I’m NaNoWriMo-ing…

November is National Novel Writing Month. And this year, thousands of folks are buckling down and doing their best to write a 50,000 word novel.  They’re participating in NaNoWriMo–and so am I.

Each day, I pound away at my story. I set word counts, page counts, and I do my best to meet those goals. Sure, November can be a crazy month–lots of people are traveling, there’s Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, and the general craziness of life.

But…if you’re  a NaNoWriMo-er, you slip in your writing time around all that other madness.  You get your words in. You fight for those words. You survive!

So here are a few of my tips for writing during the month of November.  Since “giving” is such a big part of November, you’ll see that each step involves you giving just a wee bit…

1. Give up sleep. Wait–what?  Okay, don’t give up all of your sleep, but give up some. Get up an hour early. Go to bed an hour late.  You’d be surprised at what just an extra hour can do.

2. Give up lunch. Uh, huh…are you sensing a trend?  But instead of spending an hour racing out to pick up food, bring a bagged lunch with you to work. Munch quickly, then write! Write on a laptop or scribble your story down in a notebook.

3. Give up a TV show. Look, TV is awesome, I get that.  But you know what else is awesome? The DVR. Record your show. Watch it when your words are written.

4.  Give your chores to someone else. Yes, I know, this sounds sweet! And in the interest of writing, you are just going to have to sacrifice those chores. Give ‘em to the kids. To your husband. To your wife.  You write, let them do the housework.

5. Give yourself permission to write the story that is calling to you. Follow your instincts and let the story guide you.

If you’ve got any writing tips, please share them!

Thanks!

Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
ANGEL OF DARKNESS–Available 11/29/11 from Kensington Brava
When an angel falls, all hell breaks loose…

(And, hey, pssst…tomorrow, I’ll be back with a giveaway!)