Sometimes Nano strikes me as a roller coaster. You know, all the big ones out at Six Flags since that seems to be the only thing that Six Flags can do any more, even tearing apart their good rides to make way for more crummy roller coasters that are way too far off the ground for a short person who is very good at giving herself nightmares about falling off heights to tolerate. Seriously, you had to ruin the Gasp?

But I digress, and lose track of my original metaphor. So in the course of the month, I’ve had ups. I’ve had downs. I’ve had flatlines when the chains under the car have to drag me up the next hill (I think I’m in the middle of one right now.) But the entire time the roller coaster is running, I’m off the ground and higher than all the people still on the ground.

Take a look at your wordcount, right now. For some of you, it’s more than you ever thought you could write in a month. For some, it’s probably more than you thought you could ever write in a lifetime. 1,000 words, 10,000 words, they all seem like really big amounts until you’ve actually written them, and then you’re surprised at the fact that you, yes you, could write so much.

Believe it or not, when I did Nano for my first year (way back in 2004), the thought of writing 50,000 was simply beyond my comprehension. The longest piece I had ever written (and finished) was around 20,000 words and took me almost an entire school year. To write over a thousand words every single day seemed impossible. That year, I barely squeaked by with 50,000 words at 7:30 on November 30th, and I had to be manually verified because the wordcounter kept claiming I was short and I had no idea why or how. (It turns out, since I write in Notepad, that the wordcounter was unable to distinguish a line break as a break between words– so the end of every paragraph was counted as the same word as the beginning of the next paragraph, which probably shorted me by a few thousand.) It was ugly and full of fandom references. It wasn’t complete; I hadn’t even gotten to the actual main plot yet. But I’d written more than I’d ever written in my life. And if you’d told me that year that I would be writing as much as I have this year, I would have thought you were lying to me.

But see, the thing is, Nano has a funny way of surprising you. And if you keep at it every day, you *will* win and you *will* get better, both in terms of quantity and quality. Writing isn’t so much an art as it is a habit. And if you do Nano, and do it again next year, or try one of the many off-season Nanos, you’re going to get better if you commit to it. You’re going to pick up the tricks and observations that give you the words, and not necessarily even padding. You’re going to find the things that keep you writing every day, even when you have an off day, and you learn how much time you need to write to a certain word count. You’re going to find the methods that work best for you: outline vs. no outline, description or dialogue, what you write best and what you can’t write, when and where you get the most done, etc. (Personally, this year has been a lesson to me to make sure I have SOME idea of where I’m going with a plot. Also, straight comedy is HARD.) And eventually, you’ll be picking up methods and ideas that will help you with the parts you aren’t good at. And all of this will come from the mere practice of writing 1,667 words a day.

So, back to your wordcount. Even if it’s not where you want to be, there is still plenty of time to make the goal. People have written the entire 50k in a week, and that’s ordinary people with jobs and children and other committments. Heck, some people have done it in a single day (although I don’t recommend waiting that long to get your writing on!) Every year I see stories of people who have miraculously pulled out 10k, 20k, and even 35k in a single day in the final few days. However far you are, it is not too late and it is not too far if you commit to it and don’t give up.

If you find yourself out of plot or ideas, or just need some love and encouragement, please join us. There are forums, a chatroom, and still more writeins going on through the end of the month for people to get together and feel miserable together and spark off scenes and strings of words. It’s never too late to commisserate! Once you’ve done that, follow the next steps for instant* novelling success!

1. Turn off internet.
2. Lock self in room.
3. Place butt in chair.
4. Place hands on keyboard.
5. Start pressing keys.

It really is that simple, I promise.

*Insantaneous success not guaranteed. But I promise it’ll be faster.

Warning!!!

Do not read this peptalk straight through from beginning to end!  These words contain many different adventures you can have as you try to unravel the mystery of the strange world in which you have arrived.  Your choices will determine whether or not you succeed in solving the mystery.

