I must say a few words about NaNoWriMo. It has boosted my writing productivity enormously and is great fun too!NaNoWriMo is the worldwide, motivational competition to write a 50000-word novel in the month of November.You just sign up and log in to your proposed novel title (and nom-de-plume), and off you go, trying to reach the daily target of approximately 1600 words each day.So far, I am managing about 1200 words and I enter my changing word count onto the site and am addicted to monitoring the graph and writing statistics. At my current rate, my first draft will be written on December 9th. So I am falling slightly short of the finish line, but still writing FAR, FAR more of my novel, then I would have managed without Nanowrimo.The value of the challenge is the word count which I find very motivational. I have also experienced the revelation that PLANNING my writing ahead each day, makes it much, much easier to write quickly.My daughter was flabbergasted that this was news to me.I have realised that waiting for the ‘muse’, or being a ‘pantser’ (writing on the hoof) forces me into creative cul-de-sacs, and thus wastes huge chunks of time. Little wonder that I hadn’t managed to get to the end of my novel.So here are FOUR massively helpful tips for writing any long piece of writing:1. Plan what you are going to write before you set off writing. I’m not talking about huge, cumbersome plans, I’m talking notes, short ideas, direction. Mindmaps. RESONANT ideas or scenes.2. Check your word count and aim for targets every day where possible. Routine is invaluable as it makes writing a HABIT.3. WRITE. And keep going!4. Write at the SAME time each day. Your mind and body develop a ROUTINE and it helps!
