Roadtrip to NaNo: How to Focus On Your Novel (Code Words Included)

November is nearly here! To get ready, we’re taking a Road Trip to NaNoWriMo. On the way, we’ll hear from writers about how their cities can inspire your novel. Today, Carrie in Wichita, Kansas helps you stay focused :

It wasn’t until 2010 that I actually participated in a NaNoWriMo write-in. While I had done NaNo two years previously, it also wasn’t until 2010 that, not coincidentally, I won for the first time.

Most of us have heard that writing is a lonely business. The common mental picture of an author shows a sleep-deprived, over-caffeinated, stressed–out person desperately pounding away on their keyboard, surrounded by dirty dishes, empty take-out boxes and a very hungry pet quietly napping in the corner.

Being a writer means that you spend a lot of time in your head. Before moving to Wichita, I had never written with other people. I was the writer with the over-caffeinated brain and too-hungry cat. I lived in a small town and felt that leaving my house would cause too many distractions for me to be able to really get into my writing place. But, after two years of not being able to finish my NaNo-novel, I decided to give this group-writing thing a shot. At my first write-in, I spent as much time staring at my screen as I did watching the other writers around me. It was fascinating. And I did almost no writing. But, there was one interaction that inspired me to continue coming.

In a booth next to me there were two men: one was typing furiously on his keyboard—let’s call him Gary—and the other was talking loudly and intensely, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Gary was paying him very little attention. After a few minutes, someone from across the room called Gary over for help, and shortly after, the loud man ended up leaving the cafe.

It was an unremarkable scene, but one that stuck in my mind. A few hours later I found out that Gary, who I had thought was working hard on his novel while he had been typing, had actually been desperately messaging everyone in the cafe to save him from the chatty stranger. This is when I learned about the writing group’s “safe word”—a word that they had all agreed upon to use when they were being helplessly distracted and needed saving. Its use applied to situations large and small: from a talk-happy stranger to a long stint looking at cute animals on Buzzfeed. If someone said Peanut Butter, it meant that they were being overcome by distraction and needed help getting back on track.

That was when I realized how helpful a hands-on writing community could be. One of the hardest parts of writing is staying focused. I have heard writers complain, “I can’t write at home because the chores, kids, pets, Significant Other, or the Universe keeps distracting me.” And writing in public can be just as distracting: the noises, people and general lack of privacy can send our muses running out for coffee. Therefore, being in a situation that is geared specifically to helping you achieve what you need is the best of both worlds: writing alone, in public.

And most of all, don’t forget the Peanut Butter.

Carrie Lower is a mild mannered tax software geek by day and a secret Sci-fi Romance writer by night. She lives in Kansas with her 2 teenagers, 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Photo via Boston Public Library.