We Start NaNo!

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). 

National Novel Writing Month

Here we go, off on an adventure that is going to test us beyond belief. There will be days where you will want to bang the computer with a hammer, through pens across the room and even think about quitting. Remember this 1 thing...

YOU CAN DO IT!

All you need is a little motivation and support from others. We are here for you as many others can be. NaNo Buddies on the NaNo Web Site is a great place to start. Then there is the Region message boards. Of course there are 10k Writathons that help push you to hit that 50k. We ourselves are having 2 this month and @FriNightWrites will have 1 as well...
#WriteClub NaNoWriMo Marathon
Midnight Friday morning in Sydney Australia, Nov. 7th
through
Midnight Friday night on the US East Coast, Nov. 7th.
(basically almost forty-eight hours)
So, that is 3 10kWritathons. Nov. 2nd, Nov7th and Nov.8th!
Look at that a whole weekend of sprinting!
Plus many of our Twitter friends will be having sprints all the time. There should be at least 1 going at any time. @NaNoWordSprints runs sprints during NaNo. Times are often but I couldn't find you a schedule. They do 20, 30, 1k30min minute word sprints.

Time management helps too. Plan your writing times in accordance to your life. (Family, friends, meals, and those kiddos of course) We have ideas for meals and kiddos foods, managing time and lists of sprinting Twitter friends for your peace of mind. 

Here is what a few of our followers suggested.

Count Down....

We are approaching the beginning of NaNoWriMo... 

3 days

Or there abouts. Time zone changes confuse me! LOL! 

Are you ready? Are you stressing? Are you excited? Well, all these are expected. Just remember to breathe so you can make it. Yeah, breathing is important.

There are many things to help you get through and hit those 50k wordies. @FriNightWrites and @GetWordies are having a total of 3 Writathons. Here are the times...

@GetWordies

Saturday Nov.1st 5pmCST (Welcome Aussies)

to

Sunday Nov.2nd 11pmCST 

@FriNightWrites

#WriteClub NaNoWriMo Marathon

Midnight Friday morning in Sydney Australia, Nov. 7th

through

Midnight Friday night on the US East Coast, Nov. 7th.

@GetWordies

Friday Nov.14th 5pmCST

to

Saturday Nov.15th 5pmCST

Plus @GetWordies will be doing word sprints ...

Mondays - Thursdays

12:00pm-2:00pmCST

7:00pm-9:00pmCST

Plus we will do some on the weekend. Though those will not be scheduled.

Then you have your #WriteClub on Fridays with @FriNightWrites

There are many more sprinting groups that run sprints as well.

@TheSprintShack

@VirturalWrites
@NaNoWordSprints

And more.

Less Than a Week to GO!

Hey Wrimos! 

How's the prep going? With it being the last stretch til NaNoWriMo, I bet it's been busy. Do you have your NaNo calendars marked for all the writathons? If not here is what we know so far...

 @GetWordies 10kWritathon

(10k wordies in 1 day)

Nov. 2nd and 15th

9am-9am your time

@FriNightWrites #WriteClub 

Midnight Friday morning in Sydney Australia, Nov. 7th

through

Midnight Friday night on the US East Coast, Nov. 7th.

(The time-math is crazy, but it’s basically almost forty-eight hours, guys.)

These writathons will help you get to 50k in no time. Imagine if you write an average of 500 words per 30 minute sprints and you write for 5 hours with #WriteClub that's 5000 wordies. Now add the 2 10k and that will get you to 25k in those 3 days! Yes! That's half way by the 15th without writing in between. Though I suggest you write every day.

Tell us what you have been doing to prepare for NaNo in comments.

10k Date Change!

I have decided that the 10k Writathon scheduled for Nov. 8th will be on the 15th. This is due to our friends over at @FriNightWrites with #writeclub doing their's on the 6-8th. I want you to be able to participate and  not want to over do it. You'll need a break and sleep. @FriNightWrites are having that weekend because it is hard to arrange schedules for all their hosts. Plus get all those yummy great prizes ready for the giveaways! I knew this might happen when I set the dates. I set ours early in order to prepare. Next year I will wait.

Here are the schedules as of now: 

Nov. 2nd 9am-9am your time 10kWriathon with GetWordies
Nov. 6th to 8th Writing Marathon @FriNightWrites #writeclub
Nov. 15th 9am-9am your time 10kWritathon with GetWordies

NEWS!!!

