Saturday, October 1, 2016

A Month To Go!

NaNoWriMo is Almost Here

With just a month the get prepared and everything set up it seems taxing. It's not really. There are several step you can take to be ready and relaxed (not that you will fully relax during this) when November 1st comes along. Here are just a few of the main steps to take to prepare for NaNoWriMo.

Sign up for NaNoWriMo!
You can't participate if you don't sign up. If you aren't signed up do it here before October 20th.
Be sure to add a title (if you have one) & short synopsis of you project and if you can a cover (doesn't have to be anything special).
Now check out the Scrivener sponsor on the site. You can download a trial period NaNo version that is longer than 30 active day trial. (Not sure when this option is available.)  A bonus is you will be able to purchase Scrivener with a big discount if you win NaNo, if you like it, that is.

During the next month there are hundreds of things you think you need to do. There may be but, take it one task at a time & keep that handy notebook & pen close.

Reasons to participate:
  1. It's fun
  2. You meet others that love what you do
  3. Helps you keep goals (IMPORTANT!)
  4. Kicks your butt in gear
  5. You can have fun
Preparing to write your NaNoWriMo project can get harry. To make it less harry here a few steps I & others take to prepare.

Your Project Preparation

  • Hop on Twitter... find other writers using #amwriting & #nanoprep to start with. 
  • Start character bios, ideas & backgrounds
  • Jot down ideas for the settings
  • Outline (if that's you)
  • Set a daily goal (NaNo is 1667 words daily)
  • Make a playlist of songs just for this project
  • Check out word sprints & writathons (is you haven't) on Twitter hashtags- #wordgrab #wordsprint #1k1hr #writathon
  • Most of all prepare a clean, organized writing space.
  • Create a Pinterest board of inspiration

Now that we have the project preparations going it's time to start on daily life. Family life ALWAYS get in the way of writing, that's fine. No problem. Planning ahead will make NaNoWriMo easier. I make out tons of family plans for November. Here is my list...

Feeding The Household


  • Look up recipes for freezer meals (crock pot ones are the best)
  • Make a menu/snack(you & kiddos if you have them) calendar
  • Make a shopping list for all meals & snacks (crock pot liners)
  • Dig out your crock pot and clean it
  • Set aside times to prepare for the Holiday (Turkey Day-US)
  • Make a list of how much of each produce you need chopped, diced, sliced
On October 30th or 31st get all your shopping for the month done (I do this every 2nd of the month, every month)... Freezer meals & snack makings. Once home put everything but the produce away. This is when you'll want to get to chopping, dicing & cutting all produce. I do this every month so it only takes me 30 minutes. If you're not use to planning like this then it will take longer... that's fine just get to it. Below is my basic prep. Sometimes I add veggies for veggie roast or a special/new recipe. 
My Veggie Prep (sweet-n-sour chicken, fajitas & omeltes)
Now that you have the veggies done, take a break, eat and organize the freezer meals you want to make. Once rested get to making up the meals. I start out with all beef, hop to pork & finally chicken meals (washing cutting boards in between).  You can do it in whatever order you wish. Starting with beef is best for me since we do tons of beef crock pot freezer meals.  You can pre-cook taco meats, burger with onions & garlic for sketti & others things you make with it.... Then freeze it. Once everything is in the freezer BREATHE!
Snacks should be prepared once a week... this includes ones for any kiddos you have. Spend time one day/night baking, cutting up fruits & veggies and making dips, pasta salads, etc. This helps when a kiddo comes in and says, "I'm hungry.". All you have to do is say it's in the frig. I use to put daily snacks in a leftover container like you see above. Many were celery with peanut butter, veggies for dip, etc. You can also use the containers to prep with a juice box, fruit snacks & other bought snackies. Oh and buy a bag of frozen fruit for those late night snackie cravings.

Here is my monthly list of freezer meals...
2- Mongolian beef
4lb-Taco meat (2 meals)
5lb- hamburger, garlic, onion (4-5 meals)
2-Sweet-n-sour chicken
2-Applesauce BBQ chicken
2-Teriyaki pork chops
1- Beef fajita 
1-Chicken fajita
8 Quarts of chicken stock(2 chicken-n-dumplings & 2 chicken-n-noodles)

My NaNo Snackies...
Chocolate Cheese Cake
Brownies
Lemon Dream Cake
Spinach Artichoke dip & totistos
Pasta salads
Cookies (all kinds)
M&Ms
Skittles
Veggies & Dip


Now For the Writing


Now it's time for goal setting. Make out a calendar & write each days goal on it. Remember you don't have to write every day, some days (Saturdays) you can write twice the goal. NaNoWriMo's daily goal is 1667 words.  Check out if there are any Writathons... like ours on Nov. 26th. Do sprints with  @NaNoWordSprints or with us. They will most likely get you way past you daily goal. Plus it's fun. 


*Announcements For November*
I will be scheduling several #1k1hr (1000 words in an hour) word grabs during November. All will be announced on Sundays. We will have our normal word grabs on Fridays but may start a bit earlier. Our Writathon is scheduled for November 26th. 

No comments:

Post a Comment