More than three hundred THOUSAND writers sprinted from the starting blocks at 12:01 am this morning for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
There will be laughter. There will be tears. There will be millions of words written. And there will be hours upon hours of time, sucked up into the vortex of The NaNoWriMo Novel.
Every time you worry about the hours of practice that goes into one “little” 50,000 word story, watch this and think of all the hours of practice that go into a 30-second routine.
If you don’t enjoy the journey, those hours will be crushing and lonely.
I am an extrovert so my advice is Get involved!
- Buddy up
- Haunt the NaNo Forums
- Go to #WordMongering and #TeamSprinty on Twitter and join some word sprints.
- Attend a local “write-in”
- Employ a nightly reward
Whatever keeps you chasing your goals, do THAT!
I’ll bet the rest of you have different bits of advice for how to get through NaNoWriMo (or any big important project) – I’d love to hear your wisdom down in the comments!
Do you get discouraged with the “time suck” required to get good at whatever your passion is (music, knitting, writing, exercising)? How do you cope with discouragement? Enquiring minds LOVE to know these things here at More Cowbell!
Jenny
Jenny Hansen's Blog 
Wow. That clip was Powerful! Great way to start NaNo, Jenny!
I’ve got my too-tight cheer leading skirt on for all of you!
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Didn’t I tell you, you look hot in the skirt?! Start jumping around, cause we’re all gonna ROCK this month!
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L-O-V-E-D that clip. Better yet, Huey P. ACKard did, too. No freeze frame syndrome. Woot!
Good luck to all the NaNoWriMo writers!
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Awesome, Gloria! So go look for slow motion vids – it sounds like your computer LIKES those. 🙂
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Good luck everyone who is doing this. Maybe next year for me 🙂
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We’ll see you next year for sure, Emma. 🙂
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Great advice. And that video was impressive. She must have practiced for thousands of hours. You have fun with NaNo too, Jenny 🙂
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I always have fun with NaNo…it’s my favorite thing about November, besides my birthday. 🙂
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Loved the video Jenny. It reminds me of how hard other people are willing to work to make their dreams come true and totally fires me up. BAM!
Good luck to everyone doing NANO!
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You know I start cracking up every time you say, “BAM,” right? I just love it. 🙂
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Author Rachel Aaron has a great article on her blog about how she upped her wordcount per day. I just started using her techniques and they work for me ( I’m a slow writer ) so I think it would be super useful for someone doing NANO. It won’t take much time to read her article and you can start implementing right away. Good luck Jenny!
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Oooooo! I’ll have to go check that out, Kate. If you get the chance, post the link, OK?
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Sorry, Jenny! I’ve been swamped. Here’s the link — better late than never. When I looked for the link I noticed a bunch of people have found it helpful too. Hope Day 3 is going well.
http://thisblogisaploy.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-i-went-from-writing-2000-words-day.html
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Thank you, Kate!!! I so appreciate you coming back and doing this. 🙂
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Jenny, cool clip! I’ve never done NaNo, because November is a crazy time of year with kids’ school stuff and holidays. However, after doing Fast Draft for 14 days last June, I got a little taste of what it’s like for you NaNo-ers, and I give a big ol’ AMEN to your tips about not being solitary during the process. My Fast Draft Pals (including you!) were terrific, and on days when I was just GROANING from the exertion of it all, you guys were what kept me going.
And I got 138 pages out of it! I’m convinced I’d still be writing the first draft of that sucker if I had done it my old way, which involved avoidance, stalling, errands, and re-polishing the bowling ball. I hope you don’t mind me plugging my post about the experience; it’s got some quotes from several other fast drafters in the group, and they had FAB advice (including Amy Kennedy’s hysterical tip: “when in doubt, blow up something”): http://kbowenmysteries.com/posts/fast-draft-by-the-numbers/
Good luck, Jenny, and to all you NaNo writers out there! Keep the caffeine coming!
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You absolutely ROCKED Fast Draft, Kathy!! And I’m glad you put that post up. It was so fun to see it all in black-and-white that way. I need to open that loop totally up again in case anyone wants to do NaNo there. 🙂
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I was the impatient sort who would give up if I tried something and wasn’t perfect at it the first time. I think I’ve finally learned the patience and perseverance that it takes to do just about anything. Anyway, have a good NaNo.
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What a lovely comment, John. Patience is always extremely hard-won for me. Sometimes I’m up and sometimes I’m (way) down. But, I’m working on it. NaNoWriMo is part of that for me. 🙂
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Beautiful clip. And did you notice during practice — her calf was bandaged. I’m not doing Nano this year because I’m finishing my next book and publishing, but I know from the past it’s a game changer. Good luck!
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I did notice that her ankle was bandaged – she was pretty banged up across the board. But she kept at it. It is a lovely video. 🙂
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good luck to everyone. I’m stiaying out of nano this year.
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Thanks, Louise!
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