Here is what I’ve learned from three days of NaNoWriMo:
- Do your word count no matter what. Yesterday I wrote 400 of my 2000 words in a noisy laundromat with NFL news pulling at me from the TV and an old acquaintance popping over to chat intermittently.
- If you’re not sure about a particular scene but you know what you’re going to do next, skip to the ‘next’. Just put in a note for yourself like, “Scene where C and M are reunited. M’s background discussed etc.” or whatever.
- Keep notes on things you know you need to research, inconsistencies or things you want to change, places that felt awkward while you wrote them. Keep notes on this stuff, but DON’T WORK ON IT YET. Tweaking ain’t going to get your story out of your head and into a tangible form.
- Reward yourself when you get your work done! Good food, good company, and relaxation go a long way toward positive self-reinforcement.
And Mr. Brackets is your friend. You can’t remember the name of the town your story is set in. You can go browse through notes or previous works, or you can say [name of town] and rack up some words. Which do you do, children? Now, let’s not always see the same hands…. Yes, you use Mr. Brackets and keep writing!
Just keep writing
Just keep writing
What do we do?
We write!
LOL. Too true, about the brackets. They work wonders. 🙂
Brackets are a girl’s best friend!