Do you have any tips for nanowrimo?
I'm not sure how useful I'll be as everyone has a different approach, but I can share what's personally most useful for an enjoyable and productive month! This is my fifth year doing it, and there's definitely a lot more I could say about it, but these are the main tips I would give. I hope this helps!!
Space out your writing.
For me, the most critical aspect is to spread out your writing. All those rushes clumped together at the end of the day are so stressful and just make me dread the month as a whole, so try to avoid having big chunks of time right next to each other. Instead, I have several smaller times planned throughout the day so I can slowly make my way to that daily goal. I might have a 15 minute writing session at 9, half an hour at 12, etc. I know I have an unorthodox school schedule and more freedom to schedule things, but the same principal applies to time after school. Take it in small chunks!
Start early.
I know it's super easy to put off NaNoWrimo to the end of your day after everything is done, but the sooner you get started the easier it will be to finish. Because this opens up the chance to say fuck it and come back to it later. When you get stumped, it's a lot less stressful to step away for an hour to think about it when it's 2 in the afternoon than at 8pm. The more of the day you can use, the better. I personally like to get started as early as possible (with school that means around 10 on the weekdays, 7-8 on the weekends). But that's because I'm more productive in the mornings, so that won't be as effective for everyone.
Treats!
I don't know about you, but my brain loves rewards. If you have the discipline, set up a little reward system--it doesn't have to be consistent. Maybe you'll grab a cookie after writing 500 words, and another something at 1000, etc. This can be as low or as high as you want it to be! And the reward doesn't have the be candy; it can be things like watching a video you like, listening to a song you like, etc. Anything that's rewarding! Note: rewards are not things like basic necessities such as meals, hygiene, water, sleep, etc. They're extra little fun things, so please don't punish yourself to get through your writing.
Neat numbers.
This one is more to get just a few more words each session, and it'll only work if you're more predisposed to this kind of thing. I personally love to update my wordcount with satisfying numbers, so use whatever that means to you! If i'm 27 words away from the next hundred, I might as well just write the 27 right now and enter a 500 word update instead of a 473 one. It's so close! Just a little more effort and it'll be so much more satisying. This could be making your update a fun number, making the total word count of your doc/chapter a fun number, etc. I personally go for the hundreds with this one, but there have been times where I go for all the same number--like a 777 update. Those little details get me to write just a little bit more before stopping, and every word now is a word I don't need to write later and is progress.
Move past being behind.
This one is specifically if you get behind: it's okay. You don't have to make up all those words the very next day--you can, but that's also a big task to take on, doubling your word goal! it can feel like a continuous failure when three days ago you missed a day and fell behind, but just keep approaching it the same as you always did. If you get the 1667 the day after you wrote zero words, you've still met that days goal, that's just yesterday still bugging you. Make it up slowly. Depending on how many days you have left, add a small number of words to the 1667 total until you've made it up. Could be 200, 300, etc. There's no rush! One of the years I had a 10 day period where I was under the path to success, but I'd written all 1667 words each day since I'd missed and that's still good!
Don't look at other's word count.
This is only if you tend to compare yourself to other writers. But if looking at those other word counts makes you judge yourself, stop! you don't need to know where others are. I stopped looking at my buddies' (my partner is my only buddy on the website atm but I would do the same if I had others!) word count last year until I could stop comparing myself. Seeing people have a higher word count than me just makes me unhappy and judgmental of myself for no reason when I know I should be happy for their progress, so until I could better control that I tend to avoid it for the most part! You're not required to look or know, so put yourself first!
Break the rules.
i know that there's technically a traditional way to do NaNoWriMo, but if that doesn't suit you, ignore the rules! The point of this challenge is to get you writing, so find that motivation however you can and use it how you want. Want to start the fifth draft of a novel you've started? Go for it! Want to write a collection of short stories that instead add up to the word count? Do it! Want to restart half way through and still add the words from your other project? I've done that too!! Want to just apply this new word count goal to a project you were already working on? No one's stopping you!
I hope your month goes well and that you enjoy your project!! Writing is definitely not easy and a challenge doesn't make it any easier!
