Whew! Where does the time go? I can’t believe we’ve already passed the halfway point of November. Are you anywhere near the midpoint of your story? I’m doing better than I’d anticipated, but I’m only about 12k (25%) into my ghostwritten novel, which isn’t the midpoint, not by a long shot. How’s your word count, are you on track for 30,000 words by the end of the day? If not, don’t let it stress you out, there’s still time!
I’m running with the NaNoRebel crowd this year, I know. While I’ve only gotten about a quarter of the way into my ghostwritten novel, I passed 30k words written in my combined projects a week ago. So I have less to concern myself with in terms of NaNo win at this point and more to worry about with just getting my ghostwriting on a regular schedule. I was aiming for 30k by the end of the month, and I might be on track? I’m not entirely sure. I think I’ll have 25k at this rate, but might need to start pushing myself a little harder to hit that 30k goal.
Pacing Yourself
It’s always wonderful to start a new project and find things falling into place. Week one of National Novel Writing Month tends to be that crazy word spree, falling into a more regular stride by week two. The worries that come with being halfway through the month, however, tend to make people push themselves harder than they should. This is not an ideal strategy for writing. (If you only write in November for the heck of it, maybe you can get away with it, maybe not.) Push too hard and you are risking burnout, not to mention making it harder on yourself if you can’t get to 50k by the end of the month. Sometimes you can push until the end of the month and then crash afterward. Most people don’t have that luxury, however, what with jobs and life being what they are. (Especially in 2020.)
I strongly recommend including rest breaks in your day, even if it’s five minutes with your feet up and your eyes closed, not thinking about anything but the found moment of peace. I’ve recommended guided meditation apps before (don’t freak out just because I used the word meditation, it’s not a big deal, really); the one I use for quick breaks is called Simply Being. I use others for longer breaks and times when I need to slow down and reduce tension, but Simply Being is great for guiding me to stop thinking about anything, novels or otherwise, and just focus on breathing deeply for a few minutes. The guided part means you don’t have to keep yourself on track, there’s a gentle voice doing it for you.
For those with health or other energy concerns, I would add that a more serious break makes a big difference, too. I include an hour-long siesta in my mid-afternoon schedule, blocking out time that is for nothing but stopping and recuperating a little. If I don’t get my siesta about six hours of work into my day, the entire rest of the day tends to crash. I can also (how do I put this politely?) be quite a witch without that rest. Or, on the days I take my siesta as planned, I have recovered enough to turn my brain back on and write steadily for several more hours, or whatever tasks I have left in my day.
Every word brings you one step closer to the finish line.
You can do it!
~Anonymous NaNoBoston pep talk
There’s a happy medium between writing frantically to reach a desired word count and taking it as it comes. Sometimes you need to reach your maximum energy for writing and stop, even if you haven’t made your desired effort or word count for that day. It’s pretty rough on your body and mind if you try to go, go, go all the time. It will build up until you get tension headaches, start sleeping less well, or other signs of physical or mental fatigue. If you ignore the first signs, even the healthiest of writers are going to start having more problems. Sometimes these problems include the foul mood that makes you offend someone when you didn’t mean to, finding everything anyone says hurts as if it were a personal attack, clumsiness that makes you repeatedly trip and fall, and the problems tend to escalate quickly.
Do not push yourself so hard you injure yourself!
The downside of pacing yourself can be that you don’t reach fifty thousand words in thirty days. It’s hard to accept for a lot of people, but this year of all years, it’s time to admit that there are things going on that can take precedence over an online challenge of writing 50k in 30 days. Whether it’s health, happiness, family, or something else entirely, if you don’t make it to 50,000 words, do not be hard on yourself! You wrote, and that’s more than you’d done prior. Starting is often the first hurdle a writer faces, and you’ve accomplished that! There’s no blank page cursing you now. If you don’t ever finish the story you started this month, that’s okay, too. I would encourage everyone to try and finish their stories, but at a more relaxed pace. The winter is going to feel long and hard this year, so having a different world to escape to can be one of many ways to make it seem easier.
Maybe it’s time to stop for a moment and consider. What worked well for you the last couple weeks? Does having a daily goal help or hinder you? Perhaps setting a weekly goal is easier, so you have a little bit more leeway to write more some days than others? Did you set a scheduled time to write each day, and that worked well? What about a group of writers you got along well with that helped keep you on course? (Surprise, you can make writing groups outside of NaNoWriMo, too.)
Your Task, Should You Choose To Accept It…
Make a list of things that worked well for you this month. Whether it’s setting interval goals, keeping in touch with certain people, or a list of favorite foods/meals that you used as rewards when you successfully wrote your required words that week. At the beginning of the month I talked about Carrot and Stick motivation; see if you can list five successful positive and negative motivational tools that actually worked for you in the last couple weeks. Brainstorm more, if you like, but keeping the focus on what you have proven works can help a good deal. How might you be able to build those proven methods into your life for the coming weeks (and months beyond)?
I told a writer today that the best defense against negative critique is to not let it stop you and to write some awesome words that you know are good. Whether the critique is from someone else or just that little voice in the back of your head that says you’ll never make it, fight the negativity. November is getting darker (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), but it is a choice to accept the negative thoughts that come with it. Even if the best move is just to realize when you’re being self-defeating and move on, it’s the forward movement that’s the key.
You can do this!
Cheers,
~Marie
Marie Efromson 