I’ve been feeling calm about NaNoWriMo all month, probably because I’ve been focussed on other things. Like being in Majorca, or attempting to wake up at an ungodly hour every day. Then, over the past couple of days as this week has drawn to a close, I’ve started to feel a creeping sense of panic. This is probably due to the fact that,

1. I, midway through this month, decided to change what story I’d be writing from a cutesy fun adventure story, to a story that’s been sitting in my mind brewing for years and absolutely terrifies me;

2. Whenever I write anything, it’s never more than a thousand words and I have to really push myself to get past the 1500 count;

3. I have to push myself to write every day, and often don’t write unless I’m “inspired” to do so…

4. I’m unemployed and still have to find a damn job while writing this thing!

Taking number  four out of the equation for the moment (and even with it in), I’m left with a pretty bleak picture of how the month is going to go. Based on my current writing performance, it’ll probably look something like this: Month starts off well, in second week writing doesn’t get close to 1000 words per day, end of the month I’ve given  up and am crawling out of a McDonalds seeking comfort and sympathy from the bottom of a chocolate milkshake. That is not what I want to happen.

So, I have devised a strategy for getting through NaNoWriMo, that well, if I’m honest, I have no idea if it’ll help me at all. But with the idea of “failure to plan is planning to fail” behind me, I’m gonna go straight for it!

So without further ado, read my tools and learned advice for NaNoWriMo after the jump…

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Word Count Checker

How many words do you have left to go? What’s your current word-per-day average? I made this Word Checker on Google Docs to find that stuff out. If you want to use it, just make a new copy of the document and write away! (If you edit it or add more stuff to it, let me know so I can check it out, I’d love to see how you adapt it!)

The “Kick my butt” inspiration list

One of the great lessons that NaNoWriMo taught me is that we have to ditch the quality of our work for a first draft. I suffer from “if I don’t feel like writing, I won’t write” syndrome which will surely kill me in NaNoWriMo if I let it take over. So I made this list of things that make me get back on the horse, even if I don’t feel like it, to start writing, even if the idea of doing so makes me wanna cry. My Kick My Butt Inspiration list

A Regular Schedule

Writing 1,667 words every day for 30 days isn’t something that you can just do from thin air, and one of the ways I’m going to combat this is to have a regular writing schedule. I’ve actually set myself a goal higher than 1,667 – I’m going to aim to write 2000 words a day. My plan is to write 500 words before 9am. Then, 500 words around lunch time, 500 words at tea time and 500 words before I go to bed. I’m probably gonna write most of my words at bed time, so hopefully my word count by the end of every day will be 2000+. Of course, I have to still get up relatively early to cram out 500 words before 9am, but I’ve worked out that I can write around 700 words in half an hour if I push myself, so I should be okay. Just… constant, never ending, diligence! Oh boy. (And on the first day, I’ll probably stay

Do  something (and think about something) completely different  when I’m not writing

One of the tricky things about writing is, if you do too much of it at once, it can drive you absolutely insane and the very thought of writing makes you wanna cry… So I’m going to do my best to do something completely different when I’m not writing. This means completely separating myself from my writing device (switch of the laptop, put down the iPad) and just… play the piano, or go for a walk, or just do the dishes or something! I’m pretty sure if I don’t do this, I’ll end up with writers burnout and, while I’ll still be forcing myself through the month, it’ll be a much more depressing, dragging-myself-over-hot-sharp-coals experience.

Do not aim to finish

Last year I failed miserably at NaNo, and not just because I gave up after two days, since I had only decided to attempt it three days prior to November 1st, but because I had this stupid idea that I was going to generate a perfectly formed, finished novel.

Dream on, hooker.

The idea of finishing a 50k novel in a month is a little bit like expecting to get pregnant, BE pregnant and give birth in a month. Its actually more realistic to assume your novel at the end of November will resemble some kind of bizarre, vomited  up thing a cat came up with after eating too much of it’s own hair. Instead, aim for quantity, not quality. Think as this novel as a first draft, or an outline. 50k novels are actually pretty short. A normal, average sized novel is more like 100k(!) but it really depends on the novel. Once the months past, once you’ve kicked out the last few pieces of crap, you can go back and start prettifying things, editing it and turn your quality sensors back on. I like to think of it like emptying your entire filing cabinet on the floor, adding hundreds of ideas, genius to crappy, and then (once it’s all in a nice big mess) going back and organising it into what can be thrown away and what can be improved on.

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Well, that’s all from me for now. Hopefully you’ve found some of that advice and the resources helpful! Let me know what you think in the comments!

Are you taking part in NaNoWriMo? Have you won in the past? Share your tips and tricks for surviving the month in the comments!