How to Get Your Friends to Do NaNo with You and Keep You Accountable

With Camp NaNoWriMo coming up, it’s important to make some great writing friends that keep you accountable and motivated. How do you do that? Roni Vayre, who’s been participating (and winning) NaNoWriMo since 2019, has some advice. She’s drafted 3 different novels through NaNo, and it’s all because her friend introduced it to her.

In 2019, I had been mulling over the idea of writing a novel, when a friend texted me about a writing challenge that happened every November. I hadn’t heard of National Novel Writing Month before, but intrigued and motivated by my friend, I signed up immediately. That first year, I won NaNoWriMo with a few days to spare! 

All of my writing efforts and accomplishments over the past few years are thanks to that friend, who kindly invited me to be a part of a writing challenge. I don’t think she realized how impactful that invitation was, but participating in NaNo has helped me grow into a more confident writer. It’s given me motivation to write and the momentum to keep writing. Something compelled her to share the organization with me and I’m forever grateful she did. 

Here are some tips to getting your friends to do NaNo and keep each other accountable!

Invite a friend

If you’re a NaNo fan, having friends to write with is so helpful! Writing with friends will help you stay accountable to your word count goal, give you motivation to keep going, and give you someone to moan and groan with when writing is hard. But best of all, it gives you someone to celebrate with when you reach your final word count! 

Send a text to a friend you think might be interested or post on a social channel to invite anyone to join in our beloved writing challenge. You can also use the forums and regional groups in the NaNo dashboard to connect with people who are already planning to write and want to find new writing buddies!

Plan Write-Ins and Word Sprints

Once you’ve recruited your people, plan daily or weekly write-ins together. These can be in-person or virtual! Write-ins are great for keeping everyone accountable to their writing for a specified amount of time. Say your hellos, then set a timer, and get writing. Even if you get stuck after 10 minutes, writing with others will help you keep trying until the time is up! And if you’re writing with someone who you trust with your creative ideas, you have someone to brainstorm with at the end. 

A fun way to write with others is to head over to Twitter for @nanowordsprints and challenge each other to a couple sprints each day! Word sprints with friends are great if you don’t have a lot of time for writing and you enjoy some friendly competition. 

Humans are social creatures (even us introverts!) and we thrive on interaction with others, so invite a friend or two to write with you for Camp NaNoWriMo this year! They may discover they love the challenge and will be hooked on NaNo for years to come!

Roni Vayre is a not-yet-published author, freelance writer, and Marketing Director. When she’s not writing, copy-editing, or making episodes of The Plan to Eat Podcast , she can be found in the mountains with her husband and their English Mastiff, Animas. You can connect with her online through her website: www.ronivayre.com  or Instagram: @ronivayre

Photo by Dylan Gillis on Unsplash