Yes.  This is a choose-your-own-adventure-peptalk

————————-

Welcome to the magical bamboo forest of Piedmont Park.  You see a welcome sign that reads, “Welcome to the Magical Bamboo Forest of Piedmont Park.  In order to begin your journey, you must do the following:
1)  Sign on into nanowrimo.org
2) Click “my NaNoWriMo”
3) Click “Novel Info”
4) Copy and paste your entire novel into the Word Count Validtor.  And click “Submit.”
4a) If you are handwriting your novel, pick two pages at random.  Find the average number of words on those two pages, and then multiply by the number of pages you have.  Type that in.

Look at your word count.  Does this make you cry or cheer?
If cry, go [Page B].  If cheer, go to [Page G]

[Page A]
You go up and hug the crying panda bear.  It sniffles loudly, and says the only thing that will make him happy is a 15 minute war.  You feel badly, don’t you?  You want to make the crying little panda happy, don’t you?!?  Then, you take him up on the 15 minute word war.  Reply back when you get your total.  GO!  [THE END]

[Page B]
Eep!  I didn’t want to make you cry.  Uhh…sorry?
Is your wordcount lower than your age?  If so, go to [Page L]
If your wordcount is just lower than you hoped, but larger than your age, go to [Page H]

[Page C]
You stroll on down the path of Victory.  You have hit your 50k, and wait, there’s a fork in the road.
The arrow to the left says, “Your story is finished.”
The arrow to the right says, “Your story is not finished yet.”
If you take the left path, head over to [Page X]
If you take the right path, head over to [Page O]

[Page D]
The giant panda is giant!  What were you thinking?!?  He has giant legs.  You didn’t have a shot in heck to escape.  The panda catches up with you and shakes his head in disappointment.  All he wanted was a friend.  So much for that.
Do you Plead for Mercy?  Plead your way to [Page R}
If you decide to submit to its authority, wonder on over to [Page V]

[Page E]
Smart move.  The panda sits you down,
“It’s ok that you aren’t on track for the 50k right now.  I still love you, but you know what, it’s not completely undoable!  I’ll give you two options here, and this time you get to look at the choices before decided.  If you want to go with option A, it’s a 15 minute word war and you send the results in right now.  Option B is a goal to get 5,000 words written this Saturday.  And I expect regular updates till then.  Option C is to go both.  Pick one of the three, and reply back saying option you’re choosing.  Either way, PandaLanta still loves you.  THE END.

[Page F]
Eek!  Your evil glare warns off the giant lumbering panda that was, well, lumbering towards you.  It cowers in the corner and starts crying.
If you think, “GOOD!”, walk on over to [Page U]
If you think, “Awww.” head on over to [Page A]

[Page G]
Woohoo!  I am right there cheering with you.  ::High 5::
Have you hit at least 50k?  Head on over to [Page C]
Are you on track to hit your goal?  Skip on down to [Page M]

[Page H]
You wonder around the bamboo forest of Piedmont Park, lost in a forest of ideas.  You see a cute little panda ahead.  What do you do?
If you stop and ask for directions, go to [Page E]
If you ATTACK!  Run wildly to [Page Y]

[Page I]
“That’s awesome!”  You look around in surprise at the sudden voice, and you see a panda bear wearing a tag that says “Pandalanta – guide.”  “Lets say you have no words right now.  You need to crank out 4500 a day.  Yes, that’s a big amount, but you can do it!  Pandalanta Swears.”
If you reply, “I’m there,” go to [Page Z]
If you reply, “No Way!” go to [Page U]

[Page J]
Smart move.  You don’t ever want to see an angry plot bunny.  The bunny hands you a laptop, and asks you to get started on your second novel of November.  He’s here to help you along the way, giving you ideas along the way.  THE END.

[Page K]
The plot bunny turns you into a plot bunny zombie.  He directs you to check out http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3263716 and use some of the sources there to add in a new subplot.  Because that’s what plot bunnies do. They help your plot.  The plot bunny in your brain tells you to pick a subplot, and work it in to your Novel.  Right now.  THE END.

