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Wit & Travesty

Week One of NaNo: Are We There Yet?

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be0708aea3339999f13b03ad7f2255f5How is everyone shaping up this week? Luckily, I’m am exactly on track. When I started out, I didn’t expect to really get this far without messing up or letting something get in the way. I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised come December when it’s time to edit.

I’ve had a great experience so far because of my two good friends, Carly and Jessica, decided to be my writing buddies this year. We’ve been keeping tabs on each other and offering support how we can.

I asked them to let me know what they were up to and if I could share it with you. At one point during the week, they were both behind (with work and extra studies, it’s a thing), but they were able to get caught up for the most part! So proud of them! Here are some tips that Carly shared with me on remaining motivated:

“Mostly what keeps me motivated is the stats page on the NaNo site. Whenever I see that I’m below my goal and my projected completion date keeps getting further away, I start to panic. I know I can either stay behind and forever not feel good enough, or I can hunker down and write for four hours straight to catch up. Now that I’m caught up again, I plan on sticking with 1700+ words every day, because after how much I wrote just catching up, I saw that 1700 words is really not that much.

“It really is small and simple things that, when done consistently, build up over time. If I neglect those 1700 words, I’m going to lose all momentum and not only fail NaNo but also potentially fail as a writer in general.

“My advice to anyone else would just be to set a small daily goal and stick with it no matter what. Don’t beat yourself up too bad if you fall behind, because it’s not the end of the world and you can catch up again, but also don’t get comfortable with falling behind.”

This is so true. When I was behind last year (like, perpetually) instead of taking a day to write double to get caught up, I just wrote a little extra each day and still made it to the finish line. For me, that worked, because doing 200 or so extra words a day is a lot more feasible than doing 3,000+ words all at once. You can see what Carly is up to by visiting her NaNo page, or her official website.

Here’s Jessica’s take on it:

“As I catch up, I make sure I remember I am doing this to get my novel written, not for any special prize. So it doesn’t make sense to give up—and words written brings you that much closer. I also have to turn off my internet, and really make writing time sacred. No checking Facebook or Pinterest—just me and my story! My plan for catching up now is doing my words earlier in the day—so it definitely gets done and doesn’t fall to the last thing.”

Again, Jessica nailed it. We’re writing for writing’s sake! If anything, remember that you’re writing a future novel! It’s awesome to think that the crazy ramblings that we’re recording this month could turn into a novel that we’re proud of—you know, once the revising and pruning are finished. Again, read about Jessica’s work via her NaNo page and her official website. She’s in my writing group, so I can personally vouch that she’s up to something amazing!

So I hope this post finds you in a good place—that you’re where you want to be in your writing goals.

What has helped you stay motivated whilst in the thick of NaNo? Was it worth the effort? Comment below, please!

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Carly M. Springer, Jessica Frazier, motivation, NaNoWriMo, novel, word count, words, writing, writing buddy
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