Prep-Prep for NaNoWriMo

Yes, it’s only September, but for pantsers like me who want to participate in NaNo in two months, now is not too early to begin prep work. In July, Camp NaNo was held, and yours truly once again failed at it. At this point, I think it’s a psychological block. However, I find that I’m more productive in detailing what needs to be done even if I’m unsuccessful in accomplishing them. This, at least, gives me somewhat of a chance to make a dent in my NaNo goals. And that’s a good place to start.

Make goals early. Instead of waiting until the start of NaNo or October to make goals, I find it beneficial to begin in September. This gives me plenty of time to revise or restructure before beginning. For example, one year, I made daily blogging a NaNo goal. I knew the writing itself would consume a lot of time, but researching would take longer. But I couldn’t conduct research if I didn’t know what my topics would be. So, knowing my goal in advance, allowed me to develop a loose plan of how to approach it. I began with making a list of potential topics, and in doing so, realized that was more difficult than anticipated.Finding a partner in crime. One of the fun things about NaNo is that there are various support groups to join. As with anything else, these groups aren’t always perfect or created equally. Some are more active than others. One of the more complex aspects of a writing group is that many times it’s a gamble on the level of help you will receive. Recently, in an online writing group, I posed a question, and I premised the question by specifically stating I wasn’t interested in certain aspects that could be considered controversial. I wasn’t looking to spark a debate. The responses that I received came nowhere close to giving me a viable answer. They were so off the mark, that I questioned if I had written the question in a foreign language. In fact, the responses were so bad that I deleted the thread. In another group, I posed a question, and out of the thousands of members, only received two responses, and those weren’t helpful. The point is, sometimes it takes time to find someone in these types of groups who can be a support to you as you go through this journey.Researching in rabbit holes. I fall into rabbit, mole, and gopher holes all the time when researching, and these holes are deep and travel for miles. I stay in them for days and weeks. However, what is worse than tumbling into a hole is walking into a locked door. The other day, I spent three hours searching for the answer to a question that I never found. I knew I couldn’t be the first and only person to have asked the question, but the internet thought so. After hours of coming up short, I decided on a different approach and abandoned it. Research can be a beast of its own. Actively writing while researching can be extremely difficult. It may be helpful to have the research completed before beginning writing. For pantsers, this can add a higher degree of difficulty because pantsers do not always know what they need to research before they begin writing. However, sometimes, they do. For example, if writing a fantasy about giant earthworms who are consuming the planet, the writer knows he/she will need to know something about earthworms. Since some topics require more time to research, it is necessary to allow adequate time for researching. Beginning a month in advance may not be enough time.Hardware and malfunctions. A few months ago, my laptop crashed. Fortunately, the repair was quick and relatively inexpensive. However, about a week after the repair, I began to notice charging issues. It took several days, but I finally was able to determine it was my battery cord that needed to be replaced. It needed to be ordered. This was an issue that slowed down my writing. Therefore, I knew I had to develop a backup plan in case it went out completely, and I had no way to recharge. Having a backup plan is a good idea year-round. It is extremely important during a thirty-day writing challenge. In the event of a crash, how will you proceed?Rules and rules breaking. I set my own rules for NaNo, and the first is that I don’t use word count as a goal. I’ve explained extensively why I don’t in many previous posts, but in a nutshell, it is because word count is too artificial for the way I write. If a person going on vacation drives from point A to point B, the number of miles between the two can be easily measured. But if the road taken is the wrong one and the driver ends up at point C instead of B, all that time driving has been wasted. Basically, it’s not the quantity of words that matters to me but the quality. Writing 1,000 words means nothing if I can’t use them. Instead, I use projects as goals. For example, with daily blogging, there were several steps (e.g., research, writing, editing, excerpt, uploading, thumbnail, etc.) to complete each blog post. I used the completion of these steps to measure my progress. So, if a post required research, writing, editing, and uploading as the only four steps needed and I only completed the writing and editing, I would determine that only 50% of that post had been completed. I set an overall 85% completion goal for all projects to be considered successful. Decide on rules that are durable to you.Time constraints. This is a biggie. NaNoWriMo is a thirty-day writing challenge. That means writers need to be productive each day. Now, for writers who do not have writing as their full-time job or who have other jobs, finding time to write can be difficult. Mapping out when one will write before the challenge begins is huge. For some writers, it may mean changing daily routines. For others, it could be setting reminders to start writing at a particular time. Still, for others, it may require looking at their day and finding available time slots to write. For me, this relates to the previous point. By knowing the steps each project will take, I can work to eliminate some of them early to free my time for writing. For example, once I decided on topics, I was able to download images for the thumbnails. With that out of the way, it freed up more writing time once NaNo began.Realistic expectations. As I stated when I began this post, I’ve never been successful at NaNo. I’ve come close a few times, but always the bridesmaid and never the bride. One reason for my nonsuccess is that I aim high. If I’m honest, many times my goals have been too out of reach for the amount of time allotted. And it’s okay to have huge goals if you’re not bothered by not reaching them. Last year, I created a very unforgiving goal for myself. I was on track, but then a setback outside of my control happened. It was so devastating that it drained me of motivation for several days. By the time I got my writing mojo back, I couldn’t meet the deadline. In hindsight, had I allowed for more flexibility, I likely would have met my goal. Yet, I’m okay with not quite getting there. Was it disappointing? Yes. However, I like to go big, and sometimes, that doesn’t work out. But writers can’t have goals that are so big that it paralyzes them from writing and being productive.

