How to Recover from NaNoWriMo

[image error]

If you’re like me, after NaNo you feel a little … lost. Sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks. What to do with your life now that you’re not writing like a maniac?

Well, today I’m going to introduce you to my amazing Five-Step Guide to Regaining Your Life after National Novel Writing Month.

So, without further ado, I give you those 5 steps! I hope you enjoy them, that they profit you greatly, and that you end up following, liking, and commenting because of them*.

*I’m a terrible person, really …

[image error]

Set aside your book. Don’t think about it.

Thinking about your book after it’s finished(especially directly after NaNo) is the #1 Cause of the Insanity in the United States.

Really. Don’t even go there for a couple weeks.

When you’re exhausted and emotionally dead is not the time to look at those fifty-nine plot holes. Wait until you regain at least a portion of your mental stability*.

*assuming that happens at all, haha. If not, you might have to edit insane.

Take a deep breath, drink a glass of water, and eat something healthy.

Because you’ve been eating chocolate all month, and otherwise you are going to die of sugar overdose. You need your liver. Trust me.

And normally I’m not a health person*, but this is just common sense.

*I avoid being healthy. Like, routinely.

Read at least a dozen good books.

Immersing yourself in others’ fictional worlds will help you get out of your own and move on. Also, reading is fun, and you probably have a lot of catching up to do after NaNo! It’s a win-win situation.

Enjoy Christmas

And life and basically everything you didn’t enjoy during NaNo!

But especially Christmas. I’m starting to think that God knew when NaNo was and decided to put Christmas right after it just to give me a break*.

At least, that’s one theory …

*Look at me, being slightly irreverent … *decides that you all will forgive me anything* *but maybe not God* *shrugs*

Start another project!

Hopefully not writing, though! At best, you will have another manuscript ready to edit. This is ideal, and what I’m doing with At Her Fingertips at this moment.

However, if this is not the case, DON’T (and I mean don’t!) return to your NaNo project! Only superheroes start editing as soon as they finish writing! YOU DON’T HAVE SUPERPOWERS. Put your novel aside for at least a month. Trust me. It will go well for you.

If you don’t have an editing project, try writing a couple short stories or concentrate on brainstorming and outlining. Or … just set aside anything writing-related for a time and work on other stuff. Either way works.

[image error]

Well, I hope you enjoyed me post! Follow that Five-Step Guide to become the ultimate (and I mean ultimate) SURVIVOR OF NANO. Because you don’t want to just live through NaNo. You want to thrive through it. #cheesy #IDontCare

Until next week,

~Kellyn Roth~

Social Media | Website | Book Blog

p.s.

Did you do NaNo this year? Did you survive? Or is it your ghost typing a comment? Was this post even vaguely helpful? What’s your Hogwarts House? (I’ve never read/watched Harry Potter, but I just found out that mine is Slytherin!)