As November continues, writers from all backgrounds strive to win NaNoWriMo. But what is it? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, where writers compete against themselves to write 50,000 words in the span of one month. This is a goal the many writers push themselves to achieve, but it is no doubt a hard goal to complete.
Yet many writers achieve this target (and some go even beyond), every year. How are they able to reach this target? Is it because they have a strong community to uphold them, or are they just sleep-deprived and chug coffee to stay alert? I believe it is all of these reasons and more that contribute to them winning NaNoWriMo. Aside from these reasons, I’m here to offer you a list of unorthodox ways to motivate yourself during this tiring month.
List of Ways:
1. Stalk Writing Professionals
Whether it be your favourite New York Times #1 bestselling author or your dream agent, there is someone who has already emerged victorious from the querying trenches that cheers you on. Who do you look up to? Why is it that they inspire you? When you’re feeling like writing is too much, go and stalk their social media accounts. Most writing professionals understand how hard it is to write, and they love giving out advice. Many authors and agents have blogs where they discuss everything from their writing process to how they got published. Even if they don’t have blogs, their social media account can inspire you in ways that you don’t even notice. For example, a short reel of them first unboxing their author copies may help you to dream about a time when you may do so as well. No matter what they post, a writing professional’s social media account is a great way to motivate aspiring writers to one day follow in their footsteps.
2. Change Page Format
You may ask, “Why should I change my page format? It doesn’t impact my overall word count,”. This is true, but what if I told you that simply changing your page format to A4 to paperback size can help motivate you? While it doesn’t change the amount of words, doesn’t it feel amazing to see the number of pages rise from 50 to 100? Some may argue that it would be cheating, but I argue that your work won’t change. After all, the word count is still the same; it's only the visual component which is altered. Don’t worry about the page number or ‘cheating’. Instead, look at the number and be proud. Use that pride to motivate yourself, and to continue writing this NaNoWriMo.
3. Explain Your WIP
At first, this may seem like a useless point. And it will be, if you don’t explain your WIP to the right person. Find someone that you want to be your hype person, but doesn’t know about your manuscript (yet). Then sit down, have a cup of your favourite beverage and talk about the story from start to bottom. If you’re nervous about spilling your deepest story ideas, don’t fret! Your hype person is here to cheer you on and be excited about it with you. If they’re not enthusiastic enough to make you more thrilled, then choose someone else. During this conversation, be your true self. From plotting betrayals and plot twists or blushing when the characters confess their love, let this be the time to fall in love with your manuscript all over again. Remember what made you want to write this at first. Then, when you return back to writing, channel the bubbly excitement you felt when talking about it into writing.
All writers are different, and not every tip may work for you. But no matter what, I hope that you can conquer NaNoWriMo and learn how to motivate and inspire yourself. You got this!
Follow @sj_writesss for more.
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