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Are You Ready to NaNo?
 Posted by Elisa Beatty Oct 14 2011, 12:43 am in nano, NaNoWriMo Writers, charge your laptops!You might also want to buy some sturdy planks and nails to board up your writing-room door (though definitely leave a little slot for your loved ones to pass in meals and frequent cups of hot coffee) ‘cause it’s almost time to NaNo!!!
If you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it’s National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide challenge to crank out 50,000 new words of a novel in just 30 days! Back in 1991, twenty-one story-crazy folks near San Francisco got together for the very first NaNo. Not only did they emerge victorious, they convinced other people to join them for Year Two—and 140 people signed up. In Year Three, five thousand participated. Last year, more than 200,000 espresso-fueled novelists from all over the world took part and collectively produced over 2.8 billion words in one month. Yeah, that’s 2.8 BILLION. Want a piece of that? You can sign yourself up right now at nanowrimo.org. NaNoWriMo is completely free (though donations are welcome), it’s incredibly fun, and there’s LOTS of support to meet your goal. The NaNo website lets you make your own Author Page where you get a groovy progress graph to track your progress. You’ll also get inspirational posts by published writers, cool Participant icons to post to your website, chances to team up for accountability with other NaNo-ers, competitive worldwide tracking of word counts for each region (will the San Francisco East Bay Region beat France this year??), plus great live events like The Night of Writing Dangerously where you and your laptop can party down in a local cafe with other participants and the beverage(s) of your choice for madcap marathons of writing brilliance. The whole thing has a wonderful sense of creative wackiness that’s liberating and playful and will have your Muse dancing the mambo. This will be my third time doing NaNo, and I’m as excited for November 1 as a five-year-old on Christmas Eve. As crazy as my life is (kids, aging parents, a ramshackle house with an apparently violent poltergeist in the plumbing system, a super-demanding teaching job, tons of evening meetings, and hobgoblins who pile up dishes and laundry and pet hair around my house while I’m away at work all day), NaNo is a beautiful shining rainbow of surefire creative energy and a virtual guarantee that I will emerge on the other side with many, many new pages written. Last year, coming in for my second NaNo, I posted some advice for NaNo-ers here on the Ruby blog. This year, some of that advice remains the same, but some is different. Here are my 2011 tips on how to survive and thrive: Be loud and proud: This was my #1 tip last year, and it’s my #1 this year as well. Tell EVERYONE you know that you’re doing NaNo. Post your daily word-counts on Facebook, put up a sign at work with regular updates, buy a NaNo t-shirt and wear it regularly, ask a friend to call each night to check up on you. People will cheer you on—and you won’t want to face the public shame if you give up halfway. If you do NaNo in secret, it will be all too easy to let it slide. (For the record: I’ll be back here mid-November with a Field Report on my own progress. I know that the fear of having to tell you all I’ve slacked off will help me stay on target. Hey, it works. And I want that WINNER icon to put on my website…not to mention a brand-spankin’-new manuscript draft I didn’t have on October 31!)
