I have a feeling that a lot of NaNo bloggers would tell you to find a routine. Make one, right? Get up early every day, or write directly after work, or go out to a coffee shop every Saturday. And while I’m certainly not going to say any of those are a bad idea–they’re not, and I’ve tried them all–they’re also not what’s going to win NaNoWriMo for you.
I’ll tell you the hardest but winning-est tip for NaNo right here: Write Constantly.
Do you have a phone? Write on it! Lunch break? Jot down a few sentences! Bus commute? Writing time!
Every. Single. Sentence. Is a step towards your goal. You need them all. Don’t aim for perfection, don’t aim for Hemingway, aim for sheer words. Soak then in. Write them all, all the time. You want to be flowing words like a river – like a waterfall – not a stream.
Seriously. If you have even 10 minutes to write, you can get a few hundred words in, nd the goal of each day is only 1,666. Write 500 words three times and you’re practically there.
Now, that said, of course some routine will help. Maybe get up a little earlier than usual to write, or go out to the coffeeshop, or attend one of your area’s local write-ins (almost every area has a local NaNo chapter: find them here). But don’t let the routine become the gold standard. The gold standard is sheer volume of words.
Short post today! We’re almost into November and the official kick-off. Are you nearly ready?
