4 Tips to Help You Laser-Focus on Your Writing

Sometimes it’s easy for your writing to get off track, or to feel like you’re falling behind on your journey to NaNo success. Luckily, writer and Wrimo T.J. Rigg has some tips today about how to tame your inner editor and concentrate on your writing:

Whether it’s your first time or your tenth time participating in NaNoWriMo, participating in this challenge can be overwhelming. It’s as easy to get distracted and fall behind in your writing as it is to start a new story; but, if you find what works for you in accomplishing your goal, you’ll get the job done. 

Sometimes, all it takes is a little encouragement and tools to help you stay on track. Here are some hints and tips to help you plow through November and get those 50,000 words onto paper.

#1: Set aside time each day to write

Ideally, you want to set aside an hour of time to write every day in the month. Some people use more time, and others use less, but as a benchmark, try to get at least an hour in each day. You don’t necessarily have to write for one consecutive hour — you could write for ten minutes six times a day — but by setting a time goal and sticking to it, you can easily meet your word count goal.

Depending on how quickly you type (and make sure your inner editor is turned off – more on that in a moment), you can easily hit the target word count of 1,667 a day. When you do set aside time for an hour each day, make sure you…

#2: Minimize distractions

The best thing you can do to stay focused on your writing is to minimize your distractions. For some, this might mean secluding oneself in a room and hanging up a do not disturb sign on the door, so people know not to bother you.

Another distraction can be music or your TV. You might get suckered into belting out your favorite lyrics or watching a great movie when you should be focused on writing. While having on background noise can help you with your writing, make sure it doesn’t draw you away from the task at hand.

#3: Turn off your inner editor

Let’s face it: most of us are perfectionists. Our inner editors usually turn on when we’re trying to write, and they want us to edit our work. It can be tempting to reread what you’ve written for the day, and decide that what you’ve written is no good. Try to refrain from doing that at all costs!

You can always come back and edit your story at a later time. In fact, I am a firm believer in the idea that coming back to a story after some time has passed, so that you read it with fresh eyes, allows you to make better judgments in editing.

#4: Above all, do what works best for you!

You might have reached this point in my blog and disagreed with every suggestion I’ve made — and that’s totally okay! The best way to reach your goal(s) in NaNoWriMo is to do what works best for you.

From having on background noise or none, to having a detailed outline or starting from scratch, to writing daily or piling it on at the last minute, do whatever works best for you.

May the Force be with you, my fellow Wrimos. Let’s get ready to rock this November!

TJ Rigg is a writer disguised as an office assistant. His next NaNo project is a revisit of his old Star Wars fanfic, Birth of the Sith, which was originally written as a fan film back when he was a teenager. You can follow some of writing journey and meet his main characters on his website, tjrigg.com, and follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @_TJ_Rigg.

Photo by Tobias Cornille on Unsplash