the biggest thing to remember is that in November you have 30 days to write 50k words that is just over 1,666 words a day. if you only wrote on weekdays that is 22 days of writing at around 2,272 a day.
i wrote 24 days last year and won so it isn't impossible but that is about 2,083 words a day, some days i only manged fifteen words and i had to make up for all the lost words the next day which was hard. but before you start freaking out here is my tips on how to achieve this amazing goal.
winning NaNoWriMo is almost exactly the same as winning camp NaNoWriMo except you have to reach 50k and cant set your own goal.
1. Pace yourself
while it may sound like a good idea to sit down and write for five hours each day you will drain yourself a lot faster, if you plan to write every day you're goal is to hit 1,666 a day. some days you are going to be over that and other days you will be under but if you know that you have to write a certain amount of words you will soon work out how long it takes you on average to write that amount of words each day. which will make the days you are under a lot easier to catch up in the future.
2. Outline
while i myself am more of a pantser i do a brief outline of my project that i will be working on {Check out my blog post on outlining} in the post linked i talk about how i outline briefly to help get everything done without it being a full outline which makes me feel restricted.
3. Get inspired
there are many ways to do this, you could go for a walk, listen to music, go and be with nature it really depends on you. i personally search up on google "writing prompts" and look at pictures or follow links and find one best fitted for the novel you are writing. i find this really helpful and i immediately find inspiration
4. Leave it unfinished
when you know you are going to be finishing writing, for the time being, if it is for a few hours or for the day that doesn't matter, the best thing to do so you don't come back and go well what to do now start the next sentence and don't finish it. for me, i finished writing for the day and knew i wouldn't know where to start again so i finished off with 'i walked into the kitchen and saw' while you wouldn't want to finish a chapter, paragraph or bookending like that it just means you can come back and it will be super easy to get back into it, meaning fewer writers block moments.
5. Sprint
for this, all you need to do is search up NaNoWordSprints on twitter and wait for the people to come on, or you can set your own timer up on your laptop or phone. a word sprint is when you have a timer for a certain amount of time and you just flat out write, then you take a break when you are done before going straight back into it. Video on sprints with information on them
6. Accept That Your Manuscript Will Not Be Perfect
don't try and make it perfect, that will only help you not make your word goal, realize that no matter what there is going to be major editing involved so there is no point in worrying about it all being perfect now when that is the least of your concerns, the faster you realize that the easier it will for the words to flow.
7. Write
sometimes the best thing to do is just write, even if it is never going to make it into the final copy of your project, every word counts when you start writing the words should just start to flow meaning while it most likely won't make sense it still counts towards your word goal and you may make something that you can use for your book
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