How to Prepare for National Novel Writitng Month

November is National Novel Writing Month. The goal: write 50,000 words in the space of 30 days to produce a novel. Now in it's tenth year, the list of participants has grown from the original 21, to well of 100,000. But to write that many words, in an first time attempt, is not quite as simple as it seems. By the time you reach week two, without some form of preparation, the goal may look insurmountable. Preparation in October is the key to conquering NaNoWriMo.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A calender
• A witting pad.
• A writing instrument (pencil/pen etc.)
• A computer with internet access.

1. 
   Planning - the path of accomplishment.

   Primarily, map out a schedule to write every day. Plan for an hour a day, every day, to write your novel. Rise an hour earlier, stay up later, turn off the television are all avenues for finding that extra hour.

2. Advice friends and family that you are committed your new novel* in November and that your time is precious. Certain activities will be skipped, appointments will be missed, but you will be writing, even on Thanksgiving Day.
   
   *It may be your first novel, but it is in fact your "new" novel.

3. Enroll at the National Novel Writing Month website and load your profile. Read the message boards for the best advice from seasoned writers.

4. Plan your story. Flesh out your main character, write their life biography highlights, their strengths and weakness, their fears and love. In about week two when the ideas seem difficult to put into words, you will come back to your biography and find the next idea.

5. Enlist in one of the informal writers meetings that occur throughout the world. Coffee shops, auditoriums, libraries are regular venues, so are the homes of the writers themselves. It is not uncommon for world renown writers and publishers to attend, to work side by side with you.

6. 
   Nothing thwarts good writing when you have to go out for a drink.

   Ready yourself with enough writing indulgences to start at midnight November 1. Keep the necessities in the house which motivate you - coffee, soda, chocolate. Nothing stifles a great writing session by having to go out and buy a soda.

Tips & Warnings

• National Novel Writing Month is a process - to write to a goal. Your novel may go no further then your eyes or, like some others, it may go to into print as a novel. The goal is to write.
• Perseverance is the key. Late at night when you are dead tired don't avoid writing, even if it's a few words. Write every day, for every day that your don't, will make returning to writing that much harder.

[augustmoonchild]

on 9/23/2009 i did it last year and even though i bombed, i had a great time :)