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Oct
10
2013

Twitter CLC 10/10/13 — NaNoWriMo

 

Let’s Go, NaNo, Let’s Go!

If you’re crazy and you know it, do NaNo!

If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m cheering about. This week’s Chick Lit Chat on twitter at 8pm EST on Thursday October 10th is all about NaNoWriMo! Use hashtag #ChickLitChat to join in the conversations! Readers and writers (published and still aspiring) are all welcome!

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it runs for the entire month of November. The goal is to write 50,000 words and complete a novel. That might sound easy (haha!) until you try it. It’s tricky to write 1667 words a day for a full month. But every year, tons of writers sign up to do just that. I’ve signed up twice myself and I just might be crazy enough to attempt it again. The first time I succeeded, hitting my 50k around day 20 on a work in progress that became Bunny Hills and Bikinis. The second time, I failed gloriously, but still managed to pack away 20k+ on a new novel although I can’t remember which one… The greatest thing about all that writing craziness, is that you get a lot of motivation and camaraderie throughout the process.

Already to sign up? Go for it! What have you got to lose? So you’ll write 50k or you won’t, either way, you’ll get some new words on your current work in progress and you may even make some new friends along the way too!

And I have a few easy tips to keep you on track during NaNoWriMo:

1. Plan ahead. What are you going to write? Do you have an idea? An outline? Characters? The more planning you do, the more ready you’ll be to sit down and type, so use October to plan, plan plan!

2. Just keep writing. Don’t stop to worry about every little detail of the story. The little things can be worked out later in the next phase. If there’s a name or description that isn’t coming to you, just put a few *** in its place and go back to it later. Need to write a scene and it’s just not working that day? *** it and move on. November is for writing. December is for editing!

3. Have fun! Writing should be a pleasure, first and foremost. If you’re stressing out about your word count, take a step back and refocus. Sure you’re trying to make a word count goal, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t hit that coveted 50K. Life happens and sometimes that means writing can’t. Enjoy the process every step of the way.

4. Raise your right hand and repeat: “I do solemnly swear that I will NOT submit my NaNoWriMo novel to any editor, publisher or agent until I have sufficiently edited and polished it.” Go on. Repeat it. Live it. Give your work time to rest before you deal with it further. You wrote it so quickly that you can’t see it for what it is just yet. Set it aside for a week or even a month while you work on something else. Then go back to it with fresh eyes and see where it needs work. After it’s been edited, rewritten, and polished, then it’s time to send it out into the world, and not a moment sooner.

Do you have more to add? Leave a comment, chat with me on twitter during #ChickLitChat, or visit the Chick Lit Chat HQ facebook page!

Sign up for NaNoWriMo by clicking Here!

And while you’re signing up for things, Why not sign up for my Newsletter?! You can do that by entering your email address into my sign up form over on the right hand side of this page. >>>> Signing up will help keep you up to date on contests, giveaways, and new releases! And it will make me feel all warm and fuzzy to see your email on my mailing list. Hugs!

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About the author

Heather

1 ping

  1. nancygoldberglevine says:

    I finally signed up, Heather. I saw something about life happening and that was what was holding me back. Over the last couple of years, life has happened with a bang and not in a good way, but I’m taking another chance.

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