Read This If You’re Doing #NaNoWriMo This Month

If you’re one of the crazy folks doing National Novel Writing Month right now, kudos to you.

I participated in the event last year, so I know how intense it can be. (For those who don’t know, #NaNoWriMo is a national challenge where writers attempt to write a 50,000-word novel within the month of November.)

I successfully finished my novel last year during the challenge and the book I wrote became “A Fierce Debt,” my first fantasy novel that I eventually published earlier this year!

In honor of the event and its participants, I thought I’d take time to share some tips that I find useful during my challenge month. Take what you find useful and leave the rest!

Tips for Surviving #NaNoWriMo

Aim for no less than 1,700 words a day. If you go well over one day, totally fine to adjust for the next day.
Anticipate times of the day that will be difficult to work around and write at a different time. For example, I had to often write over my work lunch break and the late evenings because that was the only time I could really focus.
Work ahead in preparation for holidays. Thanksgiving will mess up your writing plans so write more in the week or so ahead of time so you can enjoy the holiday weekend without worrying about word count.
If you get held up, just write something. Anything. Even if it’s stupid. You can always go back and edit or cut later. Your main goal is to get words on the page.
Make sure your friends and family are aware of your goal. They’ll be more understanding when you can’t attend something or less likely to bother you during writing time.
Worry about big things, like title, design, etc. later. This month is all about plot and getting your thoughts out.
Don’t burn yourself out. If the thought of sitting down to write starts to stress you the eff out every day this month, then it’s okay to take a break day or even quit the challenge. #NaNoWriMo is really tough and writing a 50k novel in 30 days is not the norm. If you like the idea but need to stretch your writing time out, then do that.

Good luck out there and let me know in the comments if you’ve got a project going!