Tag: nanowrimo2017

During November, it’s been really easy to let things slide until that mythical time “after NaNoWriMo”. And that time is almost upon us. Here are some of the things that are probably on your To Do list.

• More accurately, it’s the To Read list that we’re most anxious to tackle first. All of those new releases, recent purchases, library holds, and recommendations have transformed from ‘pile’ to ‘tower’.
• Dare I even mention that there are still Halloween candy wrappers lurking in and around your work space?
• Catching up on sleep is near the top of the list. Right under reading, of course.
• Eventually, it might be nice to wear something other than pajamas. Maybe even get out of the house…
• For Christmas shopping!
• And it would be lovely to drink coffee as a beverage instead of as creative fuel.
• Later, we’ll tackle the responsible stuff, like backing up our NaNo Novel, reluctantly taking the Do Not Disturb sign down, and returning our mug collection to the kitchen for washing.
• It might be wise to take a peek at the inbox. 112 unopened emails? Oops.
• Our hobbies have been waiting patiently for their turn, too. Bring on the bullet journaling, photo taking, card playing, and cookie baking!
• And, of course, we won’t forget our November efforts. We’ll happily return to edit our novel. Later. In January.

 

Add to the list! What are you planning to do after NaNoWriMo?
Buddy me on NaNoWriMo if you want to follow my progress or join in on group word sprints. I’ll be back again next year!

In honor of Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to balance the sometimes-cynical view we have of our writing during NaNoWriMo with a bit of thankfulness. Here are some of the great things I can thank NaNo for this year.

• Thanks, NaNo, for making me sit down to write every day this month. Seeing those little stats bars climb is just enough incentive for this motivationally-challenged wannabe.
• The discoveries I’ve made about my characters, my plot holes, my writing strengths, and my love for vividly describing food when all else fails have been invaluable lessons that I can carry through this, and my next writing endeavor.
• I also appreciate how much house cleaning I’ve gotten done while procrastinating. I never knew chasing down cobwebs could look so appealing.
• I’m very grateful for this year’s discovery of Word Crawls. I thought I would hate them, but, NaNo, you always seem to prove me wrong.
• The community of writers on social media have been hugely encouraging and engaging. I’m not sure I’d be quite as sane without the cheering, group sprinting, writing .gifs, status updates, coffee jokes, reminders to back up my novel, and mini pep talks that are liberally sprinkled in my feed every day without fail. I have NaNo to thank for that, too.
• NaNo, you’ve forced me to do things. I’ve written while eating peanut butter. I’ve gotten up before 8am. I’ve researched some strange things. I’ve written paragraphs and pages that I knew would immediately get edited out of the final draft. But through the madness, I’ve also discovered that peanut butter-scented keyboards are soothing. That I can write while I’m sleeping. That flat-faced dogs are farty animals. That a scene I never thought would actually matter ended up making the whole book better than I ever imagined. Thank you very much.

 

Add to the list! What are you most grateful for this NaNo season?
Buddy me on NaNoWriMo if you want to follow my progress or join in on group word sprints!

 

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Do you like a challenge? You can still take part in NaNoWriMo’s final week. Start your writing journey at nanowrimo.org today.