Goals . NaNoWriMo . Writing

NaNoWriMo: Prep Ideas for Non-Planners

On October 19, 2019 by

I’m making it official—I am a NaNoWriMo 2019 participant! My goal? A completed draft. Will it result in writing 50,000 words? Probably not.

If I know one thing about myself, it’s that I love to make unrealistic goals. Goals that plant their little seeds in my mind when I’m having my morning cup of coffee, and before the endless stream of “Mommy” requests begin, or when I’m pouring an evening glass of wine and the echoes of the “MOMMY!” cries from upstairs start to subside as everyone has had enough water, bathroom, story, stuffed animal arranging, etc., to finally lull them into a sleep I don’t think I’ve had since the early 90s. These are the goals that grow when I’m not making lunches, cleaning booboos, building lego towers, or as I write this, tending to a inconsolable child because her eraser made green streaks on her artwork.

I know that when I make goals, they have to be achievable, or I will be demoralized right out of the gates. I use this strategy with both my running and my writing goals. Sure, I’d love to be able to commit to my ideal 30 miles a week, or even 5,000 words per week. Is that really feasible while also trying to maintain a full-time job, a writing side-hustle, a house full of kids, a killer commute, and all the little activities and mom-tasks that I actually enjoy? It is—I have decided—if I abandon sleep altogether, which really is not a goal I care to meet. Enter the reasonable goals.

As my followers know, I have been cranking away at Forever England since late 2017. I have made significant progress and I am delighted in the storyline, the characters, and growing as a writer in the areas where I think the first book in the series fell a little short. The plot is more intricate, the characters more complicated, but the story itself seems simpler. I’ve loved this period of growing as a writer. But—the time has come to wrap it up! I’ve gotten a few reviews for White Dove just this week that have mentioned dismay over the fact that the next book in the series isn’t ready yet. And that’s great motivation to move the book toward the finish line.

NaNoWriMo is coming exactly at the right time. I had set in my mind that I would complete my draft by year’s end, and November is the perfect month to do this! I have less than 50,000 words to go, but I have a lot of edits that need to happen to make this story fit together (a byproduct of writing by the seat of my pants).

Prepare for November

One of the most important things you can do to meet any goal is to prepare yourself for success. And for NaNoWriMo, this happens a lot earlier than November 1. You have to show up ready to go! My first flight instructor always told me that if you wanted a good landing, you needed a good landing pattern. I think this is some of the best advice I’ve ever received. In fact, I use it all the time with my kids. If you want to have a good concert, you have to have good rehearsals. If you want to score goals with your left foot, you have to prep your strike and practice using that left foot! The same is true for writing..if you want a good NaNoWriMo, you have to have a good October prep. So what does this look like?

For me, it looks like outlining the edits and chapters I need to finish in a much more deliberate way than feels natural for me. What tool am I using? None other than the SparkBook—a dynamic outlining tool for people who don’t outline. It is saving me lots of time, helping me to solidify what the next month will look like, and is helping me to set realistic goals for my writing. I’m mainly using the Chapter Outlines to guide my planning, but am also taking advantage of the Sparks and Scribble Bumpers to capture all those loose ends and ideas that come to me as I write.

If the SparkBook sounds like something that might help you prep your landing, you can get your free copy just by joining the Scribble & Spark mailing list.

Prepare the Fam

NaNoWriMo success probably is dependent on more people than just you. After all, you are carving time out of your day that is probably already allocated to other activities. For just a month, you are declaring that you might not be available for those other activities. That you are making a conscious decision to prioritize writing over those other—still important—activities. And you probably need help with this.

I began prepping the fam by talking about NaNoWriMo…what it is, who does it, why it’s awesome. The fam thought it was a cool idea. Then I floated the idea of me trying to finish my book during NaNoWriMo. Again, the fam was totally onboard. Then, I noted how, in order for me to do this, I was going to need some help. That got a less enthusiastic response. Who is going to do all the things? (Like literally, ALL the things?)

As a test, I am writing this blog sitting in plain sight of my family as they go about their Saturday morning. I asked for 25 minutes of uninterrupted time. We made it less than 30 seconds before the first interruption and had tallied 17 interruptions the first six minutes. (Now up to 37, including two ambushes.) Even as my husband tried to reinforce, he sent me an article to read and then read it aloud to me when I didn’t immediately respond. Takeaways? (1) I am very loved, and (2) I can’t write at home. (Yeah, I already knew this, but it helps me understand what is in the art of the possible for this NaNoWriMo quest.)

If you are having trouble proving the point that you might be involved in more of the household activities than your family thinks, I highly recommend this exercise. I think this one 25-minute session has been enlightening for the person who will have the most influence on the success of this next month, my husband.

Schedule

Ugh, the dreaded schedule. As someone who probably hasn’t opened a personal planner in over a decade, I really don’t like the thought of scheduling out my next month. But I also know that it is going to be necessary. After all, when I am following a training schedule for my running, I am used to adhering to the daily prescriptions. But for me, for some reason I don’t respond well to having blocks of time reserved for non-required activities. I don’t like seeing my day planned out before me in blocks of time. It totally ruins the adventure of the day to know how each time block is doled out. Perhaps this is why I have taken so easily to training schedules—they prescribe an activity or a distance, but not a specific time in the day to do it. That’s the approach I am taking for NaNoWriMo. Instead of prescribing a certain block of time each day that will be devoted to writing, I’ve prescribed a specific activity, all based on my SparkBook outlines.

Roadmap to Success

In lieu of blocking out time, I have a roadmap to success. I’ve identified times that could be carved out for writing. Many people can find time by getting up a few minutes early each day, but with a 4:00AM wakeup call already in place, this isn’t an option for me. Neither are evenings when we have practices (or really, at all…). So, I’ve already scratched five mornings and most evenings off my list, but there are other times to work with.

(1) Commutes. I’ve tried out a few dictating apps, and one in particular (Otter) seems to give me the flexibility I need to write while I drive. I can pump out way more words per minute through dictation, and I am going to commit to dictating some of my remaining chapters.

(2) Afternoons. I have three afternoons each week where I can free up time if I commit to not working any overtime. (I know, this sounds crazy…but I love my job and sometimes I just don’t want to leave on time). So, for one month, I am committing to taking my three afternoons each week, going to a coffee shop, and writing.

(3) Weekends. While mornings don’t work for me during the week, on weekends, they absolutely do. And, my kids are usually good sleepers, so if I can escape the house and make it to the coffee shop before they wake up, I can get a solid 90 minutes of writing in each weekend morning. And someone will make my coffee for me. Win-win!

(4) Nights. Nope. I just can’t do nights. My brain is shot every single night. So knowing this about myself, I can manage expectations. Plus, this is my running time. And exercising bodies is as important to NaNoWriMo success as exercising keyboards.

Challenge

If you are on the fence, I invite you to throw your name on the NaNoWriMo list too! You can announce your commitment by going to the NaNoWriMo website and announcing your 2019 project. It has a handy-dandy tracker so you can see your progress and also help keep you accountable for your goal. It’s a great little motivator. As a bonus…the NaNoWriMo community is huge! There are online meet-ups, actual meet-ups, and enough encouragement to keep you going.

Whether this is your first or tenth NaNoWriMo, I wish you success in meeting your own goals, and invite you to follow along my journey as well.

Until next time, keep scribbling!