30 days of nano

30 Days of Nano – Day 8

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Morning Routine

Whatever office hours you decided on yesterday, whether you have a day job that is not Nanowrimo or a family to take care of, not to mention getting ready for Thanksgiving, visiting your relatives, planning the rest of the year for you and your family all while trying to write the Great American Novel, you will still need a morning routine to get you started everyday.

Take a minute to figure out what should be part of your morning routine.

Will it be coffee? Tea?

Breakfast?

Read a chapter of a book?

Read an inspirational quotation from a favorite author?

Prayer?

Rosary?

Hygiene – shower, brushing teeth, shaving?

Share some of your suggestions.

30 Days of Nano – Day 7

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Office Hours

Give yourself office hours. 

Don’t answer the phone or the door (emergencies excepted). Don’t turn on the television (the Kindle counts). Turn off the WiFi. Get yourself in office mode. I make a cup of tea. On occasion, I’ll light a scented candle, but it’s not particularly my go-to; it’s just a sometimes go-to.

My husband works at home, and he’s always interrupting me, so I will need to remind him that I’m working even if all I’m doing is staring into space, chewing on a pencil eraser.

My kids are also home by 3, so my hours need to end by then during the school week.

I also try to attend mass three times during the week, so my hours are worked around those times.

My basic hours are 10-3, although I will write at other times; I make my writing portable enough that I can jot things down anywhere.

Work around your life, but be diligent. Any and all writing is good writing during Nanowrimo. Edits are for December.

30 Days of Nano – Day 5

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One of the tenets of Nanowrimo and all stream of consciousness writing is just write. Let it flow. Don’t make corrections, just get it out. Edits are for December.

How I do this is if I have a word that I know I don’t want to use, but need it to get the thought across, I will add [th] after I type or write it (I do this regardless of long writing or typing) so I can search for all of my [th]s and then look the words up in a thesaurus. That way, I can keep the writing flowing and get it out, and that works for me. I also keep a list of words to look up, words I find in my travels, words that I want to use, and want to know more about their definitions.

Whatever works for you, come December you’ll need to edit. My go-to resources are Dictionary and Thesaurus. I also use ThinkExist for quotations.

30 Days of Nano – Day 4

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While you were at Barnes & Noble yesterday picking up your copy  of the recent The Writer magazine, I hope you stopped off in their cafe/coffee shop. It’s a great place to sit and have a quick drink, maybe a snack and get some writing done. Or at a minimum, jot some ideas and notes down.

If you didn’t have time for that, try out Coffitivity, a sound website that gives you the feeling of being in a coffee shop or other places that are conducive to getting creative and getting some writing done.

30 Days of Nano – Day 3

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The Writer
I have been subscribing to this magazine for decades. At the beginning of my writing career, I would get it along with others to get a feel for the profession and the practice of writing. It is now (and has been for many years) the only professional subscription that I get. It is the best resource for all writers of all experiences and for all genres writers, fiction and non-fiction. Stop by your local Barnes & Noble and pick up their most recent copy. You won’t regret it.

30 Days of Nano – Day 2

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What’s your minimum that you need to just sit down and write?

I need a notebook/journal/document folder and a pen or keyboard. My notebook fits in my purse, and I pack away an extra pen and a pencil. I don’t normally use a pencil, but they don’t run out of ink, so they’re a good emergency backup.

Have your minimum supplies with you so you can always sit down and write some words, a brief stream of consciousness, a ten minute free-write.

Write daily.

And to write daily, be ready.

30 Days of Nano

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I will post a word of advice, writing resources, advice, tips, things to think about for the next thirty days of Nanowrimo. Please share some of your own, so we can use this community to support our writing and other creative endeavors that we are all involved with in our lives.

Day 1 of Nano

Get  your workspace ready. Keep a clear spot on your dining room table if you don’t have a desk. (I use a tote bag that I can bring to the dining room as well as on my writing field trips. Do you drink coffee? Tea? Set a timer on your coffeemaker, and have it ready for each day’s writing time. Do you like to light candles? Have them on the table, and know where the matches are. Is there enough ink in your favorite pen? Do you have a spare? Do you write in a journal or on a laptop? I use my Kindle Fire and a keyboard. Do you have a spare notebook, a small notepad to jot down ideas that float by? I use a notepad as well as Evernote and JotterPad (this one is new to me).

There is still time to write today, on this first day of 2018 Nanowrimo!

Let’s go!