Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get through this month. I’ve been so busy with college and other commitments, that I thought for sure I wasn’t going to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge. Well, PRAISE THE LORD, I was able to reach my goal of writing 50,000 words!!! In fact, I even went over a little. The last time I checked my word count, I had written a grand total of 51,748 words. #YASSSSSSSSS

Now, if you too were able to complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, good for you! You’re one step closer to finishing your novel (or maybe you already did!). And, for those of you who maybe weren’t able to get there, there’s always next time, so don’t feel bad! Any progress is good progress. 🙂

Anywho, as my NaNoWriMo nightmare I mean journey was coming to an end, I started to think, if I could go back in time to the beginning of this month, what would I have done differently to make this whole writing-for-NaNoWriMo process easier? After a few jotted down notes, here’s what I came up with:

• I would have…GOTTEN AHEAD. There were so many days that I wasn’t able to write because I was either too busy doing school, had somewhere to be, and/or was sick as a dog. However, if I had managed to get ahead a little, I could’ve afforded to take a few days off without getting behind. Therefore, I suggest getting at least 5,000 words ahead in the first week of NaNoWriMo. 10,000 words is even better.
• I would have…NOT GOTTEN DISTRACTED. Reminders, reminders, reminders!!! I would have set a lot of reminders to help me remember that I actually had to write each day, since there were times I was too caught up in the other events of the day that I forgot. 😛 In addition, I would have cut down on the TV time and used it as a motivational tool to help me write.

Ex:

Strict, motivational Me: You didn’t reach your word count goal for today?

Lazy, weak, procrastinating Me: No…

Strict motivational Me: Then, NO TV FOR YOU.

That’s the basic gist anyway. Next,

• I would have…USED MY EXCERPT JAR AND OTHER WRITING TOOLS. Writer’s block was a chronic condition for me this month and could have easily been cured by the ready provision of plot ideas located within my carefully created excerpt jar. I mean, there were ideas specific to my CCR story in there! Also, (I only found this out after the fact) the NaNoWriMo website has an entire section devoted to helping writers get inspired. The section itself is called INSPIRATION, that’s a sign. On there, you can participate in individual or group “Word Sprints”, where you can set a timer for yourself and/or a group of you and your writing buddies and see how many words you can add to your novel before the time runs out. For an additional challenge, you can click on the “Dare Me” button, and a random, wacky plot twist idea will come up; see if you can incorporate it into your story so that it makes sense.
• Finally, if I could do this year’s NaNoWriMo over again, I would have…DONE THE YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM. According to my research, the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program allows you to set your own word count goal for the month. For me, this would have meant that instead of having to write 50,000 words, I could have had a goal of writing 25,000 or something like that. Given that fact that I was very busy, doing this program would have cut down on my stress, allowed me to feel productive, and would have fit better into my crazy schedule. Therefore, I might actually do the Young Writers Program next year. I am Young Writer after all.

So, there you have it. My tips for surviving NaNoWriMo are:

1. GET AHEAD,
2. DON’T GET DISTRACTED,
3. USE WRITING TOOLS, and
4. IF YOU DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME, DO THE YOUNG WRITERS PROGRAM.

Feel free to use these next year and I hope they make your NaNoWriMo journey feel a little less like a nightmare. Fingers-crossed they work for me too.

On a somewhat related note: As far as my general writing progress went for November, I did some file organizing/rearranging (it was getting messy on my PC), but other than working on my CCR story, that was pretty much all I did. Oh, I did jot down some new ideas…and worked a lot on the blog (believe it or not). I’ve also been thinking a lot about how to incorporate dreams into my various stories. More on that, if I ever figure that out.

Finally, as we move into December, each day leading up to Christmas, I’ll be posting a Cmas/winter inspired writing prompt, which I hope you’ll do because they are an excellent way to keep your writing skills sharp even through the holiday season. Modify them if that helps inspire you and maybe I’ll even post one of my prompt entries on here. Use preexisting characters/story-lines or make up some new ones, it’s up to you. Since obviously it’s already the 3rd, I’m posting the first 3 writing prompts today. Sorry, but did I mention NaNoWriMo ended only a few days ago? I’m still recovering. 😛 Anyway, enjoy the prompts. ‘Tis the season to be writing.

Much love,

YW

P.S. If you want the NaNoWriMo experience to continue, check out the Writeometer App to make up your own NaNoWriMo word count challenges either for one story, or all of them! It’s got some pretty nifty features!