NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of days. If you’re trying to write 50,000 words in November, or just trying to establish a writing routine for the rest of the year, here are some tips to get into the writing habit.
November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), during which participants attempt to write a novel in 30 days. The NaNoWriMo goal is 50,000 words; for some people, this will be a complete novel. For other people, this will be the beginning of their novel, the meat of their first draft. Many writers begin drafts during NaNoWriMo that they flush out in the months afterward.
50,000 words is a lot; it is 1,667 words per day. For people who have full-time jobs, it’s not easy to produce this much. The only way to achieve this is to establish a consistent writing schedule. Here are some tips to help you set up a writing routine that you can continue over a long enough period of time to finish a novel.
Why set up a writing routine?
Writing is hard. Many writers are confronted with resistance when they sit down to write; they have writer’s block. The small percentage of writers who live from their writing generally don’t have this problem. They are professionals. Thriller writer Peter James wrote in Howdunit, “Over the years I’ve met a number of people who told me they have writer’s block. But I cannot remember a single author who writes for a living ever telling me that.”
Read Overcoming Writer’s Block: How to Rekindle Your Creativity.
Humans need routine to be able to accomplish long-term projects. The days pass, the weeks pass, and then the months go by, and with a regular commitment, you can see your progress as you go on. Writing needs to become a habit. However, for people with full-time jobs, especially with children, it can be hard to fit writing into their schedules.
What you write on
Part of the writing habit involves finding the right device to record your words. It could be a Mac or PC, using Scrivener, it could be a tablet or a smartphone (also using Scrivener), or it could be a notebook with a pen or pencil. It has to be something that you’re comfortable with, something that doesn’t get in the way of your creative juices when you’re in the flow. Maybe you’ve bought a shiny new laptop and you’re committed to writing on it; that will help motivate you. Or you’ve just bought an exquisite fountain pen, and you love the way the ink flows from the nib on your notebook. These small things can help motivate you to write more.
Where you write
One hindrance for many people is finding a place to write. If you don’t have room for a desk where you live, you might not have a comfortable place to write. You may end up writing on a kitchen table, on a couch, or on a deck or patio. If you can set up a space at home, then make it yours: put your writing tool there – your computer, tablet, or notebook – and maybe decorate it with some inspirational photos, postcards, plants, or anything else that will make the space feel like it’s your personal writing nook.
Maybe you need to go someplace else to write. Can you get to work early or stay late? Can you write a coffee shop? If the noise bothers you, wear noise-canceling headphones and you can write in a bubble, even without music. You could go to a public library; there are some bookstores with comfortable chairs where you could write, and they may even have cafés to get some food and a beverage; and you might even want to write outdoors, weather permitting. The only problem with the latter is that many computing devices won’t be bright enough to work with in the sun.
If you’ve reached a critical point in your project, and you need to focus, you could rent a hotel room for a few days or a week. This can be your personal writing retreat, and you can work without interruption.
When you write
If you’re single, you’ll probably have time to write after work. If you have a family, it’s more difficult. Many writers carve out an hour a day in the morning, getting up early before anyone else and benefiting from the quiet time as the dawn breaks. Others may write when they get home from work, or after the kids have gone to bed. You’ll probably be more productive in the morning, when you can have some coffee or tea to jump-start your brain, than in the evening when you may be tired from your day’s work.
Some people may not be able to fit in writing during the week and will focus on getting a few hours done every weekend. Other duties may intrude on some weekends, but you can usually find enough time to make some progress.
If you commute to work by bus or train, you could also do some writing while you’re moving. Scrivener for iPhone or iPad lets you write on a mobile device, any time, any place. As with coffee shops, you can block out the noise with headphones, and even listen to music to help motivate you.
How much you should write
In How Much Should You Write Each Day; and When Should You Stop Writing? we looked at how many words writers produce each day, and when they should end their writing session. Some writers set a fixed number of words – say 1,000 or so – and stop when they hit that number, even if it’s in the middle of a sentence or paragraph. Ernest Hemingway said, “The best way is always to stop when you are doing good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck.“
Scrivener’s tool to Track Statistics and Targets in Your Scrivener Projects allows you to set goals for your writing project and for each session.
You can use this feature to tell you when you’ve reached your daily goal, and decide whether you want to continue. It’s motivating to see your daily progress as it adds up toward your project’s total writing goal.
Setting up a regular writing routine, whether for NaNoWriMo or for the rest of the year, takes some dedication, but once you’ve gotten into the rhythm, you’ll find it easy to start writing each time you sit down.
Kirk McElhearn is a writer, podcaster, and photographer. He is the author of Take Control of Scrivener, and host of the podcast Write Now with Scrivener.