Day Five: Camp NaNoWriMo & My Productivity Tips #My150NaNo

Almost 20k into my novel, but I’m behind still. I didn’t end up using yesterday to catch up as planned, but I’m not worried. I’ll just add 400 words each day this week to get my lost 2k from Friday. Or add 200 words for the next two weeks.

At least I stayed on target this morning. (My schedule is 6k words M-F and 3k on Sundays.) I didn’t think I would get my 3k this morning, but somehow I did in a mere 93 minutes.

It was a really good scene that just kept getting better as it went, so that always makes for faster writing – as well as helping me to look forward to writing tomorrow! Can’t wait to jump back in.

One thing that was interesting this morning was that as I wrote, it kept feeling deja-vu. Why? I think I dreamed about the story last night. I wrote out my story beats right before going to bed, so it was fresh on my mind as I slept. That probably helped with my writing productivity, too.

Speaking of productivity….what do I think contributes to my writing productivity?

My productivity tips

• Outlining the general story (again…love Libbie Hawker’s method!)
• More detailed story beats: 2-4 sentences for each chapter or scene.
• Listening to gaming music. (It’s designed to increase focus. Works for my writing!)
• Thinking about story, characters, and plot throughout the day. Before bed is great because your mind can mull it over as you sleep.
• ONLY write. That means: don’t stop to fix typos or other issues. That’s what re-writing and editing is for! Just blow through the words as fast as you can. Most productive authors agree that the faster they go, the better the quality. Maybe more typos, but the writing itself is better because you’re in the FLOW. Editing uses a different part of the brain and will only slow you down. Edit after your writing session if you must, but separate the two.
• Accountability. Tell someone your goals. With a goal of 150k in one month, I had to blog about it. Do you know how tempting it would be to lower my goal? I won’t do it – not with so many eyes on me! You don’t need to tell the world, but tell a friend. Or set a publication date and tell your fans.
• Track your progress. It doesn’t have to be super detailed. I just write my daily word count and the date into a spreadsheet. Easy-peasy. Some people like to track all kinds of things like where, when, session length, etc. If that’s your thing, go for it. I pretty much type in the same place at the same time every day so it’s a moot point. I know I typed at 4am-ish on the couch.

See you tomorrow.