Week two of National Novel Writing Month is always a wonderful time. You’ve gotten into the groove of your story and the month itself, and you’re ready to continue. But be warned, the week can quickly go from grooving to falling behind. Here are a few resources to help keep yourself going when you find your story or word count slipping out of your grasp.
1. Word Crawls
Word crawls are a series of writing exercises centered on a theme, and the best ones take you through a story. The themes range from book series to musicals to television shows, and they never fail to give your story that extra boost. They can be found in the NaNoWriMo forums.
2. WriteDeck
If you’ve got a group of your own friends who are participating, try doing group word sprints through WriteDeck. It’s a platform that allows you to race against your friends to see who can get to a desired word count fastest, and there’s nothing better for fueling creativity than a little healthy competition.
3. NaNoWordSprints
If you’re noveling alone this month (or all of your friends gave into sleep five hours ago), check out the NaNoWordSprints Twitter. There are always virtual sprints going on, along with optional prompts if you need an idea of what to write next.
4. Virtual Write-Ins
Virtual write-ins happen throughout the month of November, and the calendar can be found on the NaNo website. They’re a great way to interact with the NaNo community and get some writing done all without changing out of your pajamas.
5. WriteOrDie
WriteOrDie is an evil website that keeps your fingers moving. You can select your level of punishment and when you stop writing, it will do anything from make a loud noise to start deleting what you’ve written.
6. Written? Kitten!
This website is the antithesis of WriteOrDie, in that it rewards you for every 100 words you write with a picture of a cute lil kitten. It provides positive motivation to keep writing so the cute can continue.
NaNo is tough, and when inspiration starts slipping, it’s hard to get it back. Ultimately, it is about finding what works best for you, and many of the resources above help you along the way. Good luck with the week ahead, and just keep writing!
