Preparing for NaNoWriMo

It’s been a while since I’ve done National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. The primary reason being I was in grad school and I didn’t have the time. Plus, it was hard to maintain that kind of writing prowess to reach a large word-count in a month’s time. So what makes me think I can (or should) do NaNoWriMo now? 

For starters, I’m older, so hopefully I’m wiser. And there are a  few things I did take away from my past NaNoWriMo experience. They are as follows: 

1. Select your story 

If you’re anything like me, you probably have a few WIPs (or works-in-progress) already underway, so you have some options to choose from. But the advice I’d give is to choose the one you’re most passionate about at this time. Don’t choose a WIP that you don’t like or that feels overwhelming to tackle in a month. While writing can be hard, it should also be fun too.

2. Pick a doable word count 

You only have one month, and while many suggest you begin at 50,000, know that you don’t have to if you don’t want to. Pick a word count that works best for you. It could be 20,000 or 30,000 or even less than 10,000. Just something that feels achievable in a month’s time. 

3. Writing Time 

Pick a time of day when you’ll have time to write and/or will be most able to write. Now what do I mean by this. Because I work 9 to 5, the best time for me to write is after work, however, this isn’t the time I'm most able to write. First thing in the morning or during the twilight hours is when my writing juices flow best. So figure out when works best for you. 

4. Create a chart/spreadsheet

This one is totally optional. But if you want some ideas, then keep reading. 

When I first started on my novel for my thesis, I actually created a graph. The horizontal line (X axis) was the day and the vertical (Y axis) was the words written.