My Takeaways From Week 1 of NaNoWriMo

It’s my first time tackling NaNoWriMo, and the initial week has had its ups and downs. Learn from my mistakes!

I’m currently writing a second novel. I did research for it during a trip to South Africa in the winter (before the pandemic hit). Since then, I’ve written notes, done research and outlined. However, I never really got off the ground with the writing.

What’s helped me was to use writing prompts and apply that to the novel. I used the prompts created by Rebecca Weaver in her free guide/course 21 Days of Writing. I highly recommend it. What I did was to use these prompts as a springboard, written from the characters’ point of view. This allowed me to find the voice of the characters and put them in situations that I could use in the events of the novel.

Anyway, back to my NaNoWriMo progress:

Day 1: About 1,750 words.

I was off to a good start. The above word count came almost exclusively from expanding on the first scene.

Now, I have cheated a little: I’m not writing all of this from the get-go. Some of what I’ve written in the document are things that got from the writing prompts mentioned above. I used them as a last resort to fill up the word count some days.

Takeaway: Outline your novel. That way, you know where you’re going. Plus, create a dedicated playlist to get inspired and in “the zone.”

Day 2: About 1,570 words.

I got ambitious. I was gonna get up early in the morning and do the writing before work. Did I? Nope.

When I did write, I wasn’t as focused as the day before. I switched between scenes and added to what I had written before using the writing prompts, in order to increase the word count.

Takeaway: Focused on expanding just one scene. Still, over 1,000 words a day is a great goal!

Day 3: 770 words.

I didn’t write in the morning and I had other plans in the evening. Life got in the way. I was also too distracted as I followed the US presidential election.

I wrote a little, but most of what I factored into the above are things I’ve written before.

Takeaway: Don’t let a presidential election get in your way. Unless your Donald Trump, that is.

Day 4: 674 words.

I started a new scene and expanded on an older one. Though day 4 wasn’t the best, writing-wise, I was happy since I had sat down to write consistently for the fourth day in a row.

But as I looked at the word count, I realized that it wasn’t near my daily goal. Now I needed to double-down to catch up! That was nagging me, but at the end of the day, it’s not so much about getting all those 50,000 words down — it’s more about establishing a writing routine and taking the time to write.

Takeaway. Enjoy the process. NaNoWriMo is a fun challenge, so let it be joyful and not an added pressure.

Day 5: About 860 words.

I procrastinated by doing research. This is a trap and one I know all to well from writing my first novel, in which I research California in the ’60s. It’s easy to think that “I need to know this and that to progress,” and then get stuck on Youtube watching 30-minute documentaries on a certain subject.

But that’s not what NaNoWriMo is about. NaNoWriMo is about getting your butt in the chair and churning those words out, nevermind how crappy they might be. This is about the first draft. This is you getting it all out there. It’s about words on the page.

Takeaway: Research and nice words are for subsequent drafts. Just write!

Day 6: 0 words.

Friday. Work and a social gathering (Corona-friendly, I assure you) took up most of my time.

Takeaway: Mornings are great for writing. They’re also good for snoozing. Oh well.

Day 7: 170 words.

A measly amount of words. It’s something, but not much. Not much at all.

Takeaway: Sometimes, you just don’t have the time, or just don’t feel like it. But remember: an small step in the right direction is still progress.

That’s my first week. Are you partaking in NaNoWriMo? How’s it going?

Takeaway: Sometimes, you just don’t have the time, or just don’t feel like it. But an incremental step in the right direction is still progress.

That’s week one. How’s the start of the second the week, you ask? I spent the better of my Monday writing time writing this post.