NaNoWriMo is just 10 days away, so I thought I would do something fun to help promote it for all of my writing friends, and for those who aren’t writing yet but would like to become a writer. For the next 40 days, I will be posting a writing lesson per day to help you make progress in achieving your NanoWriMo writing goals.
Planning Your Writing
Each day for the next 10 days, I will be giving you steps you can take to plan out your writing. These steps should take you at most 2 hours to complete. I will be looking for your feedback in the 40 Day Writers Facebook group (which is free to join – just ask). You will be ready to go come November 1st when the writing really begins.
Why Plan My Writing?
If you aren’t in the habit of planning your writing, it can feel weird to start planning your writing. However, I assure you that as much work as the planning can be, it will save you so much more work when you get done that you will not be likely to want to go back to the way you were doing things before this. It will also allow you to capture small windows of time so you can get your 2 hours of writing in even when you have a busy schedule.
What Is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is held from November 1st through November 30th, and it is a national writing challenge that prompts writers to attempt the insane and super challenging task of writing a novel in just 30 days.
The expectation is not that you will produce a Pulitzer Prize winning novel or even a best-seller in that time. It is simply that you will get your work out there and get it done so that you have a rough draft to start working on. I am a big believer in encouraging people to participate in NaNoWriMo because that challenge is what started me down the path of writing books myself.
Why Participate in NaNoWriMo?
There are plenty of very good reasons to participate. First, you will have accountability for your writing. You will be checking in regularly to report your progress, you will have a hard and fast deadline for finishing, and a set word count goal you have to reach. This means you will be challenged to stretch yourself and finish.
Second, it removes from your shoulders your need for everything to be perfect. There is no way you are going to produce a great novel in this time and you shouldn’t expect yourself to do it. You are going to produce crap, but it will be a whole book of crap that you wrote and the knowledge that you can write a book will be the most valuable takeaway you receive.
Third, there are prizes at the end. You get a certificate and a bunch of discounts on things that can help you with your writing. It’s an amazing opportunity and – it’s free. There’s no cost to participate and no charge to upload. They do ask that you contribute something if you can, but you won’t get kicked out of the program if you can’t.
I’ve Cheated.
Your first day’s lesson in the challenge comes from a blog post I wrote a few years ago. I’m linking to it here so you can follow along with what I did and try out the system for yourself.
Your Help Is Appreciated
Please try out the system I’ve provided. Please give me feedback no how well it worked for you and what you think it could use that would make it even better.
Participate With Me and You’ll Be Given a Freebie From Me
I’m not above a little bribery. If you will participate with me in this NaNoWriMo challenge, I will give you a beta version of my Revised and Updated How to Write an eBook in 40 Days (or less). I promise you that book is going to be packed with tips that you can use to help move your writing forward.