Loosen up: Mathematically, if you want to write 50,000 words in 30 days, you’ve got to hammer out an average of 1667 words each day. For some of you, that may sound like chump change. For others, that number may be daunting. But remember: nobody says they have to be good words. To get the most out of NaNo, forget quality. Go for sheer quantity. As Nora Roberts famously said, “I can’t revise a blank page.” By November 30, you’ll have new pages—pages and pages and pages and pages—all ready to revise. Hurray!! With my overscheduled life, I can’t devote more than an hour or so a day to NaNo, but I can still do those 1667 words if I just sit down and pound them out. So send your Inner Editor on a lovely Caribbean cruise, take playwright Jean-Claude von Itallie’s dictum “Dare to be stupid!” as your mantra, and let the craziness flow. Tape little squares of sandpaper to your Delete and Backspace keys so you’ll remember not to use them. Turn down the brightness on your monitor so you barely see your words. Set a timer and just keep typing (even if you just write nonsense) for fifteen minutes at a time. Have a glass of wine, or play Scandinavian Death Metal on your headphones, or speak your words into a recorder as you walk at your fastest possible pace around the block…whatever you need to do to bypass the overly logical, critical parts of your brain. Plan ahead: Of course, there’s no rule against being logical right now. Even if you’re a pantser, you’ll be doing your November self a favor if you do some sketching out of your potential NaNo novel over the next couple of weeks. Even just making a list of a dozen or so distinct scenes you think your novel will probably need is a good idea. Then you can just grab and go on those November nights when your brain is fried. For those of you with plotter genes, you’re in luck: the supremely awesome Larry Brooks over at storyfix.com is currently running a great series of posts with all sorts of elaborate prep work you can do so you’ll NaNo like a rock star come November 1. Ditch the guilt: I said this last year, and I’ll say it again. If you’re a mom, remember that you owe this to yourself. An hour or two a day of NaNo-ing will not cause your kids to starve or your house to fall to ruins. The little guys can eat frozen pizza and your husband can scrub the toilets. Really. It’s just one month of the year. (Oh, and find a relative to host Thanksgiving. You can volunteer to bring the pies…and buy them from a bakery.) Make It Work for You: Theoretically, NaNo rules say you should start a brand new novel on November 1. Which is a beyond fabulous thing to do. I was lucky enough to sit at lunch one day with the charming, generous, and inspiring NaNo founder Chris Baty, and he talked about his twelve NaNo novels as “timber” he was storing up for later years: all those new ideas fleshed out that he can return to any time. But if your goal is publication soon, and (like me) you struggle to find time to get writing done in your busy life, I’m all for bending the NaNo rules to suit your needs. My first year, I’d already written the first 50 pages of a novel I hoped to submit for Golden Heart, and used NaNo to write the rest of an 80,000 word first draft. Last year, when my life was especially scattered because of multiple medical crises in my extended family, I jumped back and forth between a brand new novel, new sections of an older, unfinished manuscript draft, and pages of a novella I dreamed up on the spot. No matter how frazzled I was, I could usually pick up some thread in one or another of those plots that I could move forward with for the night. This year, I’m hoping to finish the novel I started last year, but I’m ready to bounce around between manuscripts any time I’m stuck. The point for me is new pages written, and I know I’ll get that. There’s always January: Okay, I know some of you are going to say, “Well, all that sounds fabulous for methamphetamine freaks, but there’s just no @#%&**!! way I can do it in November, with all the holiday pressure at my house.” You’re not alone…and the good news is, the Rubies have got your back!! You’re hereby invited to join us here in mid-January for the Second Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival, which is intentionally scheduled for AFTER the craze of the holiday season (’cause, you know, we’re women, and we understand). You can read about last year’s Festival here, and you can sign up to participate in December. (FYI: the Winter Writing Festival is a great time to work on revisions of your NaNo work, especially if you’re trying to polish up a Golden Heart draft!!) So who else is going to NaNo this year? If you’ve done it before, what was your experience like, and what survival tips have you got to share?Share:
              
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I have to admit this freaks me out. To begin with I am such a slow writer. I HAVE to go back and check what I’ve done. So much of what you say is good advice for the everyday ordinary writing process. In particular the guilt. Get over it! Take this time for your selves. As for Thanksgiving –it isn’t about the food it’s about being together and being grateful to have each other. Think back, do you really remember the ‘perfect’ dinners? Aren’t you more likely to remember the time the stove blew up and you had PNB sandwiches your mom used cookie cutters to cut in the shape of turkeys and pumpkins? Give your kids a great memory. Like –remember the year mom was in that crazy writing thing and we had cheese spray and crackers to eat and got to watch football all day and play video games with no one bothering us?
Go for it ladies!
Amen, Rita!
The Thanksgivings I remember best are the ones when I ran wild with the cousins. There may have been sweet potatoes spattered over the walls, but it was primo family time!
