Writing productivity tips to help you write faster in NaNoWriMo
So I’ve broken through the halfway point of NaNoWriMo like a battle-axe wielding barbarian (which would be a cool analogy if I was writing a Fantasy novel. I’m not).
If you want to know more about NaNoWriMo then click here for my pre-NaNo post.
I’ve put into place various Productivity Tips over the last 2 and a bit weeks. Most of them I’ve used myself at various times. I’m not saying I’m perfect. Far from it. I’ve struggled to find motivation, I’ve struggled to get up in the morning (my first tip was to get up at 5am! YAWN!!) and I’ve struggled to get creative meaningful words on the page.
What I haven’t done is give up.
I also haven’t taken a single day off so far. So whether it is a 4 hour, 4,000+ words stint or a few hundred words at the end of the day I’ve smashed out more words than I thought possible in such a short space of time.
Here are my productivity tips number 13 to 17:
Disclaimer – Everyone writes in their own way. These are just tips. You can take them or leave them. Some of them may work. Some of them won’t. None of them are a silver bullet that will magically produce 50,000 just like that. You still have to actually sit down and write them!
Productivity Tip #13 - Today is a New Day
Less a productivity tip, more of a motivational idea. If you’re completing the 30 day challenge then day 13 is a weird day. You’re not quite at the halfway point.
You should be starting to get into the routine a little bit boshing out words like a Autho, the writing superhero that I just made up. Your filling plot holes with your webs of creativity and fighting the bad guys, Mr. Self-Doubt and The Distractor.
Or you may feel like you’ve completely fallen off the wagon. You’ve missed a few days writing and are looking at the rest of the month like an uphill climb to infinity.
Fear not. Today is a New Day.
It doesn’t matter if yesterday you wrote more words than the Telegraph or you failed to even sign a cheque.
Today is the day when you start afresh. A new challenge. A new target. A new chapter. Whatever it is, it’s all new and yesterday can be forgotten.
(NB this tactic can be used for all things in life, not just writing!)
Productivity Tip #14 – Set Rewards
It doesn’t have to all be doom and gloom while you self-flaggelate yourself in the darkness of your writing den.
You can get out and about and see people and watch TV and eat pizza or whatever else it is you want to do.
However, why don’t you see those lovely things as a reward and write your words first. Instead of just grabbing your coat and heading out on a jolly old knees up, tell yourself you’ll only let yourself go if you can write 500 words first.
For me, it’s Facebook. I am a massive addict, especially around 9pm at night when the WIIN (Write It In November accountability group I have joined) word count check in is on. So for me I’m not allowed to check in unless I’ve written at least 1,000 words.
You have to be a bit of a bastard to yourself and stick to it, but once you do you’ll feel like you are achieving more AND those happy hour mojitos will taste so much better!
Productivity Tip #15 – Back It Up
In the words of early noughties punk rockers Limp Biscuit, ‘Back the f*** up before you f*** this track up!’
It’s traditional on day 15 of the NaNoWriMo challenge to back your work up. So whether you save it in the ether with Dropbox or Google Docs or you physically put it on a memory stick or external hard drive then do it.
Another option is to attach it to an email to yourself. That way you will know what date it was when you last edited it. (Not that you are editing it. Remember Productivity Tip #4?!)
Don’t be that idiot who lost all the hard work from half a month of writing.
Please back it up RIGHT NOW!
Productivity Tip #16 – Don’t Seek Approval
This kind of goes against the point of an accountability group but there we go.
It’s not even really a Productivity Tip. Oh well.
What I mean by not seeking approval is that you shouldn’t be looking to anyone to tell you that you need to write this book. Only you can decide if it is something that is important enough for you to finish. No one is going to care about your book more than you.
If you’ve got halfway through writing the book and you’re not enjoying it, you’re not interested in your topic or you’re finding it plain old boring then take a moment to think.
Why did you choose to write this book in the first place?
So dig deep. Find that core reason why you are writing the book. Stop making excuses that no one else cares about. Give yourself some self-validation.
If you decide after 16 days that writing a book is not for you, fine. Not everyone can do it.
But if you’ve got to this point and you know why you are writing it then get out of your own way and get on and write the bloody thing.
You don’t even have to be confident that you’ll finish in the allotted time. That doesn’t matter. What matters is you stop making crappy excuses, sit your butt in your chair and write.
Productivity Tip #17 – Follow the Energy
(NB This tip only works if you’ve planned out your novel in advance!)
Do you wake up in the morning and feel like an Energizer bunny, but then you sit down to write and realise the chapter you are writing has two people standing around discussing emotions or developing the plot through dialogue? Wouldn’t it be so much cooler if, when you’re more hyped than a 3 year old on Skittles, you could write a fight scene or a chase sequence instead?
Well, why not? You don’t HAVE to write the book chronologically. When the reader comes to read it in a few months time, they’re not going to know which order you wrote the chapters in. Chapter 2 doesn’t necessarily have to follow chapter 1 in the writing process.
If you feel like writing a love scene. Write a love scene.
If you feel like writing a chase sequence. Write a chase sequence.
If you feel like G. R. R. Martin-ing the ass out of your book and murdering half of your characters, don’t be timid. Go on! Do it! (Although try not to do this if your creating a children’s picture book. It may not go down so well!)
It’s your novel. Write it however the hell you like.
I hope you have a wonderful writing week.
Keep adventuring and write on, brother!
(p.s. What tactics are working for you? Please comment below if you have tried these or any tactics and let me know what is fantastic and what is a pile of old horse manure! Much love, Jon x)