{"id":4107,"date":"2014-10-28T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-28T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/?p=4107"},"modified":"2014-10-29T03:37:31","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T08:37:31","slug":"42-of-52-weeks-the-answers-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/?p=4107","title":{"rendered":"42 of 52 Weeks &#8211; The Answers Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; in which I reveal the answers to life, the universe and NaNoWriMo; wait a minute, I may have gotten a bit over-excited there &#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nActually, I&#8217;m revealing my 42 steps to being prepared for and surviving NaNoWriMo. They&#8217;re pretty simple, and it doesn&#8217;t matter if you are a pantser or a plotser. There&#8217;s something for everyone here, and while I don&#8217;t guarantee any or all will work for you, they&#8217;ve individually worked for me in the past. Or are helping me this year, as is the case with a handful of &#8217;em.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>42.<\/strong> This is going at the top, so you see it now and rush out to get your bundle. Story Bundle has a great NaNoWriMo-focused ebook bundle right now, and one that is well worth paying for the bonus (because Chuck Wendig, that&#8217;s why). <a href=\"https:\/\/storybundle.com\/nano\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>41.<\/strong> Wait, wait, wait&#8230; go sign up at NaNoWriMo if you haven&#8217;t already. Make sure you get your region selected, because each region has its own forum and group leader and awesome support. <a href=\"http:\/\/nanowrimo.org\/sign_up\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>40.<\/strong> Make sure you have your tools and writing space ready to go. Clean your desk, defrag\/virus check\/clean up your computer, have a handful of notebooks, pens and pencils ready. Even if you&#8217;re not at your desk, inspiration may hit, so keep a notebook and pen on you at all times.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>39.<\/strong> Have a sit down with friends and family and explain that November is going to be crazy. Give them something to do instead of spending time with you; Dollar Stores are great for puzzles, puzzle books, picture frames (in case they get lonely without you), or better yet, give them a list of books to read!<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>38.<\/strong> Have heart-to-heart with your muse (or fornit, or both in my case). Explain how you would like his\/her\/their cooperation in November, and how you will reward them if they&#8217;re good little helpers. Trust me, conversing aloud with these little buggers will only solidify the &#8216;crazy writer&#8217; effect you&#8217;re going for.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>37.<\/strong> Stock up on your energy drink of choice. Mine is coffee, and lots of it. I&#8217;ve got a list written (I&#8217;ve unfortunately dipped into my stash of Tassimo delicacies and must replenish the stock) for a trip to the store this week. Whatever your liquid vice, stock up now, and with as much as you&#8217;ll need for the entire month.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>36.<\/strong> You know how hockey players won&#8217;t shave before the Stanley Cup? Okay, so maybe you&#8217;re not Canadian and\/or hockey crazy. Take my word for it. Find your quirk and milk it for all it&#8217;s worth in November. Me? I buy or find a trinket for the desk (neopets my first year, Gaia Plushies another, a raven figurine, plasticene slugs, etc.), or as per the last two years, I buy a new blue shirt and wear it every day while I&#8217;m writing. And sleeping. And&#8230; well, as long as I&#8217;m not going out in public after the first few days&#8230; always.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>35.<\/strong> If you can spare it, and since you&#8217;re not going out to Starbucks or Timmie&#8217;s this month, you can, right? Donate $10 (or more) to the cause. You get a nifty halo for your NaNo profile, and you&#8217;re helping the NaNo folks support young writers etc. <a href=\"https:\/\/store.nanowrimo.org\/donations\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DONATE HERE!<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>34.<\/strong> If you haven&#8217;t started planning, or planning to plan, or even if you&#8217;re pantsing it this year, check out Jami Gold&#8217;s Beat Sheet tutorial. I am using this along with a handful of other spreadsheet\/workbooks in Excel to plan a bit this year. <a href=\"http:\/\/jamigold.com\/2013\/12\/nano-wrap-up-beat-sheets-101\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>33.<\/strong> You&#8217;re going to need to keep your mojo going, so here&#8217;s a thing a lot of folks do: soundtracks. Head over to Youtube or iTunes, or wherever you listen to music\/buy music\/etc., and can create a playlist. Find the music that speaks to your story, or for your story. Pick&#8230;oh, I&#8217;d say 20 songs. I have more than that, but mine is combined for three novels. I haven&#8217;t done a separate one for this year, but I will. In the meantime, here my an example (2010-2013): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PL665F4397162528E3\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Click here.<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>32.<\/strong> Keeping that thought, have you considered what your characters look like? Have they evolved since you first thought of them? Look through celebrity photos or stock photos and save a few to use on your desktop; something to refer back to when the words are waning. It can help!<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>31.