You Might Want to Break the NaNoWriMo Rules

women writing on laptop on bed - NaNoWriMo rules

Happy November 1st! Or, as we writers like to call it, NaNoWriMo! If you’re not familiar with the term November is National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo for short. The idea is to write an entire 50,000-word novel during the month of October. This works out to about 1,666 words a day. Read the NaNoWriMo rules and learn more about the challenge.

I’m pretty sure that whoever invented NaNoWriMo was not a mom. I mean no mom in her right mind would select November, a month synonymous with cooking and baking and decorating and nurturing, not to mention a month with only thirty days in it, to devote to novel writing.

But then again, not being in your right mind might be a prerequisite for participating in NaNoWriMo.

Doing NaNoWriMo “my way”

That said, this will be my third year taking part in this challenge. I’ve got three mostly–finished manuscripts sitting on my laptop courtesy of NaNoWriMo. Four if you count the one I completed as part of a 100-day project, which was infinitely easier and only slightly less fun. In my coaching business, I recommend first-time authors make a 100-day plan for the first draft of their books.

Nonetheless, I’m excited to take part in this writing challenge again. I’d much rather be inside the process making myself crazy over word counts and plot holes than on the outside looking in wishing I was deep into another story.

But this time I’m doing it on my own terms. Yup. I’m making my own NaNoWriMo rules for 2021.

Not another new manuscript

NaNoWriMo is meant to inspire creativity. Therefore the challenge encourages you to start a new project and produce a new book in thirty days.

This is a valuable goal. If you’re feeling stuck, can’t bear the thought of revising your current work one more time, or just want a little break from a big project, writing something new might be the ideal solution for you.

It’s fun. It’s exciting. And it’s a lofty goal.

I originally planned to start a new book for this go-round. I’ve got my premise, my why, my outline, and a character notebook. I even have the end figured out. I’m not going to lie, I’m really excited to meet these new characters and start a whole new story.

And I felt some weird sense of satisfaction knowing I was playing by the NaNoWriMo rules.

But then I realized what I was doing. I was falling victim to shiny object syndrome. I was chasing novelty to escape the hard work of actually seeing one of my existing projects through to the end.

Writing is fun. Revising is not. My brain wanted that dopamine hit that comes with starting some new. Something exciting.

But that isn’t what my project needed.

Revising isn’t against the NaNoWriMo rules

I just got my manuscript back from the editor. I love this story. And she provided some amazing feedback and posed some questions that really got me thinking. I know that diving back into my work in progress with her comments front of mind is going to make a huge difference.

And, I can’t believe I am saying this, I am super excited to tackle this rewrite.

Yes, really,

These characters are like old friends. I’m proud of the work I’ve already done on this project. And I know giving it a little more attention, dedicated attention over the course of the next 30 days, is going to make it that much better for my readers.

And so, this November I am bucking tradition and instead of launching a new project, I’m going back to an old favorite. And I believe revising is definitely within the spirit, if not the letter of the NaNoWriMo rules

The joy of finishing

There’s an old saying that the first step is the hardest. But I’ve never agreed with that.

I think starting is the easy part. Setting goals. Making a plan. Enjoying the [very small] victory of getting started. When you start something new the world is full of possibilities. Anything can happen.

It’s exciting, exhilarating even, to imagine your success. Just look around at all the people posting their NaNoWriMo badges

But following through and seeing a project all the way to the end–that is what’s hard. It takes dedication and resilience and commitment to stick with a plan when things go awry.

And make no mistake. Things will go awry. They will get hard. You will get distracted. You will have a million reasons why this isn’t the right time to work on that project. Not finishing becomes so easy.

But the true satisfaction comes not in starting a project, but in completing it.

One of the hard things about writing is there are a million possible endings. Not just in your story, but for your story. If you’re following the NaNoWriMo rules you’ve finished when you’ve completed a 50,000-word book in 30 days.

But what if you haven’t yet gotten to the end?

Perhaps you’ve finished when you write “The End.” Or when you finish revisions and are ready to look for an agent or a publishing deal. Maybe you’re done when you self-publish.

There are so many ways to mark a project complete, but usually, the end doesn’t come until long after you think you’re done.

Ao this year, I’m going to work on finishing a project I love. Not starting a new one.

There’s nothing magic about 50,000 words

Well, according to the NaNoWriMo rules there is. If you track your progress and reach 50K words you technically win the challenge.

But so what?

Very few books are 50,000 words long. So even if you complete the challenge you’ve still got a lot of work ahead of you.

The typical YA book is 60,000-80,000 words. An adult book is typically 70,000 to 90,000, although it varies greatly by genre. As a fan and writer of thrillers and mysteries, these are the numbers I tend to focus on. So although completing a 50,000-word book in a month is definitely a brag-worthy accomplishment, it might only get you about halfway to your goal. (Don’t send a book to your agent that is only 50,000 words unless you write YA. And even then, a little bit longer is probably better.)

Tips for writing this November (whether you’re following the NaNoWriMo rules or not:):

Schedule time to write every day. Put this on your calendar.
Track your progress. If you are writing a new book you will want to track your word count. If you are doing a revision you might want to choose some other way to track your progress. But keep track daily.
Build in rewards. Even though Novemeber is a short month, it can feel really long when you are trying to write an entire book. Celebrate small milestone. Did you meet your writing goal for the day? For three days? Write every day of the week? Are you halfway through? Pick a small reward and celerbate these accomplishments.
Schedule off days to catch up. Try to build at least one non-writing day into each week so you can play catch up if necessary. Yes, this means that you’ll have to write more words each day. If you plan four catch-up days you’ll need to write 1924 words each of the other days. This is less than 300 more than if you were writing each day. That’s one short paragraph. It’s way easier to write an extra 300 words per day than to guarantee you will write every day of the month.
Figure out what you can say no to. If you don’t have a developed writing habit, heck even if you do, you will likely need to take some other things off your plate if you want to finish an entire novel in one month. For instance, I write every day for work and for pleasure. And I coach other writers. For Novemeber I batched all my blog posts ahead of time and decided to limit the number of new clients I was working with. This ensure that I have more time to work on my own project. This isn’t the month to start marathon training or ballroom dancing. Or even try to create a Tiny Writing habit.
Create a a writing ritual. Finally, a fun suggestion that’s totally within the NaNoWriMo rules! A ritual tells your brain it’s time to sit down a write. Make a cup of tea, put on your favorite wooly socks, light a candle (my personal fave). Maybe you an write to music. Why not create a playlist for your project? Pick something or things you enjoy and make it a habit to do them every day before your writing sess. You’ll be amazed how quickly it will get you in writing frame of mind.
Join the challenge. Seriously. Join NaNoWriMo. You’llget tips, tricks, a progress tracker and become part of an encouraging and supportive community. If you’re going to do all the work anyway why not get the recognition?
Screw the NaNoWriMo rules. Just have fun! And cut yourself some slack. Nobody is retiring off of NaNoWriMo. Just go with it!