[Page L]
eep!  ok.  it’s still doable.  I promise.
If your first thought was “I hate you,” then go to [Page F]
If your goal is still 50k, head on over to [Page I]

[Page M]
You see a giant stuffed panda lumbering towards you!  Oh no!  What do you do?
If you run, go to [Page D]
If you search madly for an electrical outlet to capture the moment on word, go to [Page R]

[Page N]
Ok, you win!  The bunny submits.  He congratulates you on hitting the 50k milestone and for finishing your story!  YAY!  He decided to let you pet him, as long as you’re gentle.  THE END.

[Page O]
Wait a minute.  Why are you reading this then?  Don’t you know how long this email has taken to read?!?
If your answer is “Cause you emailed it to me?” head on over to [Page P]
If your answer is “Cause my wrists hurt!” limp on over to [Page W]

[Page P]
Ok, my bad.  Keep on writing and stop reading!  Right now!  THE END.

[Page Q]
“Well, ok,” says the Panda, “I’ll save you only if you promise to write me at least 1,000 words today.”  The bunnies hop menacingly towards you, and you tearfully agree to abide by the panda’s wishes.  Write at least 1,000 today.  You can do it! THE END.

[Page R]
Smart move!!  The panda gives you a big hug and congratulates you for making the right decision.  The Panda plops down right down next to you, and encourages you to write as much as you can in the next twenty-three minutes, which is his favorite number.  He cuddles up next to you, and watches over your shoulder protectively against any sort of distractions, so you can write in peace.  THE END.

[Page T]
Sadly, the plot bunny is stronger than you.  I mean, are really sure you want to fight this?
Do you finally submit to its authority?  Head to [Page J]
If you graph the conveniently placed bazooka, Fire your way to [Page N]

[Page U]
Ok.  I’ll tell you a secret.  It’s not 50k or bust.  If you can get 25k written, get that 25k written.  If you can get 3k written, that’s 3k more than you ever did before.  It’s ok.  We of course would love for you to hit the goal, but we are so impressed with anyone who even attempts this endeavor.  Just try for the rest of this month to write a little, or a lot, each and every day.  And we’ll be there to celebrate with you at the end.  THE END.

[Page V]
The panda continues to scold you for running and points out to you, in no uncertain terms, that you need to do a 15-minute word war.  Right now.  Or he’s going to call his PandaLanta friends for backup.  He directs you to reply to this peptalk with your 15-minute war total.  THE END.

[Page W]
Suddenly, a light appears in front of you in the middle of the bamboo forest of Piedmont Park.  It’s…it’s a bottle of icy hot that just appeared out of nowhere.  You squirt some on your wrists, and it feels icy.  But soon it starts to feel hot.  And you pull out your laptop and start a 10-minute word spring!  WRITE!  THE END.

[Page X]
OH MY GOD IT’S A GIANT PLOT BUNNY!  AHH!  Oh No!  Do you fight it?
You gather up your sword and attempt to fight, fight your way to [Page T].
If you decide not to fight it, beg your way to [Page J]

[Page Y]
The Panda looks at you like you really ought to reconsider this choice, and he pulls out his whip made of an extension cord.  You head on over to attack anyways, but millions of little plot bunnies appear out of nowhere.  You scream as they attack, and you succumb to it.
Do the bunnies hop up your nose and attack your brain?  If so, head on to [Page K]
If you ask the Panda to rescue you, head on over to [Page Q]

[Page Z]
Woot!  You made PandaLanta happy!  He challenges you to a 15 minute word war to get you started.  THE END.

So, tonight on the way back from the IKEA write-in (which was awesome, by the way, and we should totally do it again next year) I had one of those little funny stories that you tell to your kids happen to me, and realized that, while being a Tale O’ Woe, it also made a great metaphor for what you should be doing with your novel right now.

