First, can I just give a shout out to all our NaNo-ing friends who hit the 50,000 word mark? Woo-hoooo!!!! You guys ROCK!!!
Second, if you participated this year – or anytime you’re challenging yourself to write more – and you didn’t hit the mark you were aiming for, sit down for a second and look for the take-away.
What you may find is that with the holidays and family and travel and cooking, November is just never going to be a good time for you. Then have your own event with your friends another time of the year.
You may decide that the number of words is not working for you, but you consistently hit another mark. Maybe you’ll find that 30,000 words in 30 days challenges you but also allows you to “win.”
Or instead of working with someone else’s artificial goal, like NaNoWriMo, use the energy they’re creating to get a jump start, but come up with your own goal. That’s what I did this year.
When NaNo started, I hadn’t written consistently in about a year. I’d been preparing to move, then traveling to see family, then moving, then apartment-hunting, then unpacking. (It’s been a long year!) More than anything, what I wanted and needed was to re-establish some writing routines. So I made that my number one goal for NaNoWriMo, above and beyond finishing a first draft.
It worked.
I decided that it wasn’t just butt-in-chair that I needed to focus on. I also wanted to focus on how I best tell a story. How much planning do I do beforehand, right after I start, in the middle, and even at the end? (I do a little bit all the time.) What time of day worked best for me? (Surprisingly, anytime between 6am and 6pm.) Should I allow myself to check email before I started, or not until I hit a certain page count? (I get to work faster and hit my mark faster, mostly, if I can’t check email until I write 2000 words.) Did exercise help? (I exercised the first two weeks, and didn’t during the last two weeks. My total word count was greater when I exercised. I think this is relevant because in the past I’ve always written more words in the last two weeks of NaNo.)
Some people got the colorful icon to put on their web site or in their emails to show they won during NaNoWriMo 2009. That’s cool. I got the satisfaction of feeling I “won” back my writing routines. Now if I can just keep them up during the Christmas season and into the new year, that will be very cool!
NOTE: Someone created a Yahoo Group called 100 Words Challenge to keep up the NaNo momentum. The idea is to write at least 100 words a day, every day. Everyone is free to join here. Let us know if you join and how it goes for you. Have fun and good luck!
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3 users responded in this post
You’re right, butt in chair is not the be all and the end all of writing. I’m in front of the computer every morning between 4:30 & 5 a.m. with the intentions of writing or editing, but some days I get nothing done. I get involved with posts on my sidebar (yours included), twitters, email, the news, children and before I know it my day is gone.
Not to day though….hopefully.
Congratulations on establishing that writing routine. That is something I’ve been trying to do for years. I suppose it just comes down to doing it. Not wanting to do it or trying to do it. Not wishing or waiting or whining. But doing it. Butt in chair! I think that’s going to be my new mantra…won’t that be funny when I suddenly, spontaneously blurt it out!
Happy Wednesday,
Jen
I’m so glad you guys are not only empathizing, but also commenting. It reminds me that an entire 48 hours had gone by without writing because I had “good reasons” (i.e., getting ready to leave town for a week). Here I just told you I’d finally gotten some good routines going and then I was back in my OLD routine of having good reasons not to write “just for today.”
So! Thanks to you guys, I’m going to get in at least 30 minutes today, and throughout the weekend to make up for the 2 days I missed.
I’m feeling better about this already! And remember – it’s about time we started talking about 2010 goals! So start thinking!
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