3 Tips for Staying Motivated During NaNoWriMo

I’ll say one thing about NaNoWriMo that might be a little controversial: I don’t actually think it’s that much of a challenge.

Put down your pitchforks. In terms of a challenge for writing, it’s not that much of a challenge literally, on paper. If you, like me, are paid to write, then writing 1,666 words a day isn’t a stretch. On average, one of my blog posts in 1,000 words or so; if I write one and a half blog posts a day, I meet that goal easy. If I write a marketing strategy for a client, they average about 5,000 words; I have tripled that. If I write email marketing for a client, at 300-500 words per email, I meet that goal in 4 emails or so. If you think about NaNoWriMo in pure word counts, it’s really not that hard.

The challenge, of course, always mental. People sabotage themselves by editing through NaNoWriMo, deciding they don’t like a plot line or a character or how they’ve written something. It goes without saying: NaNoWriMo is not the time to perfect your story. Save that for December, or better yet, January! NaNoWriMo is about word vomiting 50,000 words into existence.

I had a minor tiff with someone in a writing group this past week who was upset at people talking about NaNo being an opportunity to just get 50,000 words out. “I write with intention,” they said, “with the idea that I won’t need to edit it at the end.”

Whew! Girl, have a seat! No one cares!

If you write with the intention that you’ll never need a 2nd draft, first of all, good luck with that. (It’s literally not possible. Every story you’ve ever read has been meticulously edited not just once or twice, but 10+ times. I guarantee it.) But if you go into NaNoWriMo with that mindset, you’re going to have an even worse time. Why? Because you’ll get behind fast; you’ll second guess yourself; you won’t be able to meet the goal.

So how can you stay motivated during NaNoWriMo to just write, write, write without second guessing what you’ve written? Let’s talk strategies, my writing darlings!

1. Write Without Looking.

Don’t go back and read what you’ve written. Period. End of story. If it helps, once you’re done with a scene… turn the font color to white so you actually can’t look at it. I followed this tip for my first 2 NaNoWriMos because the urge to go back and change things was so strong.

Basically, the less you go back and read what you’ve written the better. If you need to remember a specific detail (did I say the walls were grey or green?) then search for it using the search function in your word processor… don’t start reading past scenes. You’ll only get stuck in the quagmire of self doubt. Remember: it’s a first draft, not a last draft. No one is asking you to write a perfect novel… just 50,000 words.

2. Use Placeholders to Advance the Plot if you Need To

Sometimes, when I’m writing, I’ll get stuck. I need to write a transition scene, but I can’t think of one yet—but I do know exactly how I want the next scene to go. So, here goes a placeholder: [TRANSITION SCENE] or [KEYWORD SCENE].

Placeholders are the perfect solution from getting stuck on something for minutes, hours, or even days. If you stick in a placeholder, you can quickly hit your goal and give yourself time to think of that scene, then go back and add it in. This method isn’t perfect; you can use placeholders too much (cut to me with a word doc of ALL placeholders, scream crying into the abyss). I limit myself to one per chapter, with the intention to go back and fill it in within at least two or three days.

3. Follow Your Outline

Oh, you don’t have an outline? I won’t judge you for being a pantser; my first NaNoWriMo was a pants situation. About halfway through, I forgot my main character’s last name and I had list the single sheet of notes where I’d written this information. So I wrote a new last name. Is this novel good? No. Does it have a plot? Also no. Do I recommend this method to anyone who wants to actually finish NaNoWriMo? Definitely no.

I’m a firm believer in planning. I even have a free NaNoWriMo guide to write the easiest possible outline in the world. If you have an outline, you’ll never get stuck; you’ll never find yourself 10,000 words in wondering where to go next. If you have an outline and character details in place in advance, you’re going to be fine; your only challenges will be mentally getting over a few hurdles.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? Tell me how you’re doing!

3 Things to Know About NaNoWriMo

Are you tired of NaNoWriMo blog posts?! I hope not! Because I definitely have more of them.

I feel like NaNoWriMo is one of those topics that once I get started on it, I actually can’t stop. I just keep talking about it. I have so much to say and for a long time, I kept myself from talking about it. I didn’t want anyone to think I was weird or… worse, ask to read my writing. (No, you can’t! I love you! But you can’t! I’ll die of embarrassment!)

