Lisa's Survival Guide to NaNo by Lisa Bouchard

Aaaaaand we're OFF!!!

Squeezing NaNoWriMo into our busy lives is challenging, but with a little forethought we can sail through November and have shiny new novels to call our own.

There are some things we can do without for the month. I’d suggest eating lunch at your desk and writing instead of going out and watching less TV.  Consider watching less TV, there’s nothing good on, anyway. Some things, however, we need to make sure we don’t neglect, like:

--Work or School

--Nutrition

--Sleep

--Exercise

--Family and Relationships

Work is, for most people, non-negotiable. We have to continue to get up every day and head in to the office – on time – or make it to all your classes.  Let’s make a pact not to lose our jobs or fail out of school this November, m’kay? 

Eating properly. Not nearly as sexy as pounding out our novels fuelled by nothing but Starbucks for days on end, but our brains need nutrition to work properly. We all know what good nutrition is, or at least we know it’s not drive through every night or sugary cereals in the mornings. 

Here’s good nutrition in a nutshell: drink water with every meal, make your grains whole grains (whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal, whole grain pastas), eat your fruits and veggies without coating them in sugars and/or fats, eat protein a couple times a day. Eat low fat dairy products (not ice cream here) once or twice a day. One dessert every other day. Fruits and veggies for snacks. 

While this won’t pass any nutritionist’s muster, it’s not a bad start. And don’t over caffeinate, we won’t need to once we get used to the next item on our list.

Sleep! We all love it. Waking up well-rested feels great. So why is it we don’t make it a priority? I may be the world’s biggest hypocrite here, I get up very early to write before the kids wake up but I rarely drag myself to bed before 11 pm. This November we will be pushing our brains to the limit, so to bounce back every day we need to let the little gray cells rest. Sleep is as non-negotiable as work, so 6, 7, 8 hours – you know what you need. Make sure you get it.

I’ll be better at it as well. I promise.

Exercise, the bane of modern life. I admit I’ve cut out exercise in an attempt to get more writing time. It worked for me, but in the long run 30 minutes on my treadmill every other day is a small price to pay for still being able to fit in my clothing on December 1^st. I’m fortunate to have a treadmill in my living room, but you could go for a walk to work out your plotting for the day before you sit down to write.

Take your dog out for one longer walk every day. Hop on your bike and ride around the neighborhood. Don’t want to do any of those, or live in the frigid north like me? Check out these online exercise videos.

Finally, family and relationships. You know, those people who like you and like spending time with you. Try not to ignore them. Prepare them in advance, let them know you’ll be writing a novel and on December 1^st you’ll all go out and celebrate your staggering work of genius and their infinite patience.

I find the most important thing about relationships is that people want to feel like they’re special to you. Keeping on top of that should keep peace in your house. And remember, actions speak louder than words here, but remembering to say “Thank you” and “I love you” can keep you out of hot water (at any time of the year).

So, keep these five critical areas in check and we’ll make it through November ready to write our sequels in January.

Tell us what your survival guid is like. Do you find it easy or hard to follow through?

Lisa Bouchard, 10 year veteran of NaNoWriMo, is up at 4 am to write before all hell breaks loose her children wake up. From there it’s all downhill but somehow the novels keep getting written. You can find her all over the internet, starting with her website Writing and Kids, her Twitter @Lisa_Bouchard, and her NaNoWriMo user name is Lisa Bouchard.

10K in a Day: 10-Step Guide by Daniel Swensen

10 small steps equal one big one. (catalogs.com)

In November 2005, my third year of Nanowrimo, I found myself a whopping 10,000 words behind. (When your quota is 1,666 words a day, it's amazing how fast you can rack up a debt.) Rather than trying to catch up a little bit at a time, I decided to do it all in one day.

So I sat down for about twelve hours and wrote 10,000 words and change, the full sum of my word count debt. I stayed on track for the remainder of the month and went on to my first Nanowrimo win. I don't really recommend this strategy -- you're probably better off just forming a healthy daily habit instead of embracing insanity. But, if you find yourself deep in a hole this November and think there's no way to dig yourself out, here's how.

1. Get rested.

Sleep as much as you can the day before. Half-asleep and twitching from the caffeine jitters is not going to help your productivity.

2. Block out the time and don't compromise.

Tell your family and friends you need several hours of unbroken time. Put off any and every obligation you reasonably can, and aim for as many unbroken hours as possible to maximize momentum.

3. Lay off the sugar.

Nothing kills a writing stretch faster than a sugar crash. Stay hydrated, eat as well as you're able, and moderate your caffeine intake.

4. Find a quiet place and close the door.

Distractions may come at you hard and fast. Don't get sidetracked. Isolate yourself as much as possible. If you have an optimal writing space, seek it out like a homing missile and settle in for the long haul.

5. Turn off the internet.

Nothing will murder your writing time faster than research, or Twitter, or email, or anything else on the Internet. Unplug it from the wall or turn off your wireless entirely. Your research, legitimate or not, can wait until tomorrow.

6. Damn the torpedoes!

Now that the vital prep work is done, you're ready to start writing. This is the hard part, but there's only one simple rule you have to follow now: never stop. Let go of your writing inhibitions and your sense of decorum. Is the scene you're writing boring you? Skip it. If something's not working, abandon it. Write only what really excites you.

7. Identify your enemies and strike them down.

Here's your big chance to probe your weaknesses and bulldoze over the top of them. Do you lose minutes searching for just the right word? Settle for second best and move on. Do you drag yourself down with lengthy exposition? Dump it.

           

This is also a great time to find your strengths and play to them. Can you write endless pages of dialogue without fatigue? Great! Remember, this is word-count triage; find the tools that work and use them, no matter how messy things get.

8. Don't check your word count.

Sooner or later, you'll be tempted to see how well you're doing — but if you check your word count and find you're not even 10% there, it's easy to get dejected. Resist as long as you can. If you can, check it just once or twice for the full run of your marathon sprint.

9. Take breaks.

Sooner or later, your endurance will give out. Stop and stretch so you don't injure yourself. But don't stay away for too long, and don't get distracted for lengthy periods For best results, take your breaks away from the computer.

10. You're back on track — now stay there.

Chances are, once you've cranked out 10K in a day, a measly 1,666 will seem like peanuts. That's a good attitude to have. Remember that. It's far easier to retain your sanity, and a coherent narrative, when you're not trying to do 5 times your normal workload.

           

That's it. I sincerely hope you never have to use this advice, but if you do, drop me a line and tell me your war story. Good luck and happy writing this November.

Daniel Swensen (@surlymuse) has written everything from game books to cell phone ads, and has had every job from supermarket monkey and sandwich artist to coder, designer, and marketer. He gleefully embraces the triple cliche of coffee addict, book junkie, and cat enthusiast. He blogs at Surly Muse.