idea of a writing schedule (we talked about it specifically on Day 10). The idea of setting aside a dedicated hour, or so, each day is great for really getting into a creative headspace. That’s your time to focus.
So that means that you don’t need to think about your story during the rest of the day, right?
Wrong! (Sorry, not sorry!)
You have so much more time than you realize! Take advantage of those spare minutes to work on your story. Waiting for the microwave, waiting for your coffee, waiting for the bus. All of those are great times to squeeze in a few extra words.
Try carrying a notebook around with you, wherever you go. Then, whenever you have a few minutes downtime, you can jot down some ideas. Plot points, potential concerns with your story, ideas for characters or scenes. Instead of just zoning out during your downtime, having a notebook will allow you to take advantage of that time in a constructive way. The more time you spend thinking about your NaNoWriMo story the more depth it will have, plus you’ll be making use of time that would otherwise go to waste!
Later, when you start your proper writing session, your notebook will be a useful way of sparking new ideas.
Keep writing! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts and tips, click here.
NaNoWriMo
You’re almost halfway through NaNoWriMo and you’re feeling pretty good. Over the last few days writing has been going well and you’ve written down lots of great ideas. But then something terrible happens. You open up your laptop, your hands hovering over the keyboard eager to get writing. But…your mind blanks. Is this the dreaded writer’s block? What the hell is happening? Yesterday you got so much written. How can today be such a bad day, when yesterday was so good?
Actually, the reason you’re feeling stuck today is BECAUSE you had a great day yesterday. You had all those great ideas and you used them all up yesterday. You finished writing with no plans for what to write next.
One of the best ways to keep your energy and creativity flowing is to make sure you always end a writing session knowing how you’re going to start next time. It doesn’t have to be a big outline of tomorrow’s session. It can simply be a few sentences, detailing what happens next. Even just getting down some bullet points will help.
The aim is to make sure that you’re not coming to a session at a creative drypoint. Leaving notes for yourself means that you’ll have a starting place tomorrow. It means that you’ve already got ideas about your next session and, even when you’re away from your computer, those ideas are going to be sitting in your brain, sparking your inspiration.
Tl:dr; Never end a writing session without knowing what you’re going to write next time!
Keep rolling! You’ve got this.
For all of our NaNoWriMo posts, click here.