So I’m on my way up the highway heading back home, and my car decides that now is a great time to flip the everloving bananas out on me. Long story short, I’m on a highway in the dark with a car that is quite determined that it is not going anywhere else. First things first. What do we do or not do and what’s the metaphor for our novel?

1. Don’t panic. Panicing while going down the highway at 70 miles an hour generally tends to be messy. Panicking when writing 50k in a month is also messy, though thankfully not in the literal, dead kind of way. So your car (novel) is parked by the side of the highway (month) and it’s not going anywhere and you’ve got somewhere to be (the finish line). It’s okay! Just because your novel is not still moving doesn’t mean you can’t get it home in time. Take a deep breath and don’t think about your wordcount in terms of how much you are behind, but rather how much you can do. (No, you don’t have to do 500 words in 10 minutes. I just chose those because they’re nice round numbers).

2. Come prepared. When I had my car parked, I dug in my bag of holding, er, purse, for my flashlight, a pencil and pad (as much as I wanted to say it was to put this in my novel, it was only for phone numbers), and my car’s manual because nobody puts hazard lights on cars in any SENSIBLE location. You, too, have all the tools you need for novelling. You have your computers (alternately typewriters or pad and pencil). You have your word processing tools. You have Write or Die (if you don’t have Write or Die, what are you doing?! This is only one of the most amazing tools ever, not only for the negative punishments if you stop writing, but also because setting a time limit commits you to a period of time to write. Works even better with the desktop version in fullscreen mode.)

3. Call for help. First I called cousin for a ride home, then mother to get me the towing company the family uses. She didn’t remember, so she pulled out the phone book. You, too, have people you can rely on for when the road gets a little rough. There are the forums and the chatroom, and also a writein going on every day. If you’re staring at the wall, jump in the chat and join in a word war (works for the same reason Write or Die does: committing to a time frame and also, competition > dedication.) or hop in the car and drive down to a writein. I promise the drive is worth it, and I probably have farther to drive.

4. Have a backup plan. The first tow truck couldn’t come out for two hours and wanted me to wait with my car to pay them since my insurance wasn’t the one calling them. The metaphor here is: If your first plot point to drag you home doesn’t work out, try another!

5. Have another backup plan. The second tow truck couldn’t come out because his tow truck was broken down.

6. Have a backup plan for the backup plans. Police dispatchers can apparently get a tow truck out to your car! I wouldn’t know because apparently I was juuuuuust far enough over the county line that they couldn’t help me.

7. Know when to pack it up and go home. At this point, we decided the towers could take it to the shop tomorrow. Some days, in cases of catastrophic car failure, you may not make your wordcount goal. Just refer back to number 1, and remember, there’s always tomorrow to make it up. (Unless tomorrow is December 1, in which case, WRITE LIKE MAD!)

8. Don’t kick puppies. It’s bad karma. When you have bad karma, your car and novels explode. So don’t kick puppies. Not that I kick puppies, but I was pretty mean to my characters the day before. So, um, you may want to reconsider that tragic ending. Or donate to Nano! It gets you a pretty halo and lots of good karma.

9. You can make a metaphor out of ANYTHING.

10. tias should not write pep talks at 11PM after catastrophic car failure, because then she thinks her metaphors are interesting.

If all else fails…just remember that at least catastrophic car failure is not happening to you, and also that your metaphors are probably better.

Oh man.  It’s the middle of week two.  If you are chugging along just fine, and nothing’s wrong, well, you can skip down to where it says “–OPTIMISTS CAN RETURN–”

But if you’re like the majority of us out there…you are not a happy camper right now.  The novelty of noveling has worn off and you have realized that the entire universe is conspiring against you and your writing sucks.  Now, once again, this email is entirely too long and I should count it towards my word count, but you don’t need to read everything.  Just hit the sections you need

Let’s take a look at some of the possible reasons why this week is just sucking so hard:

a) I think my writing sucks.

b) It hurts!  Like, really hurts.

c) My computer is rebelling.

d) Why bother, I’m already behind.

e) The universe, clearly, hates me.

f) My characters have gone on strike.

