NaNoWriMo: How Do You Write 50,000 Words in 30 Days?
No Internet, Email, or TV until you’ve done your daily quota.
Get your words done before you fall prey to distractions.
Don’t get behind.
(The quota is 1667 words a day. 2000 words a day will give you a nice cushion when life interferes.) At first when your story captures your imagination, get those extra words down. You’ll be glad to be ahead when life gets in your way.
Use the NaNoWriMo spreadsheet to track your progress.
(Various versions of the tracking spreadsheet are found in the forums.) It’s motivating to see the graph take shape. Your daily word count is red until you reach the magic 1667 number. Sometimes you just have to keep on writing until that number turns green.
Use an AlphaSmart, Neo, Dana, Palm, or Pocket PC or a paper notebook.
Use anything that doesn’t nag you about spelling or proofing errors and that doesn’t tempt you into editing.
Never ever, ever,ever, EVER read what you have written.
Never. Tape a piece of paper over your computer screen if you have to. Only read the last sentence if you must to figure out where you left off.
Take care of yourself physically
Love your wrists. Massage them. Ice them. Stretch them.
Be kind to your eyes. Look away from the computer once in awhile.
Every hour get up and walk around for a few minutes.
Drink lots of water. (This will help you remember to get up.)
Get enough sleep. Let your subconscious work on the book while you sleep.
Trim your fingernails.
Spend time in the shower. Great ideas happen there.
Find your most productive writing interval.
Write for fifteen, thirty, or forty five minutes without break, and then take a break for five, ten, or fifteen minutes before writing for another session.
Participate in word wars (challenges for writing the most words in 10, 15, or 30 minute sprints).
Post your challenge on the forums or participate in someone else’s challenge.
Backup your work
Nothing is worse than losing some of your precious words. You might want to email them to yourself. If you use Google Documents, you can access your writing from anywhere you have Internet. It makes it easier to write from multiple locations. This lets you keep a copy safe on Google’s servers.
Compete with other NaNoWriMos
Go into the list of all authors, and order them by word count, then find yourself on the list. Find out what the word count of the person at the top of the page is, then write until you have more words and have moved to the next page.
Then do it again.
Find out what works best for you.
Do whatever gets the words out of your head and down on paper.
Just keep typing.
Wow, great stuff again here. My fav writing tip is to spend a few minutes just sitting quietly in nature. It always helps when I get a bit blocked. My daughter tells me in is because the fairies tell me what to write. I’ll take it anyway I can get it! lol
Many blessings.
Since I do my best writing in the evening, after everyone has gone to bed, I need to make sure that all housework, blog entries, research, etc., is finished before my house becomes quiet. Then I need to focus on nothing except writing. Daytime is for all of that other stuff. Nighttime is for getting the words out.
Marie,
I also do a lot of writing in the evening.
Lynn
Carrie,
That’s really interesting. I’ve always thought of my muse as a fairy. Of course, she’s different from the Ogre that is my internal editor.
Lynn
I never thought of my internal editor as an Ogre before, but now I see the similarity. hahaha!