Anyway, all I’m saying is: I have a lot to say. If you’re new to NaNoWriMo, I want to help you get acquainted. I find a lot of joy from NaNoWriMo: it’s really fun to take on a project every year. And every year that I succeed, I remind myself that I can do it. I can complete big projects and hit my goals, even if sometimes I worry that I can’t. And in the process, I write a story that I want to read and I’m all the better for it.

So, what’s this blog post about, you ask? 3 things you need to know for NaNoWriMo. Whether you’re a NaNo newbie or an old hat (I’m so sorry you’re an old hat) (that’s a very good joke, I hope you laughed), here are 3 NaNoFacts that you NaNoNeed.

1. The official word counter on NaNoWriMo has the last word.

And if it’s off, well, you’re out of luck.

Two years ago, I finished my story (51,000 words according to Google Docs!), copied-and-pasted it into the NaNo word counter, and… it was 49,000 words.

That’s right: somehow, my counter in Google Docs was off by 2,000 WORDS. I almost screamed. I threw a tantrum on Twitter. Emailed NaNoWriMo support. Then, I looked at my Google Doc, scrolled up and added onto scenes as needed. Copy and paste again? Still 200 words short. I was nearly in tears. It took me an extra TWO HOURS (I still nearly sob thinking of it!) to wrote those 2,000 missing words. But I did and I did it.

This leads me to this: you can use the NaNoWriMo word counter throughout the month to validate your word count as you go. This helps you know if you’re word processor’s counter is off (and nearly all my processors have been off at some point) and can help you readjust your expectations beforehand. So word to the wise: beware the counters.

2. It’s ok to modify to your specifications.

But Michelle, 1700ish words PER DAY? And then you start crying. (It is Libra season, feel free.)

Here’s what I’m saying: to win NaNoWriMo, you need to write about 1666 words per day for the 30 days of November. However, you can bump that to 2000 words per day and finish faster. Or, if you feel totally overwhelmed by that number, think of it THIS way! 1666 words per day is about 11,667 per week, or 12,000 words per week if you round up slightly.

So, you could think of each week as a big number (12,000 words) that you’re trying to wittle down as fast as possible. Or you could think of each day as a small number.

No matter how you think of it, there are ways to hit that number. (Trust me.)

However, if you really, really hate the idea of trying to write that many words per day and you want to fight it, here’s all I’m going to say: you really don’t have to.

Let’s say you want to do a poetry NaNoWriMo and write 30 poems in 30 days. Great! They don’t need to be 1667 words! You won’t be able to validate them officially, but if you want to write NaNoWriMo your own way, then godspeed, you crazy writer, you.

3. It is possible for anyone to finish.

Sometimes, I find people get caught up in the “can’t” of it all: they can’t because it won’t be good, it won’t get published, they won’t have time, they will get behind, and on and on. Bless them, but here’s the thing: what you write for NaNoWriMo does not have to be good. Isn’t that freeing!? You don’t have to write the next Great American Novel! You don’t even have to write a GOOD novel! But you’re much closer to writing a good novel, a great novel, if you write a novel. So whether you want to write for the fun of it (me) or you’ve always dreamed of publishing (maybe you!), starting now and making yourself finish 50,000 words in 1 month is a bigger step than saying you want to write a novel for 10 years and never getting to it.

Whenever I think about this, I like to this of this quote from Ira Glass:

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Even the best writers and best artists have first drafts that are not very good. Good photographers have to take bad photos to start. All I’m saying is this: the sooner you get past writing all the bad stuff that you’ll hate, the sooner you can get to writing stuff that is good, that makes you feel good.

And, it’s time to talk about the time thing. I don’t have a lot of spare time either. I’m a freelance copywriter with a 3 (almost 4!)-year-old, a husband, a dog, and a house. I have friends & family and social events. I have finished NaNoWriMo at least 6 times (it’s kind of hard to remember as I get older, but since 2010!); the only time I didn’t finish was in 2015, when Forrest was a newborn—and even then, I wrote 30,000 words. So yes, if you want to complete NaNoWriMo, you can make the time. You can get ahead and schedule your time well and really go for it—and prove to yourself that you can write. So what are you waiting for? (And you should totally download my free NaNoWriMo planning guide here.)