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How to do NaNoWriMo by PinkCoffeeMug

"After 3 years of failing I finally won NaNoWriMo, and it was everything I hoped it would be."

How I did it:

I almost didn't do NaNoWriMo this year. I'd failed so many times that I figured that I wasn't meant to write 50,000 words in only a month. I was also going through one of the roughest writer's blocks of my life. I'd had about a year of wonderful creativity and then I got thrown into a terrible depression, which caused me to stop writing altogether. I was suffering through this block when I had a dream in September that I knew was meant to be a novel. I knew NaNoWriMo was coming up soon and I decided to start working on a synopsis and character development for the novel back in September and October, then in November I finally started writing it.

I was off to a great start. I was ahead most of the time by a couple thousand words or so usually, then I had another bout of depression and didn't write for about 4 days, which in NaNoWriMo is a death sentence pretty much. But I picked myself up and kept writing and on the last three days of the contest I was able to get my word count up and I finished just in the nick of time, on the afternoon of November 30th.

My novel is not finished. In fact, I'm only on chapter five and the most important part of the novel hasn't even happened yet. I'm going to finish it though, and keep writing, because I really love this story.

Lessons & tips:

  • Find a story you have fallen in love with, and write that. If you don't love your story or your characters then you won't be successful.
  • Don't give up, even if you think you won't win. If you really dedicate yourself to the cause it is not impossible. I tried for three years, and I still was able to win finally. It is totally worth it!
  • Before November spend time developing your story so you will already know what happens. Then in November all you will need to do is write the story.
  • Tell your friends and family what you are doing so they can encourage you.
  • Tell the truth and write from your soul. Write what you believe, what you know, what you treasure most.
  • Don't be afraid to screw it up, or to kill off your favorite character, or to write about things that are emotionally painful.
  • In the end, if you don't know what to do, have Godzilla or zombies attack the world in which your characters live, and then finish up your word count that way.

Resources:

  • Stephen
  • My friends and family
  • The Snowflake Method
  • Everyone on the NaNoWriMo forums who responded to my questions
  • Starbucks Coffee Co.
  • My laptop, Blanca
  • Juno, my cat
  • My crazy effed up dreams
  • Bird by Bird by Anne Lamotte
  • My dad for sending Bird by Bird to me
  • The NaNo website


 

Nov 30, 2009, 12:03PM PST | 6 comments | 6 cheers


Comments:

KimberGreene .

good for you

thanks for your insightful & inspiring post. i really can relate to your thoughts & situation. depression is hard to live with & to find ways to manage & cope. your tips were very helpful. it also sounds like you have learnt to appreciate alot of things in your life to get positive results. good luck with finishing your book. sounds like your on the right path to a completion. i found your post very encouraging. thanks for putting things into perspective.

Nov 30, 2009, 12:46PM PST | Thread | Respond to this 2 cheers

PinkCoffeeMug is a Self-Knowing Self-Improving Builder

thanks so much! i am glad that you liked it! i agree, living with depression is very hard, and it is actually one of the main themes in my novel, so there was a lot of soul searching going on and emotional moments, but in the end i felt that i needed the story to be told and the only way to do that it to write it.

one thing that helped me a lot was reading bird by bird. it was very good and its what really pulled me through the last few days when my word count was lower than it should have been.

Nov 30, 2009, 01:00PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

KimberGreene .

thanks for sharing

thanks for the tip on the bird by bird…i’ll put it on my list of good reads. i’m new to this site & found out about NaNoWriMo about the middle of Nov…i thought is would be too late to start such a heavy project. i would like to give it a shot next time around. from what i understand it’s done every Nov i have to research a bit more..i also joined the Artist Way to help blossom the creative side of myself. i love to write…it gives me so much comfort…even when depression envelopes my life at times. thanks so much for sharing your thoughts & positive feedback towards your writing.

Nov 30, 2009, 01:24PM PST | Thread | Respond to this 1 cheer

PinkCoffeeMug is a Self-Knowing Self-Improving Builder

you should totally do nano next year! they have the forums and stuff open all year round and during the year there are other wrimos. there’s MayNoWriMo which was the first one I ever did, which happens in May. And then there’s NaNoEdMo which is National Novel Editing Month where you try to edit your full novel in a month and other stuff like that to help get people to write, edit, and publish. There are diff websites for each one. Last April I did NaPoWriMo which is National Poetry Writing Month where you write 30 poems in 30 days, and I loved it.

On 43 things there are a lot of goals for wrimos, you can check those out and maybe that will help you.

What is the Artist Way?

Nov 30, 2009, 05:46PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

KimberGreene .

thanks

thank you so much for the additional info on the NaNo writing projects. i had no idea that they had other months to explore writing projects like poetry. now i’m excited. it sounds so encouraging. i thought i had to wait for another year to participate.

here is a link for the artist way. it’s free which is nice. they provide forums & workshops to explore the artist in you. i just found out about it a few days ago through this website. some had it listed for their goals to complete. so checked out the website & joined. i have not started yet but it sounds awesome so far.

the site is based on the a book & work of Julia Cameron…i hope you like it. thank you again for all your encouragement.

http://www.theartistsway.com/

ps: one of my favorite books that you may like is the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. it helped me on my path of discovery. when i was backpacking in Europe it really helped me see things with a different perspective & helped me stay grounded.

Nov 30, 2009, 06:13PM PST | Thread | Respond to this 2 cheers

Untitled - PinkCoffeeMug

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