We are now on Pinterest. Many more ideas for meals, kiddo activities and other great stuff. This is all in addition to what's here on our blog. Many ideas to keep the kiddos occupied while you write. Most aren't messy! Check it out GetWordies on Pinterest

NaNoWriMo? What is IT?

National Novel Writing Month, shortened as NaNoWriMo, is an annual internet-based creative writing project that takes place during the month of November. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write 50,000 words of a new novel in 30 days. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing and keep them motivated throughout the process.

The website provides participants with tips for writer's block, local places writers participating in NaNoWriMo are meeting, and an online community of support. The idea is to focus on completion instead of perfection. NaNoWriMo focuses on the length of a work rather than the quality, encouraging writers to finish their first draft so that it can later be edited at the author's discretion.

NaNoWriMo's main goal is to encourage creativity worldwide. The project started in July 1999 with just 21 participants, but by the 2010 event over 200,000 people took part – writing a total of over 2.8 billion words.

Writers wishing to participate first register on the project's website, where they can post profiles and information about their novels, including synopsis and excerpts. Word counts are validated on the site, with writers submitting a copy of their novel for automatic counting. Municipal leaders and regional forums help connect local writers with one another for holding writing events and to provide encouragement.

Rules

Participants' novels can be on any theme, in any genre of fiction, and in any language. Everything from fanfiction, which uses trademarked characters, to novels in poem format, and even metafiction is allowed; according to the website's FAQ, "If you believe you're writing a novel, we believe you're writing a novel too." Starting at 12:00 am on November 1, novels must reach a minimum of 50,000 words before 11:59:59 pm on November 30, local time. Planning and extensive notes are permitted, but no earlier written material can go into the body of the novel, nor is one allowed to start early and then finish 30 days from that start point.

Participants write either a complete novel of 50,000 words, or simply the first 50,000 words of a novel to be completed later. Some participants set higher goals for themselves, like writing upwards of 100,000 words, or completing two or more separate novels. To win NaNoWriMo, participants must write an average of approximately 1,667 words per day. Organizers of the event say that the aim is simply to get people to start writing, using the deadline as an incentive to get the story going and to put words to paper. This "quantity over quality" philosophy is summarized by the site's slogan: No Plot? No Problem!This is also the title of Chris Baty's book of advice for NaNoWriMo participants, published in late 2004 by Chronicle Books. There is no fee to participate in NaNoWriMo; registration is only required for novel verification.

No official prizes are awarded for length, quality, or speed. Anyone who reaches the 50,000 word mark is declared a winner. Beginning November 25, participants can submit their novel to be automatically verified for length and receive a printable certificate, an icon they can display on the web, and inclusion on the list of winners. Novels are verified for word count by software, and may be scrambled or otherwise encrypted before being submitted for verification, although the software does not keep any other record of text input. It is possible to win without anyone other than the author ever seeing or reading the novel.

Sponsors of NaNoWriMo

Some of these sponsors offer specials just for NaNoWriMo. Check them out and see what you can get! 

CreateSpace, Scrivener, Fast Pencil, Storylist Software, BookBaby, Swoon Reads, Aeon Timeline, Zoetic Press, Scribophile, Story bundle, Ulysses III, 4 the Words, JukePop, BiblioCrunch, Inked Voices, Kobo

Another resource for motivation and inspiration is Twitter. There are many who hold word sprints and writathons, especially during NaNoWriMo. Check out our Sprint Schedule for info.

Have You Heard?

With NaNoWriMo just 12 days away... everyone is prepping or stressing.  It would be great to hit 30k by the 10th huh? I have good news. With Twitter and our Twitter friends over at @FriNightWrites, there will be 3 of the wonderful Writathons during November. Yes, I know that seems a lot, getting 10,000 wordies in a day.

Average daily wordie count to hit 50k in 30 days is 1667. Here is daily goals after 10kWritathons
1 10k= 1380 a day
2 10k= 1072 a day
3 10k= 740 a day
That means you getting closer to the 50k in less days. Wouldn't that be great. Within 2 weekends you could be done to 740 wordies a day. Then toss in #writeclub and regular wordsprints and it could be even less. It would be great to hit 30k by the 10th huh?

