If you’re taking a break from NaNoWriMo to read this, give yourself a hug (or a cocktail, caffeinated drink, pedicure–whatever is your favorite way to pamper yourself)! Writing an entire novel in 30 days is no joke. I don’t think most people enter into this challenge lightly, and I personally did it years ago, so I feel like I should have a sense of what it entails, but getting into it and keeping my butt in the chair and my finger off the backspace key has been a lot.
I’m not going to lie: there has been at least one day when I didn’t write a word (Ahem, yesterday…Let’s just say there were a lot of tantrums and missed naps in my house, and I had big chunk of homework I had been putting off). I felt pretty guilty at first, but then I reasoned that committing to draft this novel in November is kind of like working on salary: it doesn’t matter when I do the work, so long as I do it. So I managed to block out some time today and play catch up. I wrote about 3100 words, and it felt amazing. I’m now at 15,000 words, which means I’m 30% of the way there. Eeee! I’m more or less on track, but I want to give myself a buffer so I don’t fall behind (especially because my oldest doesn’t have school the last week of November, so that promises to be a colorful week).
So what are my takeaways one third of the way into NaNoWriMo 2019?
Have Snacks on Hand
Lately I’m all about tea and blood orange San Pellegrinos, as well as salty snacks like cheese and pretzels. But now I’m thinking I should invest in more brain food. Maybe I’ll try to make writing salads. Is that a thing?
Resist the Urge to Edit
This is probably the most daunting for me, even moreso than staring down 50,000 words. Revision is my favorite part of the writing process. Trying to get a rough draft down is often like pulling teeth for me, but I love going back in polishing, reworking, deleting, and just playing with what I’ve got. With NaNo, if you stop to delete and rewrite, you’re either never going to reach your goal, or you’re going to spend way more time than you can probably spare trying to get there. Once I’ve written, I just keep scrolling down the page, trying to pretend the previous words aren’t even there. In fact, I’m still getting to know my characters, and sometimes if I can’t remember a side character’s name, I’ll just write in a placeholder like “bff” or “her ex”, just so I don’t lose momentum trying to remember a name that will likely change when I go back and revise anyway.
Commiserate with Friends
Whether in person, or via text or online, having others to talk to who are going through the same process is going to buoy your spirits. A lot. Tell someone off the street you’re trying to write 50,000 words in a month and they’ll think you’ve lost your mind. Tell a friend who has embarked on the same mad odyssey, and you’ve got someone to gripe with about time constraints, verb tenses, comparing yourself to others, and your favorite (and not so favorite) books that started as NaNoWriMo projects. Writing doesn’t have to be solitary!
Write out of Order
When I teach, I tell my students to write in whatever order their work comes to them. Start at the end, start in the middle, write the title last, whatever works! Somehow I forgot this lesson, and I was limping along trying to write my novel front to back. Then I gave myself permission to skip ahead to scenes I had already thought of and had mapped out in my mind more clearly, and suddenly I was unstuck. Really, it’s okay. If I can let go, so can you.
I hope you all have found your muse and are having fun with this project. At the end of the day, it should be something you enjoy, not something that intimidates you or fills you with dread. If it’s more the latter, there’s no shame in taking time away or reassessing your goal (I’m still aiming for 50k, but I can see that it is an arbitrary number).
Happy writing, Plumesters!
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