Let’s take a look at each of these.

A) I think my writing sucks.

I fall into this camp, but luckily, I’ve learned not to care about this.  I have a pretty high word count <insert death stares here> but it’s all crap.  I mean, really.  My third chapter, which is 16,317 words long, has the plot of “single mom gets asked out.  She says no.”  I’m sure the Pulitzer committee is anxiously awaiting my finish.  But it doesn’t matter, because as just about every author will tell you, guess what, their first drafts sucked too.  Well, NaNo is NOT ABOUT QUALITY PEOPLE.  It’s about QUANITITY.  I hereby give you permission for your novel to suck hard.  It’s a FUTURE masterpiece, not a present masterpiece.  A whole lot of suckage makes the wordcount fly.  That’s my entire third chapter after all.  And about 95% of my novel.  Stop stressed about it sucking.  Really.  For you perfectionists out there, go right now to write or die.  And do a 15 min set on Kamikaze mode with an evil grace period.  And keep doing these until you learn to stop caring about the content.  This will work.

b) It hurts!  Like, really hurts.

Oh my god my wrist is killing me right now.  My left wrist has decided that it no longer appreciates my efforts to conquer my word count goal, and it misses its life as the useless wrist on this right-handed man.  I was challenged by tiakall to write 5,000 words in an hour.  By golly I did it, and my wrist hasn’t stopped hurting since.  I always forget I get my nano-wrist-pain, and every year it comes back like clockwork.  Well, my secret weapon is icy hot, and for those of you seeing me at write-ins, expect to smell that minty icy hot smell around me for the rest of the month.  Some people hit up wrist braces, some people pain meds, some people go get a wrist massage from a very generous significant other.  If you are writing to the point of physical pain, you probably should take a little bit of a break.  I don’t want anyone to end up the hospital, which will REALLY hurt the word count.  So, if you are in pain, get some icy hot, braces, a significant other, and soothe some of that pain away and come on back stronger than ever.

c) My computer is rebelling.

Someone reading this email right now has a computer that is quite angry at them, and something catastrophic has happened.  Maybe you had to reinstall your operating system, maybe your space bar has stopped working.  But something bad has happened.  Welcome to the NaNoTechCurse.  It happens.  I wish I knew why, but it does.  I want EVERYONE TO STOP RIGHT NOW AND NOT ONLY SAVE THEIR NANO BUT EMAIL IT TO YOURSELF.  Really.  Right now.  I’ll do it right now too.  Better safe than sorry.  If your computer has decided to declare war right on back, it IS ok to handwrite.  People do it every year.  One year I wrote a section on my blackberry, and I only used a PDA my first year I won.  There are options.  If your computer is in the shop, outline like mad on paper till its fixed and you can fly right on by.  Hit up your local library and borrow their computers for a little bit.  Plead with friends using promises to write said friend into novel (and you can kill them off if you really need the words, I’m sure they will understand.)

d) Why bother, I’m already behind.

Every word matters.  We have many many days left to write.  Here’s a handy little formula for the math folk out there.  (50000 – wordcount) / (days left to write) = daily goal.  Go ahead and pull out a calculator, or I bet wolframalpha.com could solve this for you.  That’s how many words you need to write today.  And it’s doable.  I bet you could even do double on a day off from work or schlepping the kids to Monkey Joes for the day.  Repeat after me:  I haven’t missed the boat.  I haven’t missed the boat.  I will not drop my oar.  I will not drop my oar.  Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.  Sally sells seashells down by the seashore.  Maybe you have a sudden amount of homework, or work is going insane and you just can’t find the time to write it.  Well, I bet you can work in some 15 minute chunks.  If you find yourself squarely in column D, go find my last pep talk in your email, or on our NaNoLanta website at http://nanolanta.org/?p=37 It will help.  I pinky swear.

