This is it. Come midnight, it's time to get started. Maybe you're getting ready at a party (I am) or maybe you're going it alone at home. Either way, you can feel the tingling in your fingertips, the nervous mixture of This is going to be awesome and Holy shit am I really doing this?
This is the hardest part. Getting excited for NaNoWriMo is easy. Setting up your profile, glancing around your regional forums, plotting out your novel, meeting your fellow Wrimos -- this is the fun part. Even those first few days of intense novelling are exciting. Then life kicks back in. The word count starts getting away from you. This novel sucks anyway. Why am I doing this to myself?
Trust me. I know all about quitting. I did NaNoWriMo for five of the past six years and 2010 was my first win. The farthest I got before that was a little over 25K in 2006. In 2009 I didn't back up my novel and lost it all at 10K. Back up your novel. Based on my many failures and my one success, this is my insight into what made a difference.
Get Thee to a Regional Meeting
This was by and far the thing that helped me finish last year. I nearly didn't go. When I lived in Manhattan there wasn't ever really an ML or an organized set of meetings, at least not that I ever noticed, and I was surprised to discover that the Lawrence region does. (They're actually extremely well organized and very active. Score!)
I almost didn't go. I am the shyest extrovert I know -- the idea of going out and meeting new people fills me with a general and horrible panic. But Andy forced me out. It took me the better part of six months in the writer's group after NaNo before I felt really comfortable and not weird around my fellow writers, but I've always enjoyed their company and the camaraderie. We were strangers in the same boat. We were all exhausted and haggard and felt crazy for what we were doing. But we did it. And it was great.
I understand that I come from the privileged vantage point of living near the downtown area in a not terribly large city -- I could walk downtown if I didn't have a car, which I do. If you can't make it to the physical write-ins, find a friend or two online. Visit the forums. Start a chat room. Find someone, somewhere to be mutually accountable with.
Word Sprints & Word Wars
This is sort of corollary to the above. If you're alone, do word sprints -- set a timer and write. Just write. I know last year there were official sprints being managed by the @NaNoWordSprints account on Twitter, and they're continuing that this year.
If you're got two or more people, it becomes a word war -- see who can do the most in the allotted time. The #NaNoWriMo tag on Twitter is usually a fun place to see people setting up impromptu word wars (and support, of course).
What it comes down to is that competition is a damned fine motivator. I used Sam (@sammisan) last year to motivate myself. She's always been a more prolific writer -- she doesn't need my help to get to 50K and beyond. That said, we indulged each other with some of the smackiest of the smack talk (click to read the dirty mean parts):
This is where Write or Die was my savior. Sam and I did word wars in Write or Die, but I also found it better for word sprints. I really enjoyed Focus Booster as well, but it's... I need to be threatened. While I didn't beat Sam last year, it was close a couple times.
This year the local group is setting up nemeses -- optional for those of us who wanted them, and I did. I have a nemesis. It's a secret. It doesn't have to be, but I kind of like it. We drew them at random, so I have no idea who has me either.
Set Goals
Have goals. Say you're going to write for half an hour. Say you're going to write 1,667 words (or more) each night. Say you're always going to write from 8AM to 9AM. Say by the end of the week you're going to his 10K.
Say something. Say anything. (IN YOUR EYES.)
I tend to go into things with an attitude of, "Oh, it'll happen how it'll happen. Things will work out. I'll write when I can." No. That doesn't work for anything, and it doesn't work for the holy shit effort that is NaNoWriMo. It doesn't have to be a huge effort, it doesn't have to be extraordinary, but you have to do it.
There's really not much to say beyond that, at least not that I can think of. I'm sure there's millions more ways to stay motivated. Promise yourself something shiny at the end of the month, or tell yourself that you don't get that cup of coffee until you've written 100 words (sob) or whatever else helps keep you going. Have a friend or a significant other who won't let you quit on the 16th.
Don't get discouraged, and keep writing. Even if you're not going to make the 50K and you know it, keep going. NaNoWriMo is about a word count, sure, but it's more about writing a book. It's about telling your story, any story, and realizing the simple joy and excitement of the process.
Keep writing, wrimos. We're in this together next month.
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