Saturday 18 October 2014

Manage the Nanowrimo Madness to Suit You!


Right now thousands of authors worldwide are gearing themselves up for a ferocious writing marathon. November is National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to write 50,000 words in one month.

This would be almost reasonable if all the participants were locked in a wifi-free shed with just their laptop, an espresso machine and a treadmill to get the oxygen flowing back to the brain when writers block kicked in.

The reality is they will be fitting this epic number of words into their normal lives, with families, full time jobs, dogs needing to be walked and houses needing to be maintained. They will fight against time and tiredness, they will forgo nights out (or write through the hangovers), they will do whatever it takes to deliver on the challenge!

Why? 

BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL CRAZY

... about writing.

I'm excited even though I'm not going to do it. If I wrote that quickly I know I'd only have to throw most of it away. My other excuse is that I've already got my novel written, I just need to edit the monster. So instead I plan to get up an hour earlier each day during November to work on it. 

I'm a big believer in setting manageable goals. Too many people set themselves up for defeat by proposing impossible targets, and then get frustrated and feel like a failure. If you don't think you can write 50,000, why not aim for half of it? Or 100 words each day? It's still valuable!

So, 6am it is. That's probably a normal waking hour for many of you but for me it'll be a good but doable challenge.

Still wondering how anyone can write 50,000 words in one month?

4 Nanowrimo participants kindly share their tips:


1. PUT PRESSURE ON YOURSELF BY TELLING EVERYONE YOU'RE DOING IT


2. DON'T EAT OR SLEEP


3. JUST GET ON WITH IT

4. DON'T WORRY ABOUT THE HOUSE WORK

  

Are you taking part in Nanowrimo? Share your method in the comments!

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