e) The universe, clearly, hates me

I don’t know what Chris Baty to curse just about everyone attempting NaNoWriMo during November, but whatever it was it was a doozy!  I hope he had fun nonetheless.  Because some of you are going through the most epic life challenges right now – finding a new job, hating your current one, family issues, health issues, you name it, right now someone reading this email is suffering through it.  It’s not even the normal, run of the mill stuff that happens.  Maybe someone set your kitchen on fire.  Maybe your car caught on fire.  Maybe a tree fell down and knocked out not only the power, but landed squarely on your computer.  My universe hating me bit was at the very start of NaNo – Nov. 1^st when I went to the memorial service for a dear friend who passed away.  And what helped me, I kid you not, was writing about it.  All the sudden my main character got put in the exact same situation I was in.  Sure, it boosted my word count but more importantly it helped me cope with it.  And oddly, I think it made my novel sooo much better.  Whatever the universe is doing to you right now, think of it as the universe’s way of saying “this should be in your novel.”

f) My characters have gone on strike

This will happen to you at some point.  And it usually happens around now.  Your characters, once so exciting and interesting, now currently want to do nothing but talk about really senseless stuff or repeat themselves over and over.  This can be so maddening, but here’s something you don’t hear too often:  It’s ok if your characters are boring.  Because how many of us truly are exciting and doing something all the time.  I know I’m a pretty boring guy except for a few exciting moments, and if someone were writing about me they would be pretty screwed.  It’s OK if your characters are currently doing nothing exciting.  Go ahead and write it.  Eventually something will come along.  And if nothing does, take a look at E.  Think of the last thing that could be considered at all exciting in your own life, and its time to make that happen to your character. Or, hit up ajc.com right now, look at the headline, and its time to make that happen to your character somehow.  There are also all sorts of good tips over on the Plot Doctoring message board on the nanowrimo.org forums.  Just don’t spend TOO much time looking for something…Also hit up our daily posts in the forum that have dares, prompts, lines, etc.  It could help poke your characters into action.

Whatever it is causing you your grief, your NaNoEmo as I call it, it is overcome-able.

–OPTIMISTS CAN RETURN–

We can do this NaNoLanta.  Each of us can hit our goals.  Each of us can hit 50k.  We can do it.  You can do it.  I wouldn’t lie about this.  Every single person has done the first step – just getting this email shows you care, and reading it shows you are determined.  That’s all it takes.  Dedication, care, and caffeine (which I can’t really send through the computer.)

We were gaining ground on Denver, and it’s come to my attention that people from Denver are getting these emails.  So, I ask you from Denver to ignore all of my advice, because it’s only going to work for people in Atlanta.  I hit the special super secret “Help Atlanta Only” button while sending it.

A few reminders.  Check out the write-ins…they really help the word count.  Especially ones with a ML, as we are pretty ruthless taskmasters.  Make sure you are regularly updating your wordcount on the site so we know how we are doing against Denver.  Nothing makes us happier as MLs than seeing WCs go up and donations to NaNoWriMo.  Check nanolanta.org for any of the latest info, and we love chatting with folks in our chatroom.  So if you appreciate these emails, shoot NaNoWriMo a 10-dollar donation

And, by the way, here’s proof 1667 words a day is possible.  This peptalk, which I cranked out in a few hours, is exactly 1667 words.

We can do this!

Hey guys!  How’s the wordcount going so far?  Oh, me, I’m currently 2k behind my quota and have less than 10k on one of my stories.  From what I hear, Mattkinsi and jazzyjinx are having it equally rough.  Ah, Nano.  Bringing 150,000 people together for the express purpose of making them miserable.

Philisophical musings aside, it’s the end of week one.  You may be ahead of the daily quota, and if you are, that’s great.  Whatever you’re doing, it’s obviously working, so keep doing it.  If you’re not, well, join the vast majority of Nano.  Even with a great first day push, people may find themselves behind at this point…just in time for the legendary, infamous Week 2.

