NaNoWriMo Round-Up

Photo credit: mpclemens on Flickr
It’s October! Which means it’s NaNoPrepMo! Which means it’s that time of year when I remind you guys about the wonders of NaNoWriMo and encourage you to participate in it’s awesomeness. 

The thing is, I’ve written about NaNoWriMo a lot and I don’t really want to rehash absolutely everything, so instead I’m doing a round-up post of all things NaNoWriMo. Ready? Okay.

For those who haven’t decided on whether or not they want to NaNo, I have a post for you. For those who don’t click, I will say that I participated the last two years and totally loved it. I’ve written three manuscripts (or a good chunk of it at least) in NaNo-like settings (two November NaNoWriMos and one Camp NaNo), and the community and excitement and pretty graphs all make me very sad that I probably won’t be participating this year because I’m in crazy revision mode and will be for probably the rest of the year. So.

(But if you are not in crazy revision mode, I super recommend you consider NaNoing! Because it’s fun. And you’ll have a shiny new WIP (or part of one) at the end of it.)

Because it’s October and NaNoPrepMo, you will very possibly find this post on Pre-NaNoWriMo Tips helpful! Because prepping for NaNo, I’ve found, makes the whole NaNoing experience much easier.

To contrast two very different NaNo experiences, the first time I NaNoed, I made NaNoWriMo super difficult for myself by abandoning my first NaNo project on day fourteen and scrapping 24,000 words to start something new. (Yep). Then last year I went a little type-crazy and finished in nine days. Still not totally sure how that happened. Ehem.

I’ve also shared ten foolproof secrets to winning NaNoWriMo (which are actually not foolproof and please don’t do those things mmkay?).

And finally a compilation of helpful NaNoWriMo links that I shared on the first day of NaNoWriMo last year but I’ll give to you early! Because I’m nice like that. And pretty links.

If you have any helpful links for future NaNo-ers, share them below! And also, will you be participating in NaNoWriMo this year? 

Twitter-sized bites: 
Thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year? Writer @Ava_Jae shares helpful links for all of your NaNoing needs. (Click to tweet
Participating in NaNoWriMo this year? Writer @Ava_Jae shares many NaNo-related links & tips for you. (Click to tweet)

8 comments:

Darth Lolita said...

I've been planning since mid-September but that's only been scientific research and some character stuff, but I am definitely finalizing the environment, people, and outline.

I'm so pumped I made a pinterest for my novel to have visual inspiration and covered my dorm room with sticky notes for planning :D So exciteddddd.

Happy planning, Ava!

Ava Jae said...

Ohhh that's so great! I love that you've even decked your dorm out NaNo-style—how fun! :D


Happy NaNoPrepMo!

George McNeese said...

I've wanted to do NaNo, but Lacked the courage to plunge in. Writing 50,000 words is an overwhelming task. Plus, I have no way to keep up with it all. However, I figured I would dedicate myself to write something every day during the month, whether it'd be in my journal or working on one of my many short stories. This way I would participate in spirit. Hope to keep on task this year, but it definitely be hard with a baby on the way. We'll see.

Ava Jae said...

You know, when you look at it as the massive project (50,000 words!) it does seem like a lot. But if you break it up over 30 days, it's only 1,667 words a day, which is much more manageable, I think. I encourage you to try, even if you don't aim for the full 50,000—at the very worst you'll have new words on your project! And some new NaNo friends to boot. :)


That being said, writing every day is an awesome goal, so good luck either way!

Jen Donohue said...

I'm in this year! Also, like July's camp, I'm running a workshop at the library. I didn't get a lot of "serious novelists" for my workshop this summer, but I got people who always wanted to write and who were eager to get stuff on the page. So that was really cool!

In general, I try to spend as little time planning as possible. If I get ready, then I'm too eager, and if I can't start yet...well, that idea loses its shine for me. I'm pretty sure I know what I'll be doing, so we'll see how it goes!

Ava Jae said...

Oh wow! That whole workshop thing sounds completely awesome. So cool that you put that together!


Sounds like you're probably a pantser, which is totally 100% valid. Good luck! :)

Ava Jae said...

How great! Thanks for all the links, Gabryelle! And I've noticed a lot of writers have found they tend to be more productive when they have less time (probably because, as you said, there's no time to procrastinate).


Good luck with NaNo! :)

Ava Jae said...

I haven't heard of it, but that sounds very useful! Thanks for sharing, Medvekoma! And I think if you can maintain a 2k/day pace, you'll be totally fine—you only need 1,667/day in order to hit 50,000 for NaNo, but doing 2k/day gives you some wiggle room for those days when you're having trouble.


I wish you all the best!

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