National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) can be a grisly gauntlet that cultivates more victims than survivors, but year after year, writers still lineup for the torture. Last month we covered preparing yourself for taking on NANOWRIMO and focused on:
• Generating a novel idea
• Studying your characters
• Building your world
• Structuring the high-level beats of your story
• Isolating your audience
• Generating an elevator pitch
• Fleshing out your chapter outline.
If you chose to do any one of those preparatory tactics, then you’ll be more prepared than others who just swan dive into the meat grinder without a clue. The one thing everyone needs to understand about NANOWRIMO is that the goal isn’t perfection. The goal is SPEED. We’re not looking to craft a publisher-ready version of To Kill a Mockingbird in 30 days. We’re looking to get a semblance of a notion of an embarrassing scribble of a first draft. And with the bar lowered that much, it should be relatively easy to step over it – if we can turn off our brain for a month and JUST GO!
So, like last month, here are some things to engage to help you get through 50K in 30 days:
Break it down into bite-sized pieces.
Wee doggie, 50K is a lot to chew in 30 days. Just doing some quick math. If the average page contains 250 words, then we’re talking 200 pages in the month. But don’t let the big number scare you. Break it down to 30 smaller numbers. More math and that puts your daily target at around 1,667 words (or just 6 pages). That is totally doable. Set that as your daily goal for the month. Write it on a Post-It note and stick it on your monitor to motivate you. Track it in a spreadsheet if you want. And if you overshoot your daily goal occasionally, then your daily goal gets smaller as the month goes on. So, break the monthly goal into daily goals to hack your brain into forgetting the larger monthly goal.
Create a routine, schedule your time, and stick to it!
I totally get it. Writing is the cosmic divination of creativity, and it would never sully itself with such a stoic and concrete construct as a schedule. Okay calm down, Emily Dickinson. If you truly believe that than why in the hell are you doing this? Like every art, writing becomes more consistent with experience and a process. And for this month, the key is free your mind from all those trappings, so you can focus on drafting for speed. Try writing at the same time every day, even schedule blocks of time that work within your lifestyle. Fill every gap in your schedule with writing time. Even writing in short bursts (e.g., 20-minute sprints) can help you maintain momentum and focus. Or try using your smart phone to dabble on your manuscript on the bus, or on the train. Any little bit will help. But if you set your table for success, rather than the miserably unaccountable art gods, then you’ll have a better chance at surviving this challenge.
JUST GO!!!
This one is very simple – just f**king GO! Turn off your brain. Turn up your Spotify playlist. Write like you are rocket on its flight through the atmosphere. Write like you don’t give a damn about spelling grammar, punctuation, clarity, or even readability. Unhitch the plow from your horse and race through the prairie with the wind rustling through your hair. The whole point to NANOWRIMO is 50K words in 30 days. No one is grading you on quality or performance, only word count. The time for editing is December (look out for my post-NANOWRIMO post then). Write in long bursts. Or try setting a timer for 15-30 minutes and write without stopping. Tactics like this force you to get words down without overthinking, and you’d be surprised how much progress you can make in a short amount of time.
Get in touch with the demons of imperfection.
Truth bomb time: writing perfection is NEVER attained the moment your fingertip presses the pen or strikes the key. Novel writing is not magical. No one can Leviosa or Expelliarmus a perfect novel into existence with a flick of a wand.
It requires a lot of hard, grueling work, time and patience. But here NANOWRIMO is a sprint of imperfection—an ugly, out-of-breath, sweaty, ill-fitting, clumsy affair designed solely to get you across the finish line with 50K words. No one is striving for perfection in November. No one plans on looking brunch-ready after this is done. And certainly no one is expecting to birth a beautiful bouncing novel baby. Chances are the mutant that comes out of this exercise would look more at home in a Rob Zombie movie (but if that was your intention, I’ll just say, touché). But it’s still your baby and you can make it better…LATER. For this month, embrace the ugly, and wallow in imperfection, as long as you make your 50K.
Treat yo self!
Finally, something fun. I wouldn’t ask you to set goals without telling you to TREAT YO SELF. Whether it’s a slice of a Racine Kringle, a quick 30-minutes of The Last of Us on your PlayStation (so jelly it’s not on Xbox), or quick walk with your dog or snuggle with your cat, rewards can keep your morale high throughout the month. So, setup some milestones to drive you throughout the month – if you met your daily goal, you get a quick espresso. Meet your entire week of goals? A Taco Bell run. Whatever motivates you, build it into your reward system. My only advice, maybe not make them ALL food related. I don’t want folks slamming my DMs about unwanted weight gains. But long walks in the fall might help. Whatever it takes, write like hell and TREAT YO SELF.
Last month, I gave you tips to prepare for NANOWRIMO month, and now in November, you have some tips to engage when you’re in the slog of drafting. Hopefully these help. I know they help for me. But some tips aren’t always best for all writers, and that’s fine too. But just don’t push it aside and forget about them. Give a couple a try. Keep the ones that help and toss the others in the garbage.
Stay tuned for next month, where I’ll talk about what to do with your 50K after NANOWRIMO is finished and how you can start revising it for agents and publishers.
Take care and talk to you soon!
Scott R. Welvaert 
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