Countdown NaNo

Only two more days until NaNoWriMo starts!

I'm getting ready to crank out 50K words in 30 days by reading all the writing blogs and articles I feel will motivate me as I face this seemingly overwhelming challenge.

I can do this. I can do this. (Do I sound like "the little engine who could"?)

I did the math. Writing 6 days a week (taking Sundays off), to meet the goal of 50K words for the month, I have to write just 2,000 words a day. (2,000 words x 26 days = 52,000 words)

I can do this. I can write 2,000 words a day. Why, that's not even a chapter! I can do this!

I wrote around 1,600 words a day in my travel journal on our 2-week vacation last month. And it didn't take me more than an hour. Honest.

I just wrote.

I didn't plan. I didn't think. I didn't edit myself (too much).

I just wrote.

And that's what I plan to do during NaNo.

Just write.

I will lock up the internal editor. Better yet, I will bind her with duct tape first.

I will free the muse.

I can do this.



NOTE: Books & Such agent Rachelle Gardner gives some great advice in her blog, "Writing a First Draft." Also check out "5 Habits of Motivated Novelists" for more ways to crank out words.


MICHELE'S RULES FOR NANO:

1. Set time to write every day. (9 a.m. - 12 p.m., then 1 - 3 p.m., or whenever word count for the day is met.)

2. Keep writing time sacred:

• STAY OFF Internet. That includes Facebook and other social networking sites. Research after word count is met. Only when daily word count is met post progress on blog, NaNoWriMo site, and FB.
• Do not check email. 
• Do not use phone. Let the answering machine or voice mail take incoming calls. 
•  Do not schedule anything during writing time.

3. Write 2,000 words a day, Monday-Saturday. No excuses. 

4. Push forward.

5. Don't think.

6. Just write. 

I'm fortunate in that I don't work outside the home, I live in the middle of nowhere, the nest is empty, and my husband works 11-hour days (is gone 12 hours M-F), and is content with simple suppers.

How about you? What are you doing to get ready for NaNo?

Keep writing,
Michele