My favorite time of year has finally arrived! If you’re thinking to yourself, “Annabelle…it’s been fall for over a month already,” you’d be right. Autumn is my favorite time of year for many reasons, but one of the biggest is this little event called NaNoWriMo.
I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month for the last several years, a challenge where writers around the world attempt to write 50,000 words in one month. NaNoWriMo was started for fiction writers but has expanded to include rebels of all types, myself included. My annual goal is to write content for my business, and last year, I ended up writing almost a whole year’s worth of blog posts like the one you’re reading now! This year, I’m going to be working on my editorial calendar with The Quirky Pineapple and writing video scripts as I prepare to show up on camera more in 2019.
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I’m no expert, but I do have six years of experience with this particular writing challenge, and two “wins” under my belt of 50,000+ words in 30 days. So without further ado, here are a few tips to set you up for NaNoWriMo success:
Tip 1: Harness the power of the NaNoWriMo community
There’s something about channeling the creative energy of a large group that becomes a powerful motivator to get things done. NaNoWriMo organizes into regional groups that plan in-person write-ins at local coffee shops. I love participating in these meet-ups because everyone is there working on a common goal (writing). Talk about accountability!
There is also a great community on social media with the hashtag #nanowrimo (you can follow along with my journey on Instagram). Follow the @NaNoWriMo accounts for word sprints and prompts if you’re running low on inspiration.
If you can, rope in a friend to participate as well so you can commiserate and keep each other accountable to reach your daily word goals. Or, if there are no regional chapter events in your area, get a group of friends together to cowork. Set goals for the afternoon (even if they’re not writing along with you) and set out to reach them during your work session. There are a million ways that remembering you’re not alone is beneficial.
Tip 2: Harness the power of batching
Not only do you have group energy, but you also have the power of task batching on your side. The more focused time you can spend on one project – and the less time you spend switching from task to task – the less overwhelming the project becomes.
Batching video content means you only have to arrange your video backdrop one time, do your hair and makeup one time, and set up your camera one time. Once you’ve finished, however, you’ll have content you can schedule out over the following weeks or months.
Batching the script-writing or content creating means you’ll have a more cohesive plan (hopefully) and be able to look ahead to big marketing events or important things you want to cover when they’re most timely.
It works kind of like meal planning: when you have a grocery list + cut up all your veggies or pack your lunches for the week, you’re more likely to eat healthily. When you have an archive of newsletters, blog posts or video scripts, you’re more likely to be consistent and see results for your efforts.
Tip 3: Harness the power of advanced planning
In preparation for this writing challenge, I am collecting ideas all year long. I ask questions of my audience, and I keep a log of the questions people frequently ask me. I use a Trello board to keep track of these ideas, and then, in the weeks leading up to November, I try to do a little research on these ideas. All the relevant links + research gets added to each idea’s Trello card.
I’ve literally used Trello to lifehack everything so this should come as no surprise – see how I use it for my morning routine in this blog post.
In NaNoWriMo culture, there are planners who prepare meticulously and pantsers who fly by the seat of their pants. I find myself somewhere in the middle category: the plantsers. I’ll admit, sometimes I’m not as organized as I aspire to be, but even just jotting down the ideas on a Trello card (whether I research, outline, or neither) helps me when the time comes to create content in bulk.
Tip 4: Don’t get stuck on a blank page
One of my favorite aspects of NaNoWriMo is that in order to reach your goals, you really have to shut down that inner editor and just put pen to paper. I can be pretty self-critical, let’s be honest, and I won’t necessarily use every word I write during this challenge. However, this process is about committing to a daily activity that I know will move the needle on my business.
I always go back and edit my posts later, but that’s not the hard part. The hard part is showing up every day and creating. Sometimes my rambling surprises me with real gems and analogies that I wouldn’t have come up with unless I was showing up.
Tip 5: Don’t give up if you “get behind”
This is a life lesson I’ve picked up from six attempts at hitting 50,000 words in thirty days. I’ve only “won” twice, but even on the years I didn’t hit the ultimate goal, I didn’t quit writing. On the NaNoWriMo dashboard, there is a graph where you can see your word count by day and track your progress towards 50k. The initial goal broken down is 1,667 words per day. However, if you skip a day, or fall short on your daily count, there’s a handy little feature that re-calculates the goal based on how many words you have left and how many days remain until November 30th.
It can be easy to feel like you’re SO off track or behind schedule. Chances are, you’re only a small adjustment away from success. Yes, writing 50,000 words in one day is an impossible task. But spread over 30 days (or 29, or 28,) it becomes a lot more manageable.
Don’t feel hopeless if you miss the mark. Get back up and keep chipping away at the bigger goal – because you can’t make any progress if you’re not opening up that Word Doc and getting to work.
So will you be joining me in the creative challenge of NaNoWriMo this November? Comment and let me know!