That wraps up this post. Now, it’s your turn to sound off. What did you think? What is your take on the subject? Do you agree or disagree? Did you find this information helpful or informative? Did you learn anything new, or did it change your opinion? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section. Also, let me know if you would like me to cover more of these types of topics or dive deeper into this one. If you like this post, please click the like button and share it. Your feedback allows me to know the content that you want to read. If you’re not following me on Creole Bayou blog, what are you waiting for? There’s always room at the bayou.

Get ready. It’s time to hit the ice again. Future Goals has arrived and is available.

When a college hockey player needs the help of an attractive older attorney, he gets more than he bargained for when trying to sort out the troubles in his career. Falling in love was never part of either man’s plan, especially as Corrigan’s and Sacha’s lives should never have collided. Now they’re left questioning if they’re standing in the way of the other’s future goals, or if there’s room for redirection.

Order your copy at:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RjPYb9

Other booksellers: https://bit.ly/3CI8d5W

Missed the first four books in my hockey romance series? No frets. Out of the Penalty Box (book #1), where it is one minute in the box or a lifetime out, is available at http://amzn.to/2Bhnngw. It also can be ordered on iTunes, Nook, or Kobo. For more links on where to purchase or to read the blurb, please visit http://bit.ly/2i9SqpH.

Defending the Net (book #2) can be ordered at https://amzn.to/2N7fj8q or www.books2read.com/defending. Crossing the line could cost the game.

Ice Gladiators (book #3) is the third book in my Locker Room Love series. When the gloves come off, the games begin. Available at https://amzn.to/2TGFsyD or www.books2read.com/icegladiators.

Penalty Kill (book #4) retakes the ice. Get a copy at https://amzn.to/3ex0N9p or https://amzn.to/3ex0N9p and let the pucker begin.

For more of my stories, shenanigans, giveaways, and more, check out my blog, Creole Bayou, www.genevivechambleeconnect.wordpress.com. New posts are made on Wednesdays, and everything is raw and unscathed. Climb on in a pirogue and join me on the bayou.

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Until next time, happy reading and much romance. Laissez le bon temps rouler.

Author Bio

Genevive Chamblee resides in the bayou country where sweet tea and SEC football reign supreme. She is known for being witty (or so she thinks), getting lost anywhere beyond her front yard (the back is pushing it as she’s very geographically challenged), falling in love with shelter animals (and she adopts them), asking off-the-beaten-path questions that make one go “hmm”, and preparing home-cooked Creole meals that are as spicy as her writing. Genevive specializes in spinning steamy, romantic tales with humorous flair, diverse characters, and quirky views of love and human behavior. She also is not afraid to delve into darker romances as well.