Planning for NaNoWriMo

Here’s what I’m doing:

1.  I’m using the Snowflake to plan my writing – this means that on November 1st when I sit down at the keyboard, I’ll have a good idea of what I am writing, where it’s going, and how I intend to get there.

2.  I’m setting a daily word count goal of 2500 words.   Since the goal for the month is 50,000 minimum,  2500 should allow me to reach that goal even if I miss a day or two of writing, or miss word count occasionally.

3.  I am planning one writing day a week outside of my home – this means writing longhand*, since I remain comfortably laptop free.    There is an excellent tea/coffee shop nearby here, and a very nice bakery/cafe, both of which will be good writing sites.  This lets me get out of the house and away from the PC with out disrupting my writing rhythm.

4.  I am designating an inviolable writing time (a habit I hope I’ll carry on past November!).  8 am – 10 am.    I anticipate I will be able to eek out more time over the course of a day pretty regularly, and I think I will need to to meet the goals for the month, but having a small concrete block of time set aside will provide a strong foundation for the month.

*  Anna’s random writing tip of the day:   Write longhand now and then.   I find that the slower pace of the writing lets me get into the words in way that typing just doesn’t,  and frequently a nasty case of writers block is cured by a judicious application of lined paper and cursive.    Longhand writing is a little like taking the scenic route – it’s not as quick, but there’s a lot more scope for serendipitous discovery.

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