SO, clear your calendar for Nov. 2nd, Nov. 6th-7th and 15th for Writathons! Actually, since @FriNightWrites their  starts their writathon Aussie time thats 3 days of writing second weekend. With the time zone changes most writathons are around 48 hours when it's all said and done.

Now, there is a bonus with @FriNightWrites writathon for NaNo. The have PRIZES! Yeah, I said prizes.

Okay Wordlings. Here is the final Writathon Schedule

Writing Break

Get Wordies wants you to take the next 23 days off from writing. Use this time to research, brain-storm or outline your NaNoWriMo project. There will be NO sprints until November 1st. You can also use this time to plan your meals and snackies and get them ready if you are going to use freezer meals.

For freezer meals and snackies for NaNoWriMo click here for our list of yummy goodies. I am in love with the spinach/artichoke dip and tostitos for my NaNo snackie.

Get the kiddos' activities and snackies ready and planned. This will help a lot.

For research, outline and time line help check out Scrivener and Aeon. They made my 1st NaNoWrimo a success. Right now you can try Scrivener for 30 days but NaNo version will allow you to use it to December 7th.

We will start off NaNoWriMo on November 1st for 1k1hr runs for a few hours. Then November 2nd is our 1st of 2 10kWritathons. That's 10k wordies in a day. This should give all of you a great head start on your wordie counts. Remember only 1,667 wordies a day are needed. If you participate in a 10kWritathon that drops you to 1380 wordies a day. If you participate in both it drops you to 1072 wordies the other 28 days.

NaNoWriMo Stress Management

To reach 50k wordies in 1 month; it can be stressful throughout the process. I'm hoping these following tips will help along with our Time Management post.

Not all stress can be avoided. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.

Learn how to say 'no' – Know your limits and stick to them. Explain to your family and friends now that you will be busy ALL of November. This will limit the invites. DO however leave time for holiday celebrations, i.e. Thanksgiving.
Avoid people who stress you out – If someone consistently bugging you that your writing is not important, limit contact during November. This helps with saying 'no'.
Take control of your environment – Set a time to write. Turn off TV, facebook, and any other things that distract you. Find your music 'playlist' and get it going. Don't forget snackies and drinks. Caffeine will probably be a must during this time.
Be willing to compromise- When you ask someone to change writing times, be willing to as long as you are just moving the time rather than canceling it all together.
Pare down your to-do list – Analyze your schedule, responsibilities, and daily tasks. If you've got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts.” Drop tasks that aren't truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely. Prepare your meals ahead of time.
Take it 1 wordie at a time-  Every single wordie gets you closer to 50k. Set your goals for each day and do NOT worry if you miss it. There are other days where you will do many more wordies than your goal. (I have managed 10k in 5 hours with no kids of course).
Use Wordsprints to your advantage- These help motivate you and get those wordies you want to have. @FriNightWrites they do sprints all day/night on Fridays. @GetWordies here we will have our 2 10k Writathons and many sprints during the month of November. @NaNoWordSprints  will be doing many sprints as well. Look to our HashTags page for tags.
Relax and recharge your mind- Healthy ways to relax and recharge...

• Go for a walk.
• Spend time in nature.
• Do a chore that bothers you the most.
• Sweat out tension with a good workout.
• Take a long bath.
• Light scented candles.
• Savor a warm cup of coffee or tea.
• Play with a pet.
• Water plants or change fish tank water.
• Get a massage.
• Curl up with a good book.
• Change your music selection.
• Watch TV for 1 episode of your favorite show.

Don’t get so caught up in the wordie goal that you forget to take care of your own needs- Nurturing yourself is a necessity, not a luxury. A healthy body helps make you focused.

Set aside relaxation time- Include rest and relaxation in your daily schedule. Don’t allow other obligations to encroach. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries. Whether is be 5 minutes of 30. It doesn't matter.

Connect with others- Spend time with positive people who encourage your writing. A strong support person will help displace negative comments.

Keep your sense of humor- This includes the ability to laugh at yourself. The act of laughing helps your body fight stress in a number of ways.

Organizational skills- If your physical surroundings (office, desk, kitchen, closet, car) are well organized, you won't be faced with the stress of misplaced notes ans plot info. Make it a habit to periodically clean and sort through the messes of paperwork and clutter that accumulate over the days. Scrivener helps me keep organized. Everything is right there in the program. No open several ones to see what I need.

These are just a few ways that I hope will help you with your 50k wordies goal.