Fall back into NaNoWriMo – A Single Quick Tip

As you are probably aware, due to the sudden inundation of blog posts, tweets, and incomprehensible mumbling of assorted writer folks as they rock back and forth in a darkened corner… National Novel Writing Month is approaching.

There are tips and tricks flying left and right. What to eat, what to drink, how often to take breaks, how to cut through writer’s block, how to bribe yourself into meeting your daily word count, how to beat back the temptation to edit as you write.

FreeImages.com/fabrizio turco

But there is one bit of advice I haven’t seen mentioned yet, one I take advantage of every year. All over America, people with excessively regular internal clocks are going to roll over on the morning of November 1, glance at the clock, smile, and settle back in for an extra hour of sleep.

I, however, am going to roll over, haul myself out of bed, and use that time for writing. It only makes sense. I’d be up at that hour, anyway; it’s just that there’s a slightly smaller number attached to that hour, now. I’m not sacrificing anything, just not indulging in the same treat as everyone else. (And there’s the fact that making this a habit spares me the absolute hell of the “Spring Forward” part of Daylight Savings.)

So give it a try. Go ahead and set your clock back an hour, but shift your alarm at the same time. You’re not actually waking up any earlier than usual, after all, and that novel is calling you.