How to win NaNoWriMo 2008
How I did it: Well, I just kept writing.
My goal for the month was 200K, and to hit that I had a strict schedule where I would write 10K on a weekend and 5K every week night after work, and I'd push a bit harder once I'd made my daily quota to try and fit some more in and get at least 50K every week.
In the end, I managed to stick to it and hit my goal with 4 days to spare. Whew!
Lessons & tips: Write. One of the 2007 pep talks mentioned writing at least 10 words a day, even if you're stuck, the idea being that you at least have to think about the story and you might well write more.
There is nothing more important than to keep going, at whatever speed. I was tempted to take days off, but I knew that if I did then I would find it hard to get back into it.
Resources: Sellotape. Why sellotape? On the 29th, the spacebar on my laptop stopped working. I pulled it off, noticed that the rubber thing that makes the space happen was worn down, and I increased its mass with a tiny bit of sellotape, resulting in a working spacebar once more.
But the most valuable resource is the NaNoWriMo community, and especially the UK & Ireland Regional Word War, without which I doubt I would ever have attempted more than 50K in the first place!