I’ve had a mixed experiences with Week 2, myself.  Week 2 has been the week that I once made my goal, by keeping writing steadily.  It was also the week that my hard drive decided to completely kaput itself last year.  I spent the entire week typing on a borrowed laptop and public computers.  So however bad Week 2 is for you, just remember that it’s probably not going to be as bad as losing your hard drive.   Sometimes, I think Week 2 gets a little too much hype.  It seems like a total drag because the initial euphoria has worn off, and you realize that your sprint is actually a marathon.  Instead of setting yourself up for speed, you need to set yourself up for endurance–and this well require discipline, occasional bribes, the support of your peers, the friendly taunting of your friends who you won’t hate for it, the correct mindset and techniques, and of course, mad skills.

Here’s an example of the correct mindset.  Which is easier, 50k in 30 days, or 500 words in ten minutes?  (If you said the first, then you’re probably doing fine and can go back to beating us all with your wordcount.)  This does two things for you: first, it breaks down a big, scary goal into a tiny-bited goal that’s easily obtained.  Most of us can’t imagine exactly how much 50k is.  (I’m referred to the example of The Great Gatsby, but I haven’t read that book since high school, how am I supposed to remember how long it is?)  But most of us CAN imagine 500 words.  (for me, It’s a screenful in Notepad, one page in Word single spaced, and two pages handwritten.)  Second, 500 words in ten minutes makes it much easier to focus.  People in general (particularly all us ADD people out there) find it a lot easier to focus in small bursts, take a break, then focus again.  The part where you actually get to the sitting down and focusing part is the tricky thing.

There are a couple tools you can use to help you get in the zone:

* Write or Die.  Matt mentioned it in his previous email.  I swear by it.  The link is here: http://writeordie.drwicked.com/ .  I personally prefer the Kamikaze mode since it actually makes sure I don’t stop (I can deal with annoying sounds, I have a younger brother.) but as we all know, tia is hardcore and writes in Notepad and stuff, so Kamikaze mode is not required.  There’s a free online version as well as an offline version you can buy.  If you haven’t tried it yet, give it a look, particularly if you’re struggling.  Being *forced* to write out of fear of punishment does amazing things to those phrases and scenes you may waffle on.

* Word wars.  We have an official IRC chatroom mentioned here: http://nanolanta.org/?p=34 .  In the chatroom is a bot which will automatically time wars, as well as send you notices when the wars end.  Even if you’re not the fastest writer (Matt beats me pretty much every time), timing yourself and joining in a short sprint with your peers is another good way to get rid of the waffling.

Week 1 was about getting a good start.  Week 2 is about keeping that good start and keeping the momentum going, and the only way to do that is to get in the habit right now of writing consistently.  This means writing every day.  Yes, even on days you don’t feel like writing.  Yes, even on days where you’re so busy that you feel like you can’t write.  Even the busiest of us will be able to unearth a few minutes inbetween events and bang out a couple hundred words, even if it’s on that spare notepad you keep in your purse/pants pocket.  Even if you don’t make the daily count every day during week two, those few hundred words a day will add up and get you further along than you were before, and more importantly, will keep you writing every day.

We’re all writers, and right now we have committed to the task of writing.  Like soldiers on the field, we keep writing even when the weather’s bad or the writer’s block is trying to bomb us all to kingdom come.  Because we’re writers, and that’s what writers do.

You’re a writer.  Goals of writing are NOT beyond your reach.

You might have noticed I have a big word count right now, and you might just be thinking how much you’d like to gouge my eyes out, come after me with a wire hanger, or somehow otherwise annihilate me.  And that’s ok, and I’m gonna let you finish, but understand that I, like many of you, am struggling.

I’m falling behind.

Yes, that sounds nuts with a high wordcount already.  I know that sounds nuts.  I know as I sit here reading it, it looks nuts.  But I truly am falling behind, no lie.

