Hello friends, How goes life? Many of you who are bloggers/writers will already be aware of the fact that NaNoWriMo 2k17 is fast approaching... We're a week away, in fact, Gahhhhh. In case any of you are wondering, NaNoWriMo is a challenge that many novelists/writers/bloggers take part of every November. The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. Seemingly impossible task? Yes. Impossible?... No...? (To find out more, visit the NaNoWriMo site.) This will be my third year participating in NaNo. In November of 2015 (my first year) I was able to reach my goal of 50,000 words by the end of the month (this was when I wrote the rough draft of Continuing Forever, my first novel). The next year didn't go quite as planned... I wrote a total of ten chapters of Infiltration (book II) during November 2016; my word count was around 12,000 words. Yeah, to put it simply, I failed. Something about that month made it definitely not my month as far as writing went. Thankfully I was still able to complete the rough draft of Infiltration by the end of the year. So, here we are. Twenty-seventeen. Mission: Continuing Forever III. I'm determined to reach my 50,000 goal this year, but that will only be roughly half of the book- I have a lot that needs to happen before this series wraps up. It's gonna be a bit tricky honestly... my college classes aren't terribly strenuous or time-consuming right now, but they are another time comittment/task added to my schedule since last year. Also, I'm supposed to be SAT-prepping like crazy in November...so.... Yes. It will quite possibly prove difficult. Nevertheless, there is going to be a worthy attempt made on my part. I've already begun to take steps both in planning the actual novel and in planning how to WRITE ALL THE WORDS, so I thought I'd share a few of them here for any fellow WriMos. 1. Finish (other) projects ahead of time. I'm a natural procrastinator, so I've been trying to finish a few projects that I've started this year but haven't quite finished yet. If your novel is your only ongoing project (or at least one of just a few), your brain will be clearer because you won't have nagging thoughts about things you haven't finished, and there will be less to compete with you writing a brilliant rough draft. 2. Have scheduled times to write every day. Look at your weekly schedule day-by-day. Start with Monday, figure out what time of the day would work every (or at least most) Monday for you to sit down and write for a solid half-hour or so. Then do the same for Tuesday, Wednesday, and so on (unless you want to give yourself one day week to not write; you do you). I'm not saying that these allotted time slots are the only times you should write, but this way you know you'll have some time to write every day. And do your best to stay committed to keeping these times free for writing and nothing else. 3. Plan to change location a bit. Maybe some of you feel like you have one particular spot where you do your best writing at, but for me, I feel that I write best when I switch to new locations. Sure, writing at your desk is fine, and writing in bed under the covers sobbing violently at 3am is to be expected, but going to a park (unless it's cold) or some other outdoor location, the library, or a friend's house will give you new surroundings to take in while you're writing/brainstorming. I enjoy writing while riding in a car somethings, but it does make me feel carsick after a while. 4. (If your book is a sequel or installment in a series) Refresh yourself on your previous novels. I've been spending as much time as I can lately re-reading Continuing Forever and Infiltration. When you're writing a series, it's sometimes hard to keep all of the details, names, characters, places, rules, laws, etc.,etc. organized in your head. Giving yourself a refresher before delving into your newest installment will help you remember where the story has already gone and a bunch of important details. Also, keep previous installments on hand for quick referencing, as well as lists of names, etc. 5. Get excited. Last year, part of my problem was that I just was not excited for NaNoWriMo. And you can't be ecstatic over everything all the time, but still, try to get yourself looking forward to the epic novel you're about to draft. Ways to do this include doing some writing exercises to get yourself excited about writing in general (I found a book @ Barnes & Noble recently called Just Write One Thing Today. It includes very random daily writing exercises, and I've been enjoying it. It helps you to work on different styles and techniques. Also, get excited for your story, and if you're not excited for your story idea, you can change it. So if you aren't happy with it, do change it.
I hope you guys found this somewhat helpful and that you're all excited for all of the amazing novels that will be born this November! What are your favorite ways to get prepped? Thanks for reading! -Anna
6 Comments
Rosie
10/26/2017 07:49:14 am
Good luck with NaNo! I know you'll do wonderfully.
Reply
Anna
10/28/2017 03:36:47 pm
Awww, that's too bad! But yeah, life gets crazy... xD
Reply
Ella
10/26/2017 05:20:43 pm
Hi Anna!
Reply
Anna
10/28/2017 03:35:51 pm
Hi Ella!
Reply
This was such a helpful post, Anna! Thank you for it. <3 I'm going to try and participate in NaNo with a novel I've been wanting to write for three years now. Hehe. We'll see how it goes because I have so many projects going on, but like you said... I'm going to try and finish them so I can focus on my writing. Or at least set them aside through the month of November. >.<
Reply
Anna
10/28/2017 03:37:42 pm
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |