10 Must Haves for NaNoWriMo by Julie Arduini

Cue “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” because it’s almost Christmas  National Novel Writing month, otherwise known as NaNoWrMo. Over 250,000 writers sign on with the hopes to create a 50K novel in 30 days. The participants range from those who have no writing experience and want to join the madness to published authors who need to crank out the first draft of their next work.

I started in 2010 with a “win,” because I hit the magic 50,000.  Spectacular Falls is a contemporary romance probably in an 8th draft as I take it through two critique groups affiliated with ACFW. It’s nowhere near what I started with that crazy NaNoWriMo experience, and that’s a good thing. More on that in a bit.

My 2011 attempt wasn’t a win, but a good lesson. I tried to write Discovering Nancy Struthers without plotting ahead of time, and in a month’s time, I only logged 16k. Now I know I have to plot. I guess deep down I knew that, but wanted to try.

This year I’m excited because while editing Spectacular Falls, a secondary character started waving at me, trying to get my attention. When I finally looked her way I realized she has a story. I have To Protect and Serve plotted out, and I’m ready to go. My typing fingers are twitching and I’ve been adding extra caffeine to my already insane intake as part of my pre NaNo training regiment. If you participate, you know what it feels like.

If you plan to participate in this year’s NaNoWriMo, here are resources and tips to make the most of your month.

1. Sign up at nanowrimo.org and take advantage of the forums. Every genre you can think of has a forum. There are threads for plot questions, venting, music choices while writing, and more. There are regional forums where you not only connect online, but can attend local write-ins.

2. But don’t go too crazy with your new friends. Like Facebook, the NaNoWriMo site gives the option of friending people, although I think the term might be buddy. Your personal page allows sharing information about your novel, right down to creating a cover for it. This is fun, but if you start this in November, you’re wasting precious writing time. If you get social with your friends on the NaNo site, you’re setting yourself up for frustration at the end of the month when you are low on your word count. Use connections for questions, not social time.

3. Join My Book Therapy and take advantage of their resources. Susan May Warren and her cream-of-the-crop team are the best cheerleaders with amazing writing helps.  Susie has a discount on her Book Buddy for MBT-WriMo participants. She has an incredible graphic that takes your novel from start to finish that I saw on their blog this week. They have accountability where you log every day, even if your count is 0, but by logging in, you have a shot at winning prizes. Again, watch your time, but the resources are great.  My “winning” year I listened to the soundtrack they had available every day.

4. If you plot, Scrivener has a free trial that consistently receives rave reviews. I’m trying yWriter this year. It’s free and I read good things about it.

5. Look at your calendar and plan accordingly. The NaNoWriMo friends I know are college students. Wives. Parents. They caregive for aging parents. Take children to appointments. There is this day in November called Thanksgiving where family expect a turkey. There will be certain days you won’t write a lot, if at all. That’s okay. There are excel programs that color code the word counts and do the math to help you stay on track for a win. A Google search should help locate one, or one of the forums.

6. Don’t turn into Chevy Chase or Jack Nicholson. It’s been a few years since I watched “Funny Farm,” but I remember Chevy Chase’s character was determined to write the great American novel. It didn’t take long before he was impossible to be around, and he lost everyone and everything around him. If there is a Christian version of Jack Nicholson’s character from “The Shining” (Okay, probably not,) I was delirious my first year. A complete recluse who answered my family’s requests for food and clean clothes with grunts. I don’t even remember Thanksgiving beyond retreating to a quiet room away from my family I rarely get to see. Take breaks. Enjoy life. After November 30 comes December. You will have to face your family again. Don’t forget them during NaNoWriMo.

7. Write totally, really, crazy, badly. A newbie writer is full of flowery adjectives and adverbs. One of my favorite quotes is from Stephen King who said, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” When you get the courage to share your baby, it’s heartbreaking to learn your words are going on the chopping block. Under normal circumstances, you’ll be grateful for their editing. If you have writing experience the temptation is to pen your November novel with your self-editor ready to go, scanning your pages to delete the adjectives and adverbs. You’ll fight the urge to polish the sentences. NaNoWriMo is the one time you have permission to go crazy with the adverbs. Write whatever comes to mind. It will be bad. The goal is to get it written in November. You have to turn your editing off and re-live your beginner writing days. Cringe and move on.

8. Get in the mood. I work better with candles lit, preferably a balsam scent because my work is set in the Adirondack Mountains. Sometimes I use my Pandora playlist. My writing space is a recliner. Be comfortable.

9. Exercise. My muscle tone took a hit my first year. Exercising gets the brain circulating as well. I ended up having ideas for my work when I got my sad body moving. Keep snacks beyond arm’s reach. I tend to become so consumed that I can polish off a bag of cookies without knowing. Make yourself get up, take only a couple snacks, and return without the bag.

10. Have fun. Yes, there are success stories where NaNo writers found publishing bliss. First they had to write it. Use November to, as Larry the Cable Guy says, “Git ‘er done.”

Are you NaNo’ing? I’m on the official site and My Book Therapy as JulieArduini. Just remember #2.

Oh, The Places You Can Go with NaNoWriMo by Julie Arduini

Mid-October. It’s marked by the crunch of colorful leaves on the sidewalk. The smell of MacIntosh apples and autumn night air. It’s also the time of year anyone who has that novel all figured out in their head to sign up the November challenge called NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. What started as a group of wanna-be novelists from the Bay Area in 1999 through the power of blogging and social media turned to over 200,000 participants last year. These novelists sign on to write a 50,000 word novel throughout the month of November. They have to start from scratch and submit their document for word count verification by midnight Pacific time November 30. Stats from the “NaNo” website show writers penned over 2 million words and that 37,000 “won”.

How do they win? They hit the word count or go over it. Winners get a badge to display on their blog/website and of course, have bragging rights. The point is just to get the story out. All the typical writing rules and usual traditions of self-editing need to go out the window for NaNoWriMo. The plan is to write, write, write, and then write some more.

NaNoWriMo has evolved over the years and their site offers forums for ages, genres, plotting questions, research, and even cover art for those that want a design for their NaNo page and e-mail signatures. There are also regional get-togethers where people meet at places like Panera to work on their novels with other who understand the obsession. Computer gurus design word count widgets for blogs, websites, and signatures.

Are you joining?

There are also pep talks that make their way into weary writer inboxes.

Many participants are not full-time writers by day so this is their once a year time to  enjoy “thirty days and nights of literary abandon.” For some, writing is their life and NaNoWriMo gives them a tight deadline to put a story together. Published authors like Rachel Hauck and Amber Stockton use NaNoWriMo this way. Amber hopes to use this year’s NaNo to put together her latest, Stealing Hearts.

What’s an extra benefit of finishing NaNo? Some projects turn into (after several drafts, editing, and polish) a published book. Amber Stockton wrote parts, if not all, of Promises, Promises (2006), Deceptive Promises (2007), and Patterns and Progress (2008) as part of that year’s NaNoWriMo project. Linda Yezak admits Give the Lady a Ride was a “NaNo fail” because she didn’t meet the word count in time because she spent too much time in research. However, the book by the same title was published in March. Precarious Yates has a December 2 release date for her 2010 NaNoWriMo story, The Elite of the Weak, and is the first book in the Revelation Special Ops series. Her series is in the YA (Young Adult) genre. Lisa Grace has her 2009 work, The 15th Star, out as a self-published e-book in November with publishers expressing an interest. Delia Latham‘s Yesterday’s Promise was a NaNo, now White Rose Publishing, book. Traci Tyne Hilton‘s NaNo novel, Foreclosed: A Mitzy Neuhaus Mystery, sold 8,000 copies.

The drawback of NaNoWriMo is it’s easy to become obsessed. Amber Stockton gives wise advice.  “Too many put too much pressure on themselves, seizing their ability to let the words flow. And the biggest piece of advice is turn off your internal editor. The goal of NaNo is NOT to write great, but just to write. Even if you think it’s awful or needs to never again see the light of day, that’s all right. Write as much and as fast as you can without caring about content, structure, order, or polishing. There is time to edit later. Get the words down first.”

Last year was my first attempt and although I hit the goal with my contemporary romance at 50,300, I let the numbers define me. I withdrew from family and let a lot of my life slack, including quiet time with the Lord. I’ve heard from a lot of writing friends who do this each year that competitive personalities will struggle with being consumed. This year I plan to try another Adirondack based contemporary romance but put the goal on writing each day, not hitting the 50K. I also confessed I haven’t quite told my family I’m giving it a whirl in case they put me on that Intervention reality show.

There are NaNoWriMo helps out there.

My Book Therapy-–Susan May Warren heads up the MBT gang and this year Beth Vogt is the MBT team member in charge of all MBT NaNo activities. They have a forum, resources, cheerleading, word count and other NaNo related prizes.

NaNoWriMo Cheerleaders from the Sidelines-–There are a lot of Facebook NaNoWriMo related groups out there but I recommend this one because I know it is Christian based. There are facilitators involved not in NaNoWriMo this year but understand the chaos it brings. They’re already on board cheering writers on.

NaNoWriMo Regional Groups—The list this year seems bigger than ever on the NaNo site. Most try to have weekly meetings to encourage each other on at a public place with affordable food and proper Internet connections.

NaNoWriMo Forums—Again, anything to do with the NaNoWriMo month is bound to be in the forums. There is even a forum for NaNo rebels who aren’t doing fiction or perhaps are taking the month to edit instead. The caveat is to watch your time management on the boards or you’re eating up writing time.

Other participants— Whether it’s finding a buddy through the forums or approaching friends you know that have done it before, they can be a great source of wisdom and encouragement. Julie Jarnagin, whose NaNoWriMo story Canyon Walls published earlier this year with Barbour/Heartsong Presents, advises:

“Stay up until midnight on the 31st to get a head start. You’re more excited the first day than you will be in the middle of the month. Set your daily word goal and stick to it even if your cumulative word goal puts you ahead. The extra words that build up will help later. Don’t let yourself spend too much time on the NaNoWriMo message boards. They’ll suck you in. Find a NaNoWriMo buddy and cheer each other on.”

So, now you know about NaNoWriMo. My question is, are you in? If so, where do you think this experience will take you? By the way, if you are part of it, my NaNoWriMo user name is JulieArduini. Like Facebook, you can friend each other, and you’re welcome to add me. As Delia Latham says, “Keep the coffee percolating.”