Welcome to week 5 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! The focus for today is celebration. The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 48,343 words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the goal is 116 words for the day with a total of 49,999 words.
Completing NaNo always feels like graduation to me. Congratulations!! Throw your mortar board and tassel in the air!!
With less than 48 hours left, what are you going to do to celebrate once you hit the win button?
Welcome to week 4 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Today I will focus on what to do when something comes up and you're not currently making your goals. The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 36,674, words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the daily goal is 1,840 words for the day with a total of 46,774 words.
I'm kinda bummed that my grand plans for doing 100K in 30 days will not occur this month.
Regardless of the circumstances that hindered me from writing my double Reverse NaNo goals, I have been able to keep up with the minimum 1,667 words per day.
So, I made the decision to keep writing this month and finish out NaNo with 50K. Perhaps with December rolling around, I can attempt my 100K then with the handy dandy goal tracker on the NaNo site.
The most important thing though is to not be hard on yourself. It was rather pressing to clean my kitchen and do what I can to remove beetle larvae so I can actually eat. They say self-care a lot these days.
Tips for when you're not meeting your goals:
What are you planning to do this week to work toward your NaNo goal?
Welcome to week 3 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!
The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 25,005 words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the goal is 1,724 words for the day with a total of 37,923 words.
Congratulations on making it to the halfway point! Congratulations on every word that you have written, especially if it is less than your goal and especially if it is more than your goal. Every word counts!
Pause. Take a breath.
How is NaNo really going so far? Are you where you would like to be on Day 15?
Welcome to week 2 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Today we will focus on reward systems. The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 13,336 words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the goal is 2,527 words for the day with a total of 23,447 words.
Congratulations on making it to the quarter point! Eight days down, 22 days to go. Every word is a winner in this amazing goal of yours!
Now, week 2 may not be the best time to talk about rewards, but bear with me. This week tends to be my historic worst in my (yikes!) 14 years of NaNo participation due to the week 1 energy wearing off. I usually encounter at least one (if not several) issues that pop up with my story. I didn't do enough research. I didn't do enough planning. I don't like the story anymore. I don't like so and so character. In general, I encounter problems and my motivation tends to wane. Or I didn't make my word count goal for the day and I'm bummed.
Enter Rewards on Stage Right.
I have experimented the last couple of years with making a reward box for a friend who prepared a reward box for me. We exchange the reward boxes and then either take pictures and send to each other or we open the cards/presents on video chat or in person. I usually combine cards and small gifts for milestones (5k, 10k, 20k, 25k, 35k, 45k, and 50k). This year my friend and I are going to the dollar store and buying 30 gifts that are each $1 and then we will have something to open each day.
I like to start with candy and then move up to higher level rewards for the higher word counts, depending on the person's preferences. I am very happy with lemon drops, Reeses, some new markers or colored pencils. You get the idea.
Regardless if I have a reward exchange with a friend, I always buy myself a little something (usually a book I really want) and celebrate when NaNo is over with a nice meal at one of my favorite restaurants.
I have also noticed that I work harder when I get the reward first. Then I have to earn it. But this varies, and sometimes it is exciting to work for the reward and then get it. Feel free to experiment!
How are you motivated? What rewards have you earned so far? What rewards are you going to earn for reaching your goals?
Welcome to week 1 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Today we will focus on writing sprints. The goal for today is 1,667 words for the day with a total of 1,667 words. For Reverse NaNo folks, the goal is 3,346 words for the day with a total of 3,346 words.
Congratulations on starting your NaNo project! I am so excited to see where your project takes you.
Week 1 energy is amazing. I highly recommend attending a write-in virtually (or in person this year, from NaNo HQ) and meeting fellow Wrimos. Find people in your region, or who live in your area, by going to Community and selecting Find a Region. When you find a region and make it your home, you will be able to see where the region congregates on the web on the NaNo forums and elsewhere online (Discord, Facebook, etc.).
Go to a write in, virtually or in person. Participate in a word sprint, where the goal is to write as many words as you can in a specific time frame. My favorite (and current goal) is to consistently write 1,000 words in 15 minutes. I did it once last year, and whew, it was hard and it was great to know it was possible for me! I can't wait to do it again.
As for length, I do sprints as small as 5 minutes and as long as 45 or 50 minutes. I tend to favor the 15, 20, or 25 minutes with a break, and then divide these into an hour with breaks in between. I find it is easier to focus for the sprint length if I know that a break is coming in the near future.