I guess I’m going to be unofficially doing NANO this year. Because I have a book due December 1 and I’ve got about half of it written, and a boatload of business commitments between now and the end of October which have completely soaked up all of my time. So I’ll probably have to come up with 40K words between November 1 and December 1.
I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
But knowing all these other people who are doing NANO makes it less miserable, somehow.
BTW, I’m definitely letting my daughter do the cooking this Thanksgiving.
Oh, definitely sign up and make it official, Hope! It makes it so much easier, and so much more fun!
I unofficially join in also. this year for Thanksgiving it’s looking like lobster and adult beverages by the pool.
Can I RSVP now?
Seriously, how fun would THAT be? To sit around writing and indulging in easy foods rather than getting out the good plates and shopping and planning and cooking and cleaning…. oh my, I think writing 1667 words a day for a month is much less stressful! LOL
Okay…I REALLY want to come for Thanksgiving at your house!! I’ll bring the Mai-Tais!
Come on over!
I have to say all the media holiday hype turns me off. It really is more fun and better emotionally to enjoy each other first. A couple of years back three of us gals went to the beach to watch the sunrise. We had mimosas (champagne and orange juice) and sticky buns. We were treated to a blood red sunrise. I have pics. Had, gawd I can’t remember what to eat. Took a nap by the pool and sat on the dock to watch the sunset. No stress about where we were going to eat lunch then dinner then dessert. We’ve done it most years since and pretty much decided to do the same this year. If you must have turkey have a weenie roast and use turkey franks
One of these years I’ll have life together enough to do it during November, but it’s just a tough month family wise. Why I’m looking forward to the Ruby Winter Writing festival!
Hurray! Me too! I got so much done during last year’s RSSWWF!!
For those of you who weren’t with us last year, the Winter Writing Festival doesn’t pre-ordain a particular daily word count. Instead you set your own terms for earning one point a day (check out the links above for more details).
I never cease to be amused by the fact that NaNoWriMo spans Thanksgiving. I can just imagine a handful of dudes thinking, “Well, what else have we got going on in November? We’ve got that nice holiday toward the end where we’ll be presented with a fantastic meal and a couple of days off; may as well make use of it!”
LOL – I can totally see those dudes!
I usually bump up my daily word count goal to get done in 3 weeks if I can. Then I take a few days off for Thanksgiving (the kids get the whole week off – yikes), and then I’m ready to get back at it for the last few days of November. If all else fails, I tell hubby I have to work and get out of the house (and away from the family) for a few hours if I need to. Win-win.
Excellent! Another NaNo veteran! I’m so impressed that you go for 50,000 in just three weeks!
Since I’m a teacher, that week off at Thanksgiving is actually golden writing time for me. Yeah, my own two kids are home, but that’s still WAY more peaceful than spending my day in classrooms with thirty boisterous teenagers. (I love my students, but I am TIRED at the end of the day!!)
Anne Marie, I do this as well. I try to get as much done in the first three weeks as possible so that I can give myself a little slack at the end.
Oh good – we’ll go insane together.
LOL, Jamie!
According to NaNo legend, after doing the first NaNo in July, the pioneer NaNo-ers moved it to November to “take advantage of the miserable weather,” which in San Francisco terms means the beginning of the rainy season.
They were also mostly single folks in their early twenties, and not particularly responsible for feeding hordes of hungry relatives for the holiday.
Thanks to your prodding last year, Elisa, I got through NaNo unscathed. Well… tired, overcaffeinated, and bushy-haired… but not permanently scarred.
And I had all those lovely **new** words, including my two favorites: THE END. I’d never written them before! And they made me weep. Seriously, I wept (as my husband took pictures and cheered me on.)
Some days, writing my 1667 words was like pulling teeth, other days, the muses put my brain on autopilot and made my fingers fly, pumping out tons of charming scenes and weird twists I hadn’t expected. There was also a fair share of dreck… but that’s what the RSWWF is for!
My son and husband survived. The dogs shedded. My microwaved hummed and my coffee pot gurgled. I greeted the morning of December 1st in good spirits.
