1.  Writing Discipline

Gaming is so much more fun, but I force myself to hit my word count and then some extra every single day.  The days that I come up short on word count I berate myself and feel guilty. Better to just finish word count so I don’t have to deal with my own guilt. In 2008, my personal daily word count was set at 1800. This year I set the daily bar at 2000. My goal is a 100K word count “zero draft” so I can cut 10% per edit, estimating two edits beyond the original zero draft. I won’t hit 100K in November alone, but I’ll be further along the way than if I hadn’t participated in NaNoWriMo.

2. You CAN turn creativity on and off like a switch.

You don’t have to have that day’s writing planned out.  Just figure out what you want to say that sentence.  And then that paragraph.  And then that little bit of dialogue.  Sooner or later, more ideas will flow and then you’re off and running.

3. I obsessively watch my word count.

At first I would write two very tiny paragraphs and press Ctrl-Shift-C (Google Docs shortcut for Word Count). Then I’d be sad that it didn’t jump from 200 to 1000 with those two minuscule, magical paragraphs.  Then I would go play online games and come back 30 minutes later amazed that my word count hadn’t spontaneously increased.  Go figure.  I am working on making myself write straight for 15 minutes uninterrupted and no word count checks allowed. That seems to help. I still need a Ctrl-Shift-C intervention. Write or Die also helps immensely.

4.  I have a lot to learn about the craft of noveling.

When I thought I was terrible at dialogue, I ended up doing quite well.  Pacing, however, took me down a couple of notches.  I still can’t pace a story right now very well.  I still have no concept of what 50,000 words *means* in a story, despite reading at least a novel a week for almost as long as I can remember. But I can read about noveling technique in the other eleven months that aren’t NaNoWriMo. November is for word count.

5.  Save daily copies of your manuscript EVERYWHERE!

I originally used Google Docs to “write in the cloud,” so I could work from anywhere with an Internet connection. Things were good the first two weeks and then the sheer text size began to break down — things wouldn’t always save, I lost the last few paragraphs of work from each night, etc.  I have learned to back EVERYTHING up to notepad and Word, and email copies to work and Gmail. Daily. I also learned that Google Docs has an anemic 500kb limit which is easy to hit with formatted text. I separate my manuscript out by chapter now instead.

6.  Some days I hate writing.

But I push myself to do it. In the end it isn’t so bad. And if you focus JUST on writing instead of playing on Twitter, MMO’s, and watching the latest episode of “The Office,” it goes much easier.

7.  I miss sleep.

I sacrificed my before bedtime novel reading to write instead.  Problem is, when I read novels, I can get drowsy and fall asleep whenever I feel like it with no consequences.  With a word count kicking me in the backside, I don’t have that choice. And it’s a rough writing night, I spend the rest of the night tossing and turning trying to solve plot problems in my sleep. /sigh.

8.  I miss READING!

But when I do read now, it’s like a whole new world unfolding.  I notice dialogue.  I notice plot twists.  I notice subplots.  It’s like walking through a field of poppies and then having the color saturation turned way way up — all of a sudden subtleties leap out. Kind of like watching The Wizard of Oz in the beginning where it’s black and white, and then when Dorothy gets to Oz all the colors of Munchkinland are brilliant.

Here are my “approved distractions” for the rest of the month:

We’re a little over halfway done with NaNoWriMo 2009, so all you NaNo’ers hang in there and keep writing! You can do it!

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