Sarra Cannon regularly shares documents to track your writing progress for the month. I highly recommend watching her YouTube channel for writing tips and advice, especially for the planners out there. I enjoy tracking my sprint times and word counts to try and beat my record. You can also create your own tracking system by hand, or my favorite, playing in Excel or a spreadsheet program of your choice.
What are some of your sprinting goals? Do you find a certain length of time works for you?
Well, here we are, days away from saying goodbye to 2021 and saying hello to 2022.
I accomplished a lot of my career change goals, all the while dreaming of the good ol' days where I could write my morning pages daily, and then work on some poems, stories, novels, and graphic novels. With the major shifts in my life, 2021 did not see a lot of writing. I did complete NaNo successfully, which re-ignited my desire to figure out how to balance my career with my passion for writing.
First I need to unpack from the move. Get my writing office set up. Schedule bi-weekly write-ins with my people. Show up to scheduled write-ins. Sit down and plan what project I will tackle in the new year. Plan my next NaNo novel. Maybe even do Camp in April and July. But most importantly, make writing a daily routine again.
How was your 2021? What are you planning for 2022?
Welcome to week 2 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!
The goal for today is 1,667 words with a total of 16,670 words. How is your NaNo going so far?
I am on track for the traditional word count goal, but I am terribly behind on my double NaNo goal of a Reverse NaNo doubled word counts each day to reach 100,000 words in 30 days. I had a great first half of week one, then I had to do more for work than usual. Now I am playing catch up, just focusing on writing words and not letting the number of words I am behind drive me into panic mode.
Are you panicking? Is the outline not going to plan? Are characters are flat or uncooperative? Got dishes in the sink and no oomph to clean them? Such a typical week two.
Take a deep breath.
In. Hold. Out. Repeat.
Listen to a favorite song.
You got this. Keep writing! Each word is one more than what you had before.
Welcome to week 1 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!
The goal for today is 3,334 words for those working toward 1,667 words every day. For Reverse NaNo, the goal is 6,562 words today.
How is NaNo going?
I had a good first day, and I was able to participate in several sprints on Discord with my region and attend a write in before work.
The tip this week is to stop writing in the middle of a scene or even the middle of a sentence!
This is helpful because when you return to write the next time, you can pick up and continue the scene or sentence. Otherwise, I tend to stare at my cursor for 5 minutes. It is easier to keep the baton moving to the next person instead of starting out cold. Think of this as a stretch and beginning the writing workout with a leg up.
How do you decide to stop writing for the day?
Wow, it is day 24 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)! And it is the last Tuesday in November. The word count total for today is 40,008 for the traditional 1,667 words a day.
I can't believe that NaNo is almost over. With Day 30 coming, I'm already beginning to think about my editing process and how I can improve this NaNo project.
But first, I'll take a break in December. Put the novel in a drawer, and let it sit. Maybe start planning a new project. But I will not think about the current project until I open that drawer and read it. Hopefully by then, I will forget that I wrote it and I can see the novel with fresh eyes.
While the length of time varies for me when I can forget that I wrote a novel from a few months to years, it is a necessary part of the writing process for me. If I can remember where I was when I wrote a scene, or how I reacted to a surprise twist or character reveal, then the novel needs to go back in the drawer. I need to approach reading the novel like I've never encountered it before.
There are still 6 days left in the challenge. Every word is one more than you had in October, each one a victory.
Save your work and back it up. How are you doing with your NaNo goals? How long do you wait between writing "the end" and beginning to edit?
Happy writing!
Wow, it is day 10 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)! The word count total for today is 16,667 for the traditional 1,667 words a day. The Reverse NaNo goal for day 10 is 2,298 and a total of 28,157.
While I am nowhere near the end of my story, I am pleased to have hit the point of the B Story, according to Blake Snyder's Save the Cat.
If you have not written your favorite scene or most anticipated scene, now might be a good time. With the week two blues setting in this week, I recommend reminding yourself why you are writing this story in the first place. What was your inspiration? I am doing a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to study one of my favorites and make the story my own.
To help with plot, I recommend looking at the hero's journey, Story Grid, and an exemplar story. An exemplar story is an example or model story that can inspire the plot or characters or theme of your novel. While I am writing a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, I am finding that my story is similar to Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Look up the plot structures of your exemplar story, read a summary, watch the film. This is all part of self-care and a working break.
There are still 20 days left in the challenge. Every word is one more than you had in October, each one a victory.
Save your work and back it up. How are you doing with your NaNo goals? What is the inspiration for your NaNo project and what is your exemplar story?
Happy writing!
(image source) (Corgi writing his novel)
Wow, it is day 3 of National Novel Writing Month (NaNo)! The word count total for today is 5,001 for the traditional 1,667 words a day. The Reverse NaNo goal for day 3 is 3,101 and a total of 9,663.
