I have just signed up for the 2021 NaNoWriMo challenge – National Novel Writing Month. The 50,000-word challenge begins officially from 1^st November and runs until the end of the month. If you are thinking of drafting a novel then there has never been a better time. The challenge is to write around 1,700 words per day and the support this year from NaNoWriMo is phenomenal. NaNoWriMo website includes preptober writing support workshops, together with a wealth of support and daily writing tips once you are signed up.

If you are only just thinking about starting your novel then the preptober workshops might be a useful starting point:  their first workshop is on idea generation.

Don’t forget to tot up your wordcount from the minute you begin planning and writing. One of the tools I found to be hugely motivational last year was the stats counter, you can keep track of your daily wordcount – or whenever you’re able to write – and add these to the stats counter for a total wordcount.

Additionally, use the NaNoWriMo banners to tell your friends that you’ve taken the challenge – you can see my banner to the top-right of this blog. The banners are under writer’s resources and camp NaNoWriMo. There’s also this one on the preptober page – see link above.

Share your username on your social media platforms etc to link up with friends and other NaNoWriMo writers and support each other. Let’s face it, unless you’re wearing a t shirt which says ‘I’m taking 2021 NaNoWriMo’ then it might not come up in conversation. You can even buy a t shirt which says something along those lines – just type: NaNoWriMo t shirt into your favourite search engine. Crazy, eh?

Anyway, back to buddies … there are NaNoWriMo forums where you can buddy up with other NaNoWriMos and local area groups where you can link up for support.

This will be my second year of NaNoWriMo:  and last year I reached a total of 30,473 words at around halfway through the month … and then I stopped. It wasn’t that the task had become insurmountable but work and life interfered and I allowed them to. Let’s face it, we often have a choice or there’s a way around our obstacles. It wasn’t as if I’d fallen behind – I was ahead of the game – but a day went by when I wasn’t able to write and then another and before I knew it 1^st December was here and my challenge was over.

So, this year I’m just going to write something every day and if necessary, I will block out the time in my diary – even if it’s just half-an-hour each day. The important challenge for me has always been to build in a daily writing habit. It’s my advice as an editor and creative writing teacher and particularly for NaNoWriMo. You might do the bulk of your writing in the evening or at the weekend, but alongside this try and do a little each day. I believe that if you’ve managed to do a little writing every day then regardless of your end of the month wordcount, you’ve nailed it.

To support your daily writing habit, the lovely people at Reedsy have written a blog about the 2021 challenge and a pop-up quiz which aims to tell you your best writing schedule is attached to their blog – please don’t leave me just yet!

Talking of wordcount, always ensure you’re supportive of other NaNoWriMo buddies and don’t let anyone get into any playground jibes. If anyone calls you out over your wordcount then call them out and then block them if necessary.

NaNoWriMo have also produced pep talks and will be adding daily writing tips to help support and motivate authors.

Going back to Reedsy, their online support was something I found incredibly useful last year. Reedsy run writing sprint groups online and then the sprints are posted on YouTube, so you can use them as a remote buddy support at any time. Scroll down from this YouTube video to find other sprints and support for your writing. Writing sprints are incredibly useful and you will be amazed at the number of words you’re able to produce with the stopwatch on. I run a free writing sprints group every two weeks and this has built a support network for regular writing. Try the Reedsy group and see if it’s a tool that works for you.

Finally, don’t forget to look at my blogs for support and inspiration. 

Happy NaNoWriMo,

Lesley