It’s almost November, which means it’s NaNo time!
If you don’t already know, NaNo is short for NaNoWriMo, which is short for National Novel Writing Month, when writers attempt to write a 50K (at least) book. You write 50K, you win.
What do you win? Glory. Bragging rights. A very messy manuscript—but hey, it’s a manuscript full of 50K words that you didn’t have a month before.
If you’re doing NaNo this year, here are some quick tips for making next month easier for you!
1) Plan
You cannot walk into NaNo November all casual and just…start. (I mean, you could, but oof, the chaos.)
October is called Preptober in writing circles for a reason, so you should already be setting up everything for November right now. Depending on how you write, you might want your outline prepped and ready to go. If you’re a pantser, you’ll at least want to have things relatively well mapped out in your brain so that you can sit down and start writing on November 1.
Do you need to do research that will have a big impact on your plot? Get that done early. (If there’s research that comes up while you’re writing—like, “when were pantyhose invented?”—you can just TK that and come back to it after NaNo so you don’t have to stop during your writing time to go on research rabbit holes. Those lead to spirals that take time away that you don’t have!) Do you need to block time off in your calendar in November? Do you need notebooks, apps, etc., that will help you write more efficiently? Those are also things to think about getting in place.
2) Carve out dedicated writing time every day
Thirty days goes by so, so fast. (I have no idea why they decided to put NaNo in November when holidays are happening or coming up soon and when the end of the year and the pressure of completing other projects are all bearing down.) While I don’t usually advocate for writing every day if that’s not a thing you usually do, you need to when you’re doing NaNo. 50K in 30 days = 1667 words per day. How much time does it take you to write that many words in a day? Schedule that time into your day.
If you skip a day, that’s 1667 more words you need to add on the next day, so don’t let the days build up, because then the word count can very quickly get away from you. This is where I usually see people get frustrated with NaNo and throw in the towel.
3) Skip over parts that are giving you trouble
Okay, I don’t usually recommend this either, but it’s NaNo and needs must. You have to use your time wisely and efficiently during the month, so if you’re stuck on a part of the book that isn’t quite working or you haven’t figured out yet, just leave it for now and come back to it at a later writing session. I know this is difficult especially for those of you who write linearly, but just put in square brackets what you want to do with it (e.g. [love scene here]).
BUT this doesn’t mean ignore it forever—it means ignore it during your dedicated writing time. During the rest of the day when you’re not writing, noodle on it more and see if you can break through the block and figure out how to do it for the next (or a later) writing session. If it doesn’t come to you during the month, that’s totally okay—it’s something you can finish up when you’re revising after NaNo.
4) Create community
TONS of writers do NaNo every year, so there’s definitely someone in your orbit going through the same thing as you. Hook up with some writer friends and form a little NaNo group so that you can do writing sprints together, work with each other over Zoom or in person, keep each other on task, offer suggestions when someone is stuck at a thorny part of the story, and commiserate and scream about why the hell you do this to yourselves every November. It’s so, so important to have community, period, when you’re writing, but never more so than in high-stress situations like NaNo. And when NaNo’s all over, hopefully you’ll have some new friends and/or critique partners to support you going forward!
And if you need an extra layer of accountability and support, I’m doing NANO FLASH COACHING again this year!
If you’ve never done one before, a book coaching session is a great way to work through developmental issues with someone who understands story structure and romance tropes and trends, and it can lead to incredible breakthroughs. We’ll brainstorm and bounce ideas of each other, and you can get a fresh new perspective on your story that will keep you writing. The book coaching call is always such an energy boost, and the momentum from our session will help you push forward so you can stay current on your word count.
So, here’s the deal:
A one-hour book coaching call via Zoom (I will read your outline or up to 40 pages of your manuscript)
A quick 20-min check-in call later in the month to see where you're at
Accountability check-ins for the month to cheer you on and help you stay on track at a pace that works for you (every day, every few days, once a week, whatever works for you)
Ongoing support from me via email or Voxer for the month so you can reach out if you hit another wall (Voxer is a voice messaging app if you’re someone who needs to talk through things)
All that for just US$150!
Questions? Leave a comment below!