Winning, of course, means finishing. In NaNoWriMo, you don’t beat anyone. You don’t win a prize. You finish. You write 50,000 words in 30 days. Because the competetive element, or even a judgement on the quality of your work, are absent, you might think it’s easy to “win” this way. Try it sometime.
Here are 10 ways of making sure you cross the NaNoWriMo finish line:
• Write Every Day
• Move the Story Along
(Don’t worry about over-summarizing now.)
• Don’t pre-censor as you write
(You can cut later.)
• Take spontaneous freewriting side trips, as needed
(Freewrite for specific ends-usually character knowledge.)
• When you’re on a roll, don’t stop
(“Somebody may be gaining on you.” –Satchel Paige, NY Yankees of ages ago)
• Don’t correct grammar or spelling
(Not yet anyway.)
• Don’t reread what you’ve done
(Too many ways it can sandbag your momentum.)
• Don’t revise
(Right now, the point is just to get it out.)
• Work first thing in the day
(If you can, try a second session in the afternoon.)
• Once a week, freewrite ABOUT the story
(your structural plan, changes, recalibrations, adjustments to initial ideas–but get your words done first.)
Simmer for 30 days (without peeking)….YOU WIN!
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