Sailing on the seas of NaNoWriMo, is your quill sword powerful enough to help you fight against the evil pirates of writer's block? Is your determination strong enough to lead you across the sea of procrastination so as to reach the island of victor...
Every November, right after Halloween, a bizarre change comes over homes and cafés the world over. Hundreds of thousands of writers — some of them established pros, others first-timers — hunch, crab-like, over their keyboards, typing away like maniacs. Some wear fedoras or viking helmets. Many ingest dangerous quantities of caffeine. Friends and love ones are ignored, and DVRs fill to capacity as favourite TV series are neglected. And for thirty days the words pour forth. By the thousands. By the millions.
This is National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo. The goal: write a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. The challenge is simple, tantalising, and devilishly difficult. But it can be done, and getting there can be one of the most creatively thrilling and rewarding experiences of your life. Just ask any of the thousands of people who come back year after year.
If you’re thinking of getting on the bandwagon, or you’ve already signed up and don’t know how you’re ever going to get through it, here are seven tips that will carry you through.
1. Take it one day at a time
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Don’t worry about the big picture. Don’t worry about the direction of your story or how long it’s taking to get to the next plot point. Don’t worry about 50,000 words, or even the 1,667 words per day it takes to get there. Just relax and write.
You may hit some days when you produce very little, and others when you find a groove and crank out 4,000 words before you know it. This ebb and flow is normal. Stay loose, enjoying the good days and shrugging off the bad ones. You’ll get there.
2. Grant yourself time and space to write
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This is huge. If you’re going to write, you have to find the time to do it, create a comfortable space, and remove distractions so you can focus on the task.
Once you’ve found your perfect writing space, you need to claim it and defend it. This is your writing space, so keep it sacred. Make the mental transition to writing mode easier by adding a physical element: get yourself a writing hat or a totem (a special object) that only comes out when you are writing.
