Hey, Mounties! Here’s update number two for NaNoWriMo: Mountie Edition.
The first step to doing NaNoWriMo is deciding to do it. Making the decision that this year will be your year.
Some of you are reading this because you’ve already decided! Wonderful! Some of you are reading this because it came up as a new post on the forum, and you decided to read it. Also wonderful!
Being on the fence about NaNoWriMo is normal. Some of us contemplate the challenge for years and never follow up. But this year could be the year, for all of us, to make it happen. If you’ve started and never finished. If you’ve wanted to but never begun. Or if you’ve done it before successfully, and want to make a triumphant return.
Being uncertain about taking on the commitment of writing ~1647 words per day for 30 days is also normal. It sounds like a lot. Roughly, it translates to about 4 pages per day. That can take anywhere from an hour to several, depending on whether your creative brain cooperates.
And that’s the catch for a lot of people. Will your brain supply the words to meet your goal every day? What I’ve found that helps the most are these two things:
- Have a plan. Make an outline, decide what your goals are in advance. All of that can happen in the first few days of NaNo, or better yet, in October before NaNo begins.
- Understand that this is a rough draft. It does not have to be perfect, no one has to look at it except for you, it can be awkward and terrible and confusing because once it’s finished, then you can go back and revise. But you have to finish it first.
So what is your first step? Well, hopefully you’re here because you’ve decided to give it a go, or maybe during the time you’ve read this you’ve made up your mind.
Next, the thing to do is to sign up on the NaNo website, by clicking the blue, bolded “sign up” hyperlink and providing a username, email, and password for the website.
Once you’ve done that, please come back here and let everyone know that you’ve completed it, and what your username is! NaNoWriMo allows you to have writing buddies to support and encourage you during the challenge. They want everyone to succeed, and so do I!
So, if you’ve decided you’re ready to do this, let’s go! If not, and you need to do more reasearch or take a little more time to decide, no worries. There’s plenty of time left to sign up, and there’s always next year if you’ve got too much going on.
Looking forward to NaNo with you!
#NaNoForItsuki
I love that username!
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