This year, I will write my tenth terrible novel.
I do this every November; its part of theNaNoWriMotradition.
Let me tell you why its worthwhile.
What Is NaNoWriMo?
You win the challenge if you produce the novel by the end of the month.
(For reference, this article that youre reading is about 1,400 words.)
At an average typing speed, you could finish your days quota in an hour.
But that assumes you already know what youre going to write.
And then the bad days?
I wont put a number on them.
Here are the strategies for making time to write:
Figure out what your writing time will displace.
If you get up early or stay up late, you have to make up the sleep somehow.
Your lunch break or evening TV time might be better candidates.
Be ready to write.
Like my NaNo drafts, it was to be 50,000 words long.
Also like them, I had to write very quickly (three months, including research).
But unlike those novels, this book had to begood.
I started writing chapters quickly, badly, with notes about what to fix when I had the time.
If I had insisted on polishing each chapter as I wrote it, I never would have finished.
You also have to stop judging your writing in the moment.
Lay down a sentence you dont like?
Close your eyes and punch in the next one anyway.
But most importantly, you have to lower your expectations.
I got off on the right foot by reading Chris BatysNo Plot, No Problembefore my first NaNo.
The truth is, you dont even know what your novel is about until you write it.
And thats why you write another draft.
But dont worry about that now.
Edits are for December.
It helps to spend time thinking about your favorite stories and characters, and why you like them.
