Hey folks, here is another of my favorite NaNoW­riMo posts from the past few years.  Please feel free to join in the fun and leave your own tips and tricks in the com­ments! And don’t for­get to find me and add me as a NaNo buddy here!

Happy NaNo-ing!

NaNoW­riMo Tip #2: Only Bite Off What You Can Chew

Last mod­i­fied on 2011-11-06 07:51:42 GMT. 0 com­ments. Top.

50,000 words is not chump change. It’s HUGE. And that can be over­whelm­ing when you’re fac­ing a blank page and book-long plot.

Since you can’t swal­low an ele­phant whole, you may as well just take a bite. In other words, sec­tion­ing your man­u­script can make it more man­age­able. This is why I love out­lines, but if you’re a pantser you can still work scene by scene or chap­ter by chap­ter, just be care­ful not to wan­der into the never end­ing word vomit that doesn’t go any­where, AKA the first cir­cle of writ­ing hell–Limbo.

You’ve got a long way to go and a month to do it, so don’t burn your­self out too fast. Work in bite sized pieces to accom­plish small goals and keep your moti­va­tion for the big goal of cross­ing the fin­ish line.

Most impor­tantly, cel­e­brate the com­ple­tion of these small goals. Some­times the words don’t come easy–that’s the day to have an extra piece of cake (or pie, or choco­late, or my favorite, cof­fee. Choose your poi­son, er, treat.).