Writer in the Wild: Your Friendly, Preptober Reminder

It’s that time of year again here on The Starving Artist and also in the writing world. Sure, I know plenty of writers don’t participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)—some of you even thumb your noses at the idea—but we are supportive of Nano, so there. And I know that Nano is in November, but if you really want to do Nano right, you begin in October. So now. Or perhaps yesterday.

I have written several blogs about Nano over the years, but the quick of it is that in November every year (since 1999), now almost half a million people participate in writing a “novel” during the month, which centralizes online but includes local festivities and encouragement all over the world, blog crawls, a swag shop, stickers, your very own project page complete with an interactive goal tracker, etc. etc. “Novel,” for these intents and purposes, means 50,000 words, any genre you can think of. (There are camps in the summer where the goals are more flexible. And FYI, 50,000 words is almost never a complete novel. Technically, it is a novella, actually.)

Interested? Coming back for more? All sorts of writers including both professional and hobby writers participate, and the camaraderie is as important as the actual putting of words on the page, for many people. I actually have an excellent blog from last year about Preptober (clever, huh? I’m sure I didn’t make it up), already, so head there if you want more extensive and creative ideas. Otherwise, here’s your short-version October checklist for November’s Nano:

Decide what project you will be beginning or adding to.
Do some serious work on story-planning so that you can write like the wind in a few weeks.
Sign up at nanowrimo.org with your project.
Connect with your local chapter(s) of Nano. Sign up for their info, as events will pop up, sometimes last-minute.
Sign up for some events and put them on the calendar. Diversify between some fun things and plenty of write-ins and writing sprints.
Attend a kick-off event (or events).
If you haven’t done this before, maybe find a tutorial or listen to the How to Win Nano podcast.
Clear your November calendar as much as possible, making the rest of life as simple as you possibly can.
Branch out into fun (and yet helpful) prep, like making a playlist, watching inspirational movies, etc. Again, see THIS blog for more and more detailed ideas.

On October 31, after you have gorged yourself on Halloween candy and brushed the Butterbeer from your teeth, throw on your spookiest pajamas and pull up to the laptop at midnight. (This is only one of two times per year I will suggest blue screens after 10:30.) At 12:00 exactly, go! Write! Give it 15, 20 minutes or something and then pop a melatonin and go to bed because tomorrow is Wednesday, after all (by which I meant absolutely no reference to the TV series, though I am a fan). From that point, you’ll have to make your own path through the month, grasshopper.

If you want to follow my Nano thread through the years, here it is: