For most (sane) people, this Friday simply means the start of November. For a large number of writers (with questionable sanity), this Friday is the start of National Novel Writing Month!
If you don’t know what this is, definitely check out their website. The TL;DR is that National Novel Writing Month (often shortened to NaNoWriMo or just NaNo) is a challenge to write 50,000 words in the month of November. It’s a crazy and wonderful and exhausting time!
I tried NaNo several times without ever winning, until last year in 2018. I had started taking my writing seriously at the start of the year, so when NaNo came around, I was finally able to actually win and write 50,000 words in the month. This year I’m attempting it again, and I want to share some of the best resources I’ve found and created to help you win NaNo, whether it’s your first or fifth or fifteenth time doing it.
Productivity
Time management
If there’s one thing that is required to win NaNo, it’s being able to manage your time well. Most people don’t have all day, every day of the month to just write as they please, so being able to write 50,000 words in a month (about 1,700 per day) means making the most of your time! In preparation for the month, I wrote blog posts about planning your week and your day, and also created templates so you can maximize your productivity.
Focus
The internet can be a double-edged sword. Sure, you can do crazy amounts of research at a moment’s notice, but so often you open a browser to do research and all of a sudden you’ve spent an hour on Twitter. Here are a few tools to help you get into the flow of deep work.
Moment browser extension – This lovely little plugin for the Google Chrome browser helps keep you focused whenever you open a new tab. It makes your home screen a relaxing photo of nature with an inspirational quote at the bottom. Before you write it off as too cheesy, it also allows you to set a “main focus” for each day, so that you’re reminded why you opened up the internet in the first place.
Forest app – Phones are an entire galaxy of distractions that fit into our pockets. The Forest app helps you step away from checking every notification. You start it by planting a virtual tree, and then the longer you go without using your phone, the larger the tree grows. When you exit the app, the tree dies. As you use the app and have more sessions, you slowly begin to grow a full forest!
Freedom – Sometimes, you need a little more motivation. Freedom allows you to specify which websites distract you the most, and then you can set a timer. During this time period, it prevents you from visiting these websites on both your phone and computer browser. This is a great way to still be able to do any research you actually need to do without getting distracted. It does cost money, but you can get a free trial to see if it’s worth it (or to just use it during NaNo…)
Craft
Websites
The craziness of NaNoWriMo is not necessarily the best time to be figuring out the details of writing a book since you’re just writing a first draft, but I always like to have a few resources I know will be helpful if I’m trying to figure out how to best create a certain scene or develop a character. Once you finish your draft and go back to edit, these resources will become even more valuable. I love Abbie Emmon’s YouTube channel, K.M. Weiland’s books and website Helping Writers Become Authors, and Kristen Kieffer’s blog Well-Storied.
Character courses
Characters are the heart of any story, and the best way to write a first draft that doesn’t need major rewrites is to have an idea of who your characters are and how they’re going to change in your story. No clue where to start? Don’t worry–I’ve created a free, five-day email course to help you build a better character. Just click here to get started.
Motivation
Podcasts
If you have a conversation with me that lasts longer than five minutes, I’ll probably say the words “In this podcast I was listening to…” and then talk way too long about said podcast. So I put my knowledge of podcasts to good use and compiled a list of the ten podcasts that will help you become a better writer, and then, because I’m extra, made a follow-up list of five more you should check out. They’re all chock-full of tips, inspiration, and hilarious stories of authors learning the ropes of book writing and publishing.
Websites
NaNo provides motivation for a big goal, but sometimes it’s hard to find motivation for the little goals of a certain number of words each day or each session. But, it’s 2019, so there are plenty of websites to help with that. If you want to be rewarded for a number of words, try Written? Kitten! For every 100 words you write, you get a picture of a cute kitten! If you do best under pressure, check out Write Or Die. If you stop writing for too long, it will start to punish you by deleting words, or any other consequence you choose.
Books
Reading is a crucial part of writing. I’ll leave it to you to find the books similar to genre and style of the book you’re writing, but I do have recommendations for books about craft and creativity to keep you inspired and challenged during NaNo.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert – Seriously my all-time favorite book about the creative life.
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg – A great resource on the basics of creative writing, for newbies looking to learn and for old pros looking to refresh their skills.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – Anne Lamott is a magical genius, and this book is so inspiring.
Reading Like A Writer by Francine Prose – This book will teach you how to analyze anything you’re reading to learn what works, what doesn’t, and how you can emulate the former.
Quotes
It doesn’t hurt to have a little motivation every time you open your computer to write. I pulled some inspiration writing quotes from some of the greatest writers in history and created desktop wallpapers for your computer so you always have a pep talk waiting! Choose your favorite, or choose a few and set them to rotate through in the background.
Are you doing NaNoWriMo? What are you working on? How do you stay motivated? Let me know in the comments!
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Featured image by Nick Morrison