But do not stress the word count! Remember the goal is to write your story. There are still 27 days left in the challenge. However, I do recommend bulking your word count with some sprints, where there is a timer, and you write as much as you can. There will be days where it is harder to write and days where it is easier. Every word you write is a victory.
And if you need some help increasing your word count, check out some of the tips below:
1. 1. Write notes to yourself in () or @@ or ## so you can easily find these sections later and delete. But do not delete them until December 1! Every word written counts toward your goal, even if you know it will not make it to the next draft.
2. 2. Add adjectives. The typical order is quantity, opinion, size, age, color, shape, origin, material, and purpose, according to this source. I tend to not include description of everything in my first draft unless I am experiencing a brief writer’s block. Then I start describing everything!
3. 3. Do a word sprint for 5, 10, 15, 20, or however long. I like the shorter sprints because then I can focus on the story and typing as fast as I can. Then I can take justified breaks before going into the next sprint. Check out your local NaNo Region on the site and find people to do sprints with. I enjoy the bots on Discord who keep track of your word goals and counts for the day. You can earn raptors for your region!
a. The Legend of Raptors: So, raptors are a throwback to the old IRC. Timmy is the bot over there and he is insane and spends a lot of time announcing raptor sightings. Over the years it evolved- eventually he started counting how many raptors were in each region, then the raptors would attack other regions, then they started running away and or running to your region to rehome. Then Utoxin introduced pet raptors, where you could adopt a raptor, name it, and it would track your word war totals through the month & go steal plot bunnies from other regions. It was a delightful and silly way to be reminded other places in the world were doing nano, too, and often inspired people to hop over to other regional channels and make friends. ~~ StephanieRidiculous
4. 4. The usual adding “and,” breaking down
contractions, and naming characters with multiple names can also help. Watch
out for hyphenated words. They may have a different count for validation near
the end of the month. Do not worry about that now, of course!
5. 5. Stop spellchecking. This is a difficult habit for me since I check it whenever I see those squiggle lines. Keep adding words instead! I am always amused by which words are my most misspelled. It changes every NaNo, and I still cannot spell “restaurant” or “apocalypse” without spellcheck. My favorite is “Yoda” instead of “yoga.”
Do not forgot to save your work and back it up. Comment below how you are adding words to your story this year. Feel free to tell us the genre too!
Happy writing!
Well, October continues, which means November and NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) is fast approaching! I am still reading Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder and kicking myself for not reading it earlier in my writing career. I had also intended by this point to have filled out my Story Grid by Shawn Coyne. Or even just made a final decision on a log line or one sentence summary of the novel I want to write this year.
While I was hoping to be more ahead in plotting (there is time blocked on Saturday, and four days before the first starting now), I was instantly sad to not find my copy of The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. Perhaps it is time to rearrange my bookshelves and give the search another go. While I suspect this novel may not be my usual journey story, I wanted to look at the archetypes like mentor and trickster to include as I flesh out my secondary characters.
But the good news is that even though my plotting is not ready and there is some time to take advantage of prep before I begin chapter one, I do have a clean house with meals prepped and planned.
So that's a win, and I'll take it.
Ah, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is coming! I cannot believe that this will be year twelve for me. Twelve! I have so many tips that I do not know where to start. But I will start with an introduction here and a couple of tips because I will be posting about NaNo every Tuesday in November with more in-depth information.
Take a deep breath.
Seriously.
I highly recommend doing all the household chores (laundry, vacuum, whatever you need to do) and maybe plan a basic food menu to survive November. I love procrastinating with cleaning and cooking, but if you can have a clean home and the first week of meals planned for November, you can take advantage of the first week excitement and get ahead in your word count.
I tend to get the second week blues very badly every year. I start to lose momentum, something goes off plan in the writing or life, and I must dig myself out of the muck. So, I take advantage of the first week excitement and double down on word count with Reverse NaNo. Instead of 1,667 words on the first day, I aim for 3,346. Check out the word count goals here.
Every NaNo I try to innovate my approach to finding a smoother way to get through NaNo. Each novel has a notebook (no more loose-leaf paper). I clean and meal plan before November. I begin to go on a social media and gaming diet to prepare myself to make more time for writing daily. I begin to look at the region schedules to find write ins to attend, which are all virtual this year. Find a buddy to create and exchange a gift box with small gifts at word count milestones. Make it fun with candy and journals and unique gifts. It is nice to open a present someone picked for you in addition to the reward of reaching a word count milestone.
Have fun with NaNo, and it may be one of the best months of the year.