<\/strong> HYDRATE! Nothing is more important than that good old H2O. Well, the words are, but without the water, there will be no words. Although I don&#8217;t usually recommend it anymore, get a few serving-size bottles of water, or better yet, a Brita sport bottle. Have cold water ready at your fingertips so you don&#8217;t dry up and make the words dry up, too.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>30.<\/strong> Hear that? That&#8217;s your stomach. You&#8217;re hungry. Reach to the left (or right) and pick up that little snack bag of crudit\u00e9s and have a nibble. Not into rabbit food? Okay, keep a bag of trail mix, mixed nuts, dry cereal, mini-cookies&#8230; wait, it&#8217;s not all rabbit food. Fine. Chips, crackers, pork rinds, leftover Halloween candy if you must. Something quick and non-interrupting! I&#8217;m prepping snack bags with various nibbles later this week, storing in the fridge until needed.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>29.<\/strong> Set up a specific time during the day when you will be able to write, uninterrupted. Nothing kills the flow like the phone, the kids, the spouse, the dogs, the cats, the&#8230; you get the picture. Headphones, music, close the door, put the butt in the chair, <em>and write.<\/em><\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>28.<\/strong> Check in with the forums at least once every couple of days. You&#8217;re not alone, there are other bed-head, manic-eyed, crazed novelists out there. A <em>lot<\/em> of &#8217;em. And there is almost certainly at least one in your region, so keep in touch.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>27.<\/strong> If you run out of inspiration, look to your own life. Need a new character? How about your neighbour, or your best friend? Change it up, use your neighbour, but your best friend&#8217;s name. Hey, remember when you set fire to the patio, when you were a kid? Wait, didn&#8217;t your main character just do that? And you get the point I&#8217;m making. If you&#8217;ve seen it, done it, or thought about it, you can write it.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>26.<\/strong> Stock up on bathroom tissue. I could say &#8217;nuff said, but I feel I have to point out the horrible 3 AM writing blitz revelation that there was absolutely NO tp anywhere in the house. You&#8217;re a writer&#8230; use your imagination.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>25.<\/strong> It doesn&#8217;t have to be good, it just has to be written. Good comes later, in December, when you&#8217;re free to edit to your little heart&#8217;s content. November? NO EDITING. Just write.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>24.<\/strong> You have friends, right? I mean real-life, in the flesh, can give hugs friends? Tell them they can rescue you for one hour every week. You&#8217;ll need the break, and so will they. They&#8217;ll want to know all about how you&#8217;re doing, what&#8217;s the story, etc. Give them some face time, and they&#8217;ll more than likely be happy to leave ya alone for the rest of the week. Besides, you haven&#8217;t showered and there is something stuck to your cheek.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>23.<\/strong> I know, I know. 1667 words in a day seems like a lot, but there IS a way to get around that early on. How? Ride the wave of initial excitement straight into <em>extra words<\/em>; if you can do 5k in a day, do it! By mid-month, you&#8217;ll be glad you have &#8217;em.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>22.<\/strong> <strong><em>Twitter is your friend<\/em><\/strong>, even if it&#8217;s only for November. @frinightwrites holds Write Club every Friday AND a NaNo-Marathon for a full two days! There are also @nanopals, @nanosprints, @virtualwriters, @getwordies, and @thesprintshack. There are probably others, but I credit these folks for getting me through last NaNo, and through several wordy months this year.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>21.<\/strong> Rewards. Decide on four rewards you&#8217;ll give yourself if you make it through each week, PLUS a bigger, better, FABULOUS thing for earning that purple sticker on your NaNo profile. Hint: I get salted caramel ice cream each week, if I&#8217;m good. I&#8217;ll get to go out for dinner with my darlin&#8217; girls on December 1st, if I finish!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Wow, that&#8217;s a lotta tips for one post, and I&#8217;m only half-way through! <strong><em>Want more?<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/?p=4116 \" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; see ya over there. If it doesn&#8217;t work, just wait a wee bit, and it should. Sometimes they don&#8217;t actually post at the same time!<\/p>\n<p><|;^)\nJL\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230; in which I reveal the answers to life, the universe and NaNoWriMo; wait a minute, I may have gotten a bit over-excited there &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1084,871,1,870,79,2,379],"tags":[2263,503,25,2593,2264,617,40],"class_list":["post-4107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-52weeks","category-featured","category-general-pondering-on-writing","category-headline","category-nanowrimo","category-projects-news","category-writersphere","tag-42-tips","tag-advice","tag-fiction","tag-nanowrimo","tag-surviving-nano","tag-word-count","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4107"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4129,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4107\/revisions\/4129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jodilee.sacredtriskele.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}