Today is November 15th, marking that all important halfway mark to NaNoWriMo participants. There are already plenty of green bars around the forums, but many more of us got ‘second weeked’ by life and urges for procrastination.
This is the first year I’ve hit the halfway point and felt confident. Happy, even. I think I just might do this thing this year, and the thought of it is making me very happy.
A few things I’ve done differently this year:
*Gone to write-ins. I actually went to my second write in yesterday and had an awesome time. They are a great way to word war, socialize and get plotting help.
*Bribed myself and been bribed by other people. When I was behind in the first week (not even taking the thought of reaching 50k seriously), my husband bribed me to catch up with Reese’s peanut butter cups. I also have a bottle of white wine called The Author’s Wine (no joke – I’ll take a pic when I have a camera again) waiting for me when I pass that 50k mark. Bribes are good!
*Took a day off work to get ahead. This one actually happened by mistake. I am in no way saying you should chuck a sickie just for this (but you could if you wanted to). I actually worked ahead in preparation for not being able to type, but the thumb stuff didn’t happen, so I had a day to plug away at the novel and get ahead.
Oh, and then there is…
*Competing against people in my region (without them knowing it). There is a search function on the NaNo site, which I use to narrow down to people only in my region. I sort by word count and then use that as motivation (competition) to keep going. I made it from page five to three in one day. I’m on page two now, but it’s getting harder and harder to get to page one as people are completing their novels. But I shall do it!
So there we go. Secrets to (my) success, at least thus far.
How is everyone else going? Do I need to get out some bribery chocolate?
2 comments
V.R. Leavitt
November 16, 2010 at 2.29 am (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Love your strategies! Really great ideas here. I also like the phrase chuck a sickie…
Keep up the great work!
JM
November 18, 2010 at 3.28 pm (UTC 10) Link to this comment
Haha. It’s one of my favourite Aussie-isms, that’s for sure.