This one goes out to all you NaNoWriMo writers.
You should be floating around 30,000 words this week if you want to be on track for that 50,000. If not, don’t panic-- you’re doing just fine.
If you’ve fallen behind on your word count, or you’ve reached that point where you need a whole box of K-cups just to get you through one writing session each day, don’t freak out just yet. You’ve made amazing progress already.
If you’ve hit major writer’s block, ask yourself, “What could go wrong?” and make it happen. Put your characters in a mess, a trap. Force yourself to write their escape route. Force yourself to figure out how to clean things up for them. Then, after you do that, mess up their lives again. Keep throwing them into situations where they must find a way out of it.
Maybe you’re only sitting around 6,000 words right now. Honestly, that’s totally fine. So what if you’re not keeping a steady pace? You might be sitting at 20,000 for the whole month, and then on November 28th, you might crank out 25,000 words, and then anther 5,000 on the 30th. You never know when inspiration will hit you. No matter what you do, don’t give up, and keep writing.
If you’re worried about pacing yourself, re-vamp your strategy. Set reminder alarms on your phone to write. Schedule specific times to write. Put sticky notes all over everything, telling you to go write.
Don’t worry so much about content; worry about getting something down. NaNo truly defines Hemingway’s quote, “Write drunk; edit sober.” Don't become dependent on alcohol to get the job done, but do what you gotta do. Write to get the plot fleshed out. Write to learn how each of your characters arc. Write to learn something about yourself as a writer.
Also, remember why you’re doing this. Why do you want to finish a novel in 30 days? Are you working on a bad habit, like procrastination or a lack of determination? Are you trying to prove something to someone? To yourself? Remind yourself of that reason.
Another thing to keep in mind is that NaNo isn’t required. No one is forcing you to write. Whatever your reason, you chose to do this. You chose to enter a writing challenge, with or without any previous experience. You chose to continue on, to not give up, to make it to the halfway point.
When the 30th rolls around, don’t look back on your low word count as a defeat. Don’t think to yourself, “I should have spent more time writing,” or “I should have written more words.” You did what you could do. If your story isn’t complete, that’s fine too. Most best-selling authors spend years on their books. Don’t try to compare your work to theirs. It’s your novel. It’s your story.
If you did hit that 50,000 word count, and you finish off your manuscript with the words, "The end," celebrate! This is your victory. You earned it. You wrote your story. You did it, not someone else.
My last piece of advice is easy: Go write. Stop reading this. Okay, you’re at the end now, but seriously. Why are you still reading this? Why aren’t you writing?
