How to Survive NaNoWriMo

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Hello! Yes, I am alive! Since NaNoWriMo started 5 days ago, I have been utterly immersed in getting my word count up — while throwing in some edits for Volume 2, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about that — and therefore I am flailing (in a bad way) over here.

Well, not all bad. I’ve made it to 8,000 words so far, which is pretty good for this early in the month. My goal is to finish NaNo early, so that I can then attend more than wholeheartedly to the release of Volume 2. (Title and cover reveal coming soon!)

In the meantime, I thought I’d swing by here and give you a few more recent pictures by White Fang, and the following Guide to Surviving NaNoWriMo.

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1. Eat. Sleep. Don’t over-coffee yourself. Remember that veggies are still important this month. And protein. And water. And don’t knock 2 hours off your sleep schedule on a work/school night simply in the interest of another 500 words. You can make it up another time. Trust me.

2. If you aren’t happy with the way your current project is going, change the rules. There are lots of suggestions for how to win NaNo in less than 2 weeks and be the next rock star of the writing world. GET OVER IT. If you do manage to do this, you ARE awesome and we will recognize your achievement. If you don’t, you are STILL awesome and will be appreciated for what you did complete.

If you’re “behind” on your word count goal, don’t sweat it. Seriously. Just do what you can, when you can.

If you’re really not feeling excited about the idea you originally chose, opt out. Either start a new novel/project as soon as you can (for example, within the first few days), or alter your outline. Maybe breaking your would-be novel up into a series of short stories works better to obtain 50,000 words by the end of November?

Don’t be afraid to get creative, think outside the box, push the limits.

3. The rest of the world still exists. Remember to cut your family a little slack. Yes, make it clear to them this is a very important thing for you to do, and they need to give you time and space to at least tackle the anticipated word count for the day. But don’t totally lock yourself away from now until Thanksgiving and never engage in human contact in between.

4. Don’t stay off social media. Some NaNo participants swear by refusing to log on to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. so that they don’t get distracted from their ultimate goal. Well, I’m not one of them. While I certainly won’t spend a random 3 hours scrolling aimlessly through my feeds at the moment, I will be touching base with my community. They’re my biggest supporters! We can cheer each other on, or commiserate, share advice, let out the vague whimpers or intense screams that each day of NaNo-ing produces. We are one another’s lifeline!

5. Love yourself as a writer, no matter the outcome. If you win NaNo, you rock. If November 30th comes and you’re at 16,000 words, you rock. If your finished draft is a hot mess of epic proportions, no problem. You still have what it takes to become a polished writer who creates stories and worlds that thrill readers and make them laugh and cry and think.

When December 1st arrives, write on.

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