I signed up for the NANOWRIMO in hope of adding more words to my young adult WIP. If I made the 50,000 goal that would be fantastic, but I wanted to commit myself to writing everyday.
No I didn’t win this year, I finished with 35,000 words. I’m excited about those words, because it moved my story from 26,000 to 61,000 words. I think that’s great.
I want to share a few things I learned last month.
LIFE DOESN”T STOP - If you expect this, do not sign up for NANOWRIMO. Life doesn’t stop. Sometimes it throws you a few curve balls. Mine were a few tough ones. My God son was shot and was in intensive care (he is still in intensive care) my grandmother died. Yes some serious stuff. I honestly had a few days that I didn’t want to look at the computer screen or think about my story. I felt bad about this but I realized you can’t force the muse.
WRITE EVERYDAY – Even if you write a 100 words, you’ve added to your goal. I tried to write something everyday even on the bad days I found myself writing something. I might not have met my daily goal, but I wrote something.
DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP – The goal of NANOWRIMO is to write. If you don’t write everyday this might seem foreign to you, but you have to get out of your comfort zone and write. Don’t worry about if the words are perfect or make sense, write. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t make your goal move forward to the next day and write. You might surprise yourself and exceed your goal.
WEEKENDS ARE HARD – I found the weekends were my hardest time to write because I normally wrote on my lunch break and at night. On the weekends, life takes over and it was so hard to get time to myself to write. Sometimes I could get up early and write, but with a teenager in the house, that was rare.
MOTIVATION – I highly recommend joining a group or do NANOWRIMO with a friend you can check in with daily. This so helped me to stay motivated and not give up. I loved reading how well they were doing in reaching their goals. It helped motivate me to continue writing.
I want to say that I’m glad I did NANOWRIMO this year. It helped motivate me to finish the story I was working on. It introduced me to some amazing writers who I look forward to reading their books one day. It showed me that I can commit to this writing and reach my goals.
Stop by Thursday and I will share my recommendations for a successful NANOWRIMO.
Did you WIN this year? Share your experiences in NANOWRIMO.
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