And… even better than all of that? I had a CD with a “completed” msanuscript to include with the 50 polished pages of my Golden Heart entry — something I’d have never had without the prodding fingers of NaNO and my most excellent critique partner.
This year? I’m in.
Oh yeah… I’m most DEFINITELY in!
Woo-hoo!!! I can’t wait to hear that you’ve written THE END for the second time!!!
You made incredible use of NaNo last year, and I know you’ll do it again!
I LOVE THIS POST!!! I’m getting really excited about NaNo. Of course, I get excited every year and have yet to win. BUT! I did manage to write the first draft of Third Grave (65,000 words) in 15 days. I know I can do it. It’s just a matter of actually doing it during the month of November. LOL.
This definitely helps! Thanks so much, Elisa! ~D~
65,000 words in 15 days!!! Wow, you are a star!! (Though I think Gwynlyn may still have you beat on that crazy marathon she did the other year…I can’t quite remember the numbers.)
Definitely sign up for NaNo!! Use the first three weeks like Anne Marie does–you’ll get so much done!
One of my chapter mates did 50,000 words in 7 days. I so wish I could do that! LOL. I’ll definitely sigh up! Thanks, Elisa!
Good lord, that’s….oh, I can’t do the math…HOW many words per day? I’m not sure I could TYPE that fast. Amazing!!! See, NaNo is EASY!!
My engine’s been rarin’ to go since last week. This story has been in my head for the past couple months, put on hold during edits of another story. But now that’s done and I started plotting out scenes for the new one this week. I was amazed at how quickly the first half of my book is shaping up. Can’t wait to get my story going!
And The Winter Writing Festival will be perfect for finishing those last 40,000 after the holidays!
Off to sign up for NaNo…
Oh, that’s right! I haven’t officially signed up yet myself! Off to do that!
As of right now I am planning on participating. This sounds like a wonderful thing and hopefully I will be able to finish the book I am working on. I can use all the encouragement and prodding I can get. Thank you for this post.
Great to hear it, Melanie! Yes, sign up NOW and tell everyone you know you’re making the commitment! It really does work!
I love this! It’s just the kick-in-the-pants I need! Thanks!
Excellent, Tish! Good luck with your 50,000!!
Your enthusiasm is spilling over. It really sounds awesome so I’m going to think on it. I need serious wordcount in Novemeber, so it sounds like making that commitment might be a smart decision.
But whatever I decide, good luck to you! I think you will win this year! Go, Elisa!
Oh, I KNOW I will win!!! An army of rabid wildebeests couldn’t stop me!
Now THAT’S dedication. Go, Elisa!
Hmm…ok, I’ve never done NaNo because the timing really sucks for me…but I have to admit, you made it sound feasible, Elisa.
I may do it unofficially this year, though, because about a week ago I typed the words THE END to a solid draft of my WIP and I’m now focused on revising, revising, revising, as I prep for the GH. So I’m thinking about how I could turn NaNo into a tool for revisions, rather than new words.
I might go for a time goal–revise 20 minutes a day? (If I make it too long, I’ll find it daunting and not do it). And once my butt is in the chair and fingers are on the keyboard, there’s a good chance I’ll do more than 20 minutes…
Other suggestions for how to use NaNo for spurring revisions, rather than new words?
Absolutely, I think you can approach it as a version of the Winter Writing Festival and decide for yourself that 20 minutes a day = 1667 words (or whatever exchange you want to work out.)
You could still use their progress chart, and it would still be a great motivator!
Just be aware that to “win” NaNo, you need to “verify” your word count by uploading what you wrote to their server (which counts then immediately deletes your words, so no worries about it falling into nefarious hands). You could just take a 50,000 word chunk of your revised material and use that to “verify” your win.
(I’m sure if Chris Baty saw what I’m saying here, he’d be utterly horrified…but truly I think the underlying spirit of NaNo is all about GETTING WRITING DONE, and you should use it however it works for you.)
