NaNoWriMo. . . Unofficially
by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
Although I’ve never officially participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I’ve fed off of the productivity of others and increased my own for the month. If you’re American and have Thanksgiving in your future, this is no small feat!
In the past, my approach has been to hang out in some of the forums on the site. You can look up general categories or a specific genre to find helpful advice and motivation (you’ll need a login to do so). These are very active threads, I’ve found, so make sure to set yourself a timer or it may be a time suck.
This year, I’m trying a couple of new things. One of them is the NaNoWriMo writing sprints on Twitter, @NaNoWordSprints . They run all day long and are hosted by different writers. From what I’ve seen, there are 10 minute, 15 minute, and 20 minute sprints. If you’re feeling a little stuck, or are hesitant about your manuscript, the sprints can provide a good way to make progress.
The other thing is a virtual write-in sponsored by NaNoWriMo on YouTube. It looks like they have different hosts for these events, but have the same basic structure (which they mention below). Might be another good way to run through a sprint and get a little inspiration at the same time. Find these on the NaNoWriMo channel.
If you are looking for more of a local writing connection, you can search regions on the NaNo site, here. And, depending on where you live, your local library may have regional events, like mine does.
As I mentioned, I’m not officially participating…I’m simply upping my daily goals in different areas: an outline I’m working on and a new project I’m starting to write (that’s already outlined). In the past, I’ve even used the NaNo time period to write blog posts or research writing-related tasks. I made a list a couple of years ago of other ideas for productivity during NaNoWriMo:
Ideas for rebelling:
Write nonfiction, or write your nonfiction outline/table of contents
Write essays (or freelance articles), a memoir, etc.
Work on several projects that need completing
Revise a project that you’ve already drafted.
Finish a work-in-progress
Write an outline for a project.
Write and send queries, if pursuing traditional publishing or freelance writing
Research and upload your existing books to aggregators like PublishDrive, StreetLib, Draft2Digital, or Smashwords in order to expand your reach.
Research and upload your books to a POD distributor like IngramSpark.
Set a smaller goal. Instead of shooting for the 50,000 words of NaNo, shoot for 30,000. Or just 15,000–whatever you think you can manage and that represents an increase of what you’re doing now. Or plan on finishing a novella for your email newsletter list or as a free book
Write a blog post every day for a month (think how far you’ll get ahead on your editorial calendar, if you don’t post every day).
The idea is to set a writing-related goal and meet it. What’s something that you need to make quick progress on?
Are you doing NaNoWriMo…either officially or unofficially?
NaNoWriMo . . . Unofficially:
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