write a novel

I wrote a novel-length (50,000 words) draft of a novel last month during National Novel Writing Month (nanawrimo.org). I still have probably another 10k words to go on the draft. I didn’t write the ending, but I know how it will end.

The exercise was just about “winning” or getting to the 50k word mark. It was really difficult, but here’s how I did it:

1. I trained. A month before starting, I went to 750words.com daily and got in the habit of writing a daily target amount. To write 50k in a month, though, I had to write 1,667 words a day.
2. I outlined. I had a rough outline of the plot mapped out, but I didn’t know how it would all come together—I let that happen in the writing. Also, I gave myself the freedom to deviate from the outline.
3. I wrote early. Maybe writing late is better for some, but for me, writing early was best. If I could get my quota out of the way before I went to work, then I could let things gently bubble away in my head and get ready for the next day’s writing without feeling like I was getting behind.
4. I kept a mostly steady pace. I tried to write at least 1,667 a day. We had a snow storm before Thanksgiving that knocked out power for two days and because I was writing on a computer, I couldn’t write. I had to really power through at the end, which was tough, but because I kept up I was able to do it.
5. I sprinted. Word sprints are when you set a short time, like 15 or 20 minutes, and try to write as much as you can in that period. It’s a good way to shut off that internal editor and listen instead to the internal writer.

I’ve been thinking about the novel, but I haven’t done anything with it this month. I spent so much time working on it last month that I felt I needed a little break.

I’m not writing a novel now, but a memoir. It feels like that’s what I need to write now, and one thing I know about writing is to follow where the feeling takes you.

I’ve hit 40,000 words, which is somewhere around 160 pages. I’m still going. Here’s how I’ve gotten as far as I have.

1. Write an SFD. SFD is Anne Lamott’s term for “sh!tty first draft,” from her excellent book on writing, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. The first step to writing anything is to write anything. Turn off that internal censor and produce words. I like to think of it in terms of sculpting: an artist starts with a block of stone and begins to chisel. By creating an SFD, you are giving birth to a block of stone. Ouch! You’ll later chisel (edit and revise) it into something readable.
2. Set a production quota. Big things can get done by doing little bits at a time. Some people go by pages or wordcounts, others go by time. I set 20 minutes a day for writing on my current project, which is an easily attainable goal for even the busiest person. I’ve read that Graham Greene forced himself to write for two hours per day. When his alarm would go off, he’d put the pen down—sometimes even mid-sentence.
3. Try different mediums. Perhaps some of the problems you have writing comes from staring at a blank screen. If so, try dictating into a voice recorder or writing out longhand or write with crayons on butcher paper. How you write will affect what you write. See what works best for you.
4. Log your progress. I worked for a guy who once said, “If it’s not worth measuring, it’s not worth doing.” Many writers have a writing log where they track what, when, and how much the wrote on any given day.
5. Create a rewards system. This advice comes from Write: 10 Days to Overcome Writer’s Block. Period., by Karen E. Peterson, but I’ve read similar concepts in Neil Fiore’sThe Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Basically, the idea is that you’re mammal, just like a Orca whale or a Bengal tiger, who can be trained to perform with rewards. By making guilt-free play the reward – such as going to see a movie, making time to read a fun book – we reinforce our eagerness to work while simultaneously restoring our drive.
   

I’m planning to take the summer off, and I plan to try to write a novel - or at least the first draft of one - during that time.