I promise not to tell Chris
But really, I think I’ll do it informally–I’ll just need to tell enough people that I’m doing it that I can have some of the supports and double-checks that NaNo provides.
And the Ruby Festival last winter rocked! I got way more writing done last winter because of that festival than I’ve ever managed before during a semester. I’m hoping this informal NaNo experience will have similar benefits
Great tips, Elisa! For the first time this year, NaNo matches up with my own writing goals. I’m trying to get psyched about it, but at the moment I’m just drained. I think the next couple weeks are going to be about resting up so I’m ready to go when Nov 1st hits.
Vivi, you’re so prolific, you are MADE for NaNo!! You’ll love it!!
I’m going to try it this year. It’s taken me fifteen months to finish my current WIP. I want to see if I can write the next book in the series. This will give me two weeks to tinker with this one and get it out there and something to focus on while waiting for a response.
I am also looking forward to the Winter Writing Festival starting in January.
Hurray, Kristina!
I definitely think having a new project to play with (and play with in the spirit of unfettered creativity) is GREAT way to deal with the waiting-around period.
No matter what the fate of the first book, you’ll be laying the groundwork for a long and healthy career!
Awesome post, Elisa! I’m getting so excited for NaNo time, now! And I love the quote “dare to be stupid!” I have a feeling I’ll be repeating that one a lot.
Woo-hoo! I can’t wait to hear more about your experience with NaNo!
Yes, “dare to be stupid” is incredibly liberating! I think we censor so much of what could be *brilliant* when we’ve got ourselves overly anxious about making everything “good.”
I’d love to do Nano, but I wish it would start the middle of October so it doesn’t run into Thanksgiving week (when I frequently go away).
yeah…travel is another reason why November’s a bit rough for some. And that also another plus for our Ruby Winter Writing Festival! Most people stay home in January / February. Except skiers, I guess. Well, you literally can’t please everybody!
Hi, Elisa!
I NaNo’d last year and lived to tell the tale. I’m not sure I’ll do it this year because I’m still recovering! It was a crazy, crazy month. I wrote well over 50K and it really helped me get moving on a book I was procrastinating over.
Maybe if you committed to ONLY 50K you’d be less exhausted this year .
It wasn’t *that* much over 50K.
It was 51K, I think!
That last 1000 words is the hardest!!!
Yay! I wasn’t able to do NaNo last year because we were in the middle of a big move in November. But I’d done four years worth of NaNo before that. And I’ll be starting a brand new book about that time, so I’m really excited (it took me four months to do my last book because I procrastinated…as usual).
And I’m really looking forward to our own Winter Writing Festival! Can’t wait!
Great tips, Elisa. Let the writing begin! Er…okay, not quite yet. But soon!
Oh, perfect, Tina!! I’m so glad you’ll be back in the saddle this year!
Thanks, Elisa. And good luck NaNo participants. I love hearing about everyone’s accomplishments. Can’t wait.
Thanks, Bev! Sounds like you’re not going to NaNo yourself…but cheering sections are always welcome!!
I think about doing this every year, but the commitment during an already manic month scares me. Maybe this year. I’m seriously thinking about it even if it’s in an unofficial capacity. Of course, the RSSWWF is a fabo backup plan if I chicken out. I’m always up for a good backup plan.
Great post, Elisa. It truly does have me considering…
Look deep into my eyes, Gwynlyn…..you want to do NaNo….you want to do NaNo…..
Spot-on tips, Elisa! I love NaNo and look forward to drafting the next Psychic Socialite book this year! FORTUNE’S FOOL was a NaNo book, and that turned out pretty well. The intense concentration works well for me.
I found NaNo dates helpful. Having at least one other person there typing madly away was a read boost.
Good luck, all NaNo’s!
Thanks, Jane!! I’m thrilled so many Unsinkables are NaNo-ing together this year!!! I can’t wait!
[...] in the gauzy haze of optimism that was mid-October, I vowed to do a midway report on November 15 sharing my NaNoWriMo progress. [...]