Are you NaNoing? If you haven't heard of NaNoWriMo, November is officially National Novel Writing Month. In honor of this, writers (published and for the loves alike) attempt to write a 50k novel in 30 days. Hop on over to http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and sign up--there's still time!
This is my 4th NaNoWriMo. I won each of the past three years, completing a total of four projects. Three have been published or are contracted. I love the camaraderie of taking part in something where I know that so many other writers are in there chugging along with me!
A few tips for NaNo:
1. You need to write an average of 1667 words each day to make 50k by November 30th. I like to start off with a bang the first week and strive for 2k+ daily, so that I have a head start for the inevitable times when life crops up and bumps my word count off. (Weeks 2 and 3 are famous for this.)
2. Consider hitting a write-in! On the NaNoWriMo forums, you can join regional boards for your local area and find out who's NaNoing near you! I do a once weekly write-in and it's a lot of fun. We actually DO get writing done, too, and it's a good way to find "sounding boards" when you're stuck for an idea, can't remember a word, etc.
3. Shut off your internal editor. It's not called NaNoEdMo (though there is one), and for this challenge, quantity is what counts, not quality. Of course, you can't cheat and write "la la dee dah" 20k times and be done, and you'll try to write a cohesive tale as you go along. But if you're one to go back and correct sentences, stop and fret over plot holes, etc., this is the time to change your ways--for a month, at least. Just let it rip, let the raw story pour out of you no matter how rough, and sort it all out during the editing phase.
How about it? Any NaNoer's here have favorite tips you'd like to pass along? I can always use more!
Good luck...
It's the final week of NaNoWriMo.org's national novel writing challenge, and eager writers are frantically tapping keys in hopes of hitting the 50k goal by the 30th!
