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Guarantee your NaNoWriMo Win

The month is halfway over. Maybe you’re on track to finish NaNoWriMo with 50,000 words by November 30.

Or maybe not.

But even if you only have 12,000 words written, you can still win.

No, I’m not crazy. I believe in setting a goal and making yourself reach it. Even if it means skipping dinner. Or staying up until midnight.

First off, you must decide that you want to win. If you don’t really want it, then there’s nothing truly motivating your writing.

I’m not the person who works better under deadline. Or maybe I should say, I don’t do my best work if I wait to begin until an hour before it’s due.

I’m a planner. If you want to write 50,000 words in 30 days, then you need to plan for it.

After you’ve decided you want to win, write down the number of words you’ve currently written on your novel (or should I say project? I was a rebel and wrote five short stories last year for NaNoWriMo). Now, subtract that amount from 50,000.

Does that number seem daunting? An impossible goal.

It’s not. Say that aloud right now. “This is NOT impossible.”

You might need to keep repeating it a few dozen hundred thousand times until you’re thoroughly convinced. But don’t take too long, because you need to get back to writing.

Now look at your November calendar. Ask yourself, “What days do I know I can write for at least two hours?”

If you don’t think you can do it on November 25th because you’re baking two pies and three dozen rolls for the family dinner on the 26th, that’s fine. If you know it won’t happen on the 26th because your house will be overflowing with family on friends on Thanksgiving Day, that’s perfectly acceptable.

However, you need to realize that the more days you excuse yourself from writing, the more WORDS you’ll be required to write on the other days.

Now take the number of words you must write to reach the goal and divide it by the number of days you know you can write. This is how the NaNoWriMo organizers come up with the 1,667-word daily goal they tout at the first of the month.

Let’s say you had 33,215 words left (you know, 50,000 minus the number in your document at this moment) and have decided you can write only 11 days for the rest of November. That means you need to write 3,020 words per day in order to meet the goal.

I can write 1,000 words per hour with ease once I get into the groove. If you can churn out words at that pace, that means three hours dedicated to writing on each of those eleven days.

But I’m Stuck

Image from cutestpaw.com

You only think you’re stuck.

Really.

Grab a pen and notebook and start scribbling ideas about your main character, his goal, his problems, and his goals. Then type those words into the document you’re using to tally your words for NaNo.

How many words did you just add?

Are you ready to get back to the story now? If not, choose another character or a setting and start scribbling about that. Eventually, the story will start itching to get out.

Or maybe you’ve drawn a blank about the current scene. Skip it.

“But it will leave a hole in my story.”

Who cares?

Seriously. Do you want to WIN this challenge? Or do you want to write a perfectly coherent story?

You might be able to do both. Or you might not.

Know this, once the first draft is written, it can be fixed.

In fact, it will be in dire need of multiple surgeries. I promise you can fill in the hole when you go back to rewrite the second draft.

So, why are you still reading this?

Go write some words.

You’re a winner. And for this challenge, winners need to write the words.

If you have some awesome advice for other NaNo writers, leave it in the comments. If I get enough awesomesauce (yes, that’s a real word according to the Oxford Dictionary), I’ll write a post in December to share all that wisdom.

What do you think? Add to the discussion here.