November 8, 2006

NaNoWriMo Lessons Learned

Can you learn any lessons from the act of forcing yourself to write an entire novel in one month? Yes, indeed. Even though your brain becomes completely useless, you can still find the valuable lessons.
  1. Having even the roughest outline is essential if you want the words to come quickly, which you definitely do.
  2. Get sleep. It's folly to think you can write anything readable if you're just running on caffeine.
  3. There are days when you will not reach your word count. It's okay. You can make it up.
  4. If the dog has a seizure, take care of him. He needs you more than you need NaNoWriMo.
  5. It's nice to have people support and encourage you to accomplish NaNoWriMo, but there is nothing like a little competition, even if it's with yourself.
  6. Writing 24,000 words in 8 days gives you incredible insight into what you can do when you set your mind to it.
I may add to these as the month progresses. Right now, number 4 is a priority.
Posted 4 years, 1 month ago on November 8, 2006

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