Conquering NaNoWriMo: How I “Win” Every Year

Just days before November 1, 2006, a friend asked, “Have you seen this NaNoWriMo thing?”

My response?  Totally predictable.  “NaNo-what, what?”

But, of course, when I heard it was about writing–you know, that “wri” part?–I went to look it up. And signed up.  Needed a book idea.  I went with Hope 101, which later became Discovering Hope.

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I know a lot of people are intimidated by 50,000 words in 30 days, but it only works out to 1,667 words per day.  Back then, I didn’t know how many words I wrote per hour, so I was a bit nervous. Add to it the “Thankful Trio” of days near the end when I prepare for Thanksgiving, celebrate Thanksgiving, and kick off Christmas the day after Thanksgiving…. yeah. I was nervous.

So, my goal was to write as much as I could in that first hour after midnight (before I went to bed).  I fell asleep with about 2200 words under my belt.  To say I was astounded–understatement.  But it prompted what eventually became my strategy.

Yeah. Like most of my plots and plans, it was a total accident.

So… you want to try NaNoWriMo but don’t think you can do it?  November is too busy of a month? Yeah.  I get you.  But you know what?  I believe folks can do more than they believe they can. So why not try?

My Super-Simple Not-So-Devious Plan to “Win” NaNoWriMo Every Year

It’s really crazy simple. I write 3,000 words per day for the first 10 days.  It works out to about two hours for me (with all my interruptions) And, in one of those days, I get a “free” hour of writing due to “Daylight Savings” (those quotes should reveal my opinion on that thing), giving me back an hour.

Look at the numbers. If I write 3,000 words for 10 days, in 1/3 of the month, I’ve written 3/5 of the required numbers.

Next goal:  2,000 words a day for 10 days.  It allows me to lighten up if I need to and yet it’s not that much more than the usual “1,667 required” words per day.  That gets me to 50,000.  Done!

But, I keep going.  I try, as hard as I can, to finish the book during this month.  To do that, I need to keep up the 3,000 words per day for the entire month.  And that’s not that difficult.  It sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t.  For example, in July, I wrote 45,000 words in 10 days during Camp NaNoWriMo.  That book?  Christmas Stalkings. Of course, 4,000 of those words got cut and replaced, but still.  The point is that it can be done.

But for me, the idea of doing NaNoWriMo is to write what I want to write–whatever is tugging at me most.  This year, it happens to be a sequel to Christmas Stalkings.  I can’t stop thinking about those characters.  I’m anxious to get back to them.  And, I really want to finish the book in the 30-day window.  So… I’ll be starting at midnight.  The goal?  3,000 words before I quit for the night/day.  Why?

Because I love the challenge, and I’ve proven, time and again, that it can be done.

What’s stopping you from writing your 50,000-word masterpiece? Sure, it starts in just a few hours, but we can do this! How can I help you?  I’d love to do it!  Just leave a comment or drop me a line at [email protected].  I’m here to help you move your story from your heart to “paper.”  And to keep you going, I’ve created 30 days of NaNoWriMo tips and hints.  Watch my Instagram account for your “daily” NaNo prods!