For the past several Novembers, I have participated in NaNoWriMo. What’s this? It’s National Novel Writing Month. You take the entire month of November, turn off your internal editor and dedicate every second possible to churning out a story of 50,000 words. The goal is to get the story down from start to finish and not worry about editing a single line. You can’t fix what you don’t have on paper, right?
This works well for me. I have always written like this. No plotting. No real planning. Just an idea floating in my head with characters and a good start. My first novel took me about a year and a half to complete. But I didn’t write non-stop or even day-to-day. Shoot. I went weeks at a time without writing a single word. In the end, I had a 100,000-word manuscript with characters that I fell in love with and a storyline that often shocked the socks off me. The writing is my favorite part. No boundaries. No second-guessing. No sitting for hours trying to find that one special word to tie that sentence into a tight but emotionally packed bow.
To date, I have finished five manuscripts this way. One has been polished to death and as of just recently is being sent out to agents and editors. The edits haven’t stopped on it though. I’m struggling to figure out when enough is enough and move on. When do you put that beloved story away and work on the next one? I don’t want my characters to disappear. But at some point I have to face reality and give one of these other stories my attention and their shot at publication. Several haven’t even seen the light of day since I t
yped THE END.
Focus is my downfall. I’m happiest when I have several different stories going at once. But talk about added stress and confusion. It’s not easy to keep them from blending together, especially when you’re not a plotter.
So I searched for ideas on how to keep focused. Hey, I’m up for anything at this point. 
Eliminate Distractions – Okay. Yeah, in a perfect world without kids one might do this. LOL
- Clear your desk. (Suggestion was to put it on the floor to deal with later. Huh?)
- No internet or computer programs open that are not necessary. (Does this include Facebook!?)
- No TV or Radio unless you find it productive. (Okay, music works)
- No noise. (Got it covered. Headphones with ipod.)
- No phone. (Nope. This won’t work for me. Gotta be available for my kids.)
- No email or feed reader. (Don’t know what a feed reader is, but I can do without email for a little bit. )
- Just my project and me. (Heaven!)
Visualize – Yes. This is possible. Do this all the time.
- Take five to ten minutes and picture your project and what you need or want to do overall for the day.
- See yourself accomplishing your goal.
Planning – Okay this is where I’m going to start pulling my hair out.
- Write out a plan and the major steps from start to finish in a basic outline format. (I could be writing!)
- Write out the steps it will take and approximate time for each one. (I have to set a time to finish it in? My head is starting to hurt. LOL Too structured!)
Breaks and Rewards – Now this sounds like something I can live with.
- Use a timer to stay on track.
- Make yourself take the scheduled breaks no matter what.
- Plan a reward for meeting your goals.
Take Action - Get bottom in chair. Put fingers on keys. Type!!! (Shoot! No procrastination?)
- Keep moving forward. If you find yourself distracted go back and review your plan.
- Be strict with yourself to keep distractions from creeping into your writing time. (Ah! Strict! I’m not even strict with my kids!!)
Don’t be afraid of a not so perfect first draft - You can always edit it into a masterpiece. (Yes! Just what I wanted to hear!!)
Some of these I can use. Others would just kill my creativity all together. It all boils down to finding and using that magical plan that works for you. The minute it turns out to be more work than fun, I feel like it’s just not worth it anymore.
How about you? Anyone else take part in NaNoWriMo in the past or thinking about participating this year? How do you focus in today’s chaotic world?
I’ve not done Nanowrimo before. I have an internal editor the size of Godzilla inside of me. I have to edit one chapter before I move on the next. It’s just the way I roll.
BUT, maybe I should give it a shot. Just go ahead and try to get the story down and then go to town on it with my mamouth editor after I finish it. Maybe it would end up being a better story.
It’s interesting to see the different ways others write, Amy. What works for one would be a disaster for another. LOL I’ve tried editing as I go, but I tend to get stuck on one chapter and not move forward that way. I sure like the idea of getting to the end of a story and not having the daunting task of edits to work on though.
I’ve never done Nano, but would like to try it. The story I’m cleaning up now took me right at 3months from “Oh! Idea!” to “The End”. It’s somewhere around 75K. My fastest work yet. If I had concentrated on JUST THAT story, I think I could have done it faster. Course, now i’m left with a mess since this story did what I call, vomitted itself on the page.
Working to clean and polish it now with the goal to query it by 1st of August. We’ll see if I can make it.
I have never done Nano, but those are some very good ideas to maintain focus on writing throughout the day. I will have to use some of those ideas. =)
LOL, Keri! Vomited on page! Never thought of it like that but that is exactly what it is.
Good luck with those edits!
Jamie, I’m hoping to use some of them too. Especially the Take Action! LOL The hardest part for me is just sitting down and starting.