I am falling behind in my goal of finishing the novel, which is always a huge struggle for me every year.  Whatever novel has decided to implant itself in my head is just not wanting to come out in the alloted time frame and in the word count I had in mind, so I’m frantically writing to try and finish whatever future epic my muse has in store.  I’m losing sleep, a lot of sleep, over it, and yet I’m falling behind.  I seem to be writing every chance I have, but I’m falling behind.  And that just doesn’t seem fair – shouldn’t the little word count tool at least be able to give me extra points for effort?

And I got a little panicky about it on Tuesday, November 3rd.  And let me tell you, that’s not a fun place to be.  Because when I finally was able to sit down and write, all I felt was panic for being so far behind.  And I got wrapped up in that for too long, and sure enough it ate a good chunk out of my available writing time.  Luckily, I was at a write-in, and I was able to get my butt in gear and started up a fifteen minute word war in our NaNoLanta chatroom.  I wrote as fast as I could for fifteen minute chunks, not worrying about typos or even if I was getting the characters names and times right…I’m still pretty sure my Main Character said it was November when my chapter first started, then talked about Halloween coming up.   But I don’t care (and I’ll fix the month jumping during revision in a few months.)  I wrote, wrote, and wrote some more.  And after those fifteen minutes were up, I took a break to rest my poor little fingers and grab more coffee.

November 3rd is about to end as I write this, and November 4th is about to roll in.  And you, like me, very well be dreading the start of the next day because it means I suddenly have a lot more to write.  Again.  Can’t we just pause the passing of time so we can get to where we want to be?

Sadly…no.  Physics is not on our side on this one.

Some of you might not have any idea about what I’m talking about here – you’re doing great!  You’re cranking out more words than you ever thought possible, and the story is going along swimmingly.  You’re paddling ahead of the game.  And for you out there, I applaud you whole heartedly, and hope you continue to row away.  But I also don’t want you to delete this, because you might find it useful as we get later on in the month.  Trust me.

Everyone, take a deep breath with me.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.  Inhale deeply, exhale deeply.

Now, I have some words of wisdom for everyone feeling like they’re falling behind: You haven’t missed the boat.

Maybe you didn’t hear about the trip till today, maybe your computer just decided to rebel against the mere thought of the work you’re going to be putting it through and crashed.  Maybe you were able to write some, but got an unbelievable block.  Maybe your life has just been too busy for you lately and you can’t find the time to write.

You haven’t missed the boat.

Sure, some of might be in the boat and paddling away, but I want to point you over to our super duper secret NaNoLanta speed boat.  Its going to get you caught up with the big boat and maybe even pass us.  Jump on in.

You haven’t missed the boat.

And here’s what’s going to give this boat some extra speed.  It’s going to be that boat over there.  See it?  A little far off in the distance.  The one with the gigantic skull and crossbones flag waving.  Well, it wants to prevent you from ever getting back on track.  And it’s time to go to war.  A word war.  I want every single person reading this email to STOP READING THIS EMAIL RIGHT NOW, and go and write as much as you can for the next fifteen minutes.

Seriously.  Go.  Once again I’ll wait.
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I wasn’t kidding.  Go write as much as you can for the next fifteen minutes.  Time yourself, or if you don’t have a timer, let me point you out to a Word War Winner’s best kept secret, Write or Die.  Click 15 minutes and put it on Kamikaze mode.  And get started.  And you’d better write for all fifteen minutes, or you’ll be in for a nasty surprise.

Now, I want everyone getting this to flood my inbox with how much you just wrote in those 15 minutes just now.  Go ahead, hit reply, send me how much you added to your masterpiece in those 15 minutes, and come on back.

Some people can get 1300 in those fifteen minutes.  Some people can get 200, and let me tell you, both are huge successes.  Let’s say you can get 200 words in those 15 minutes.  And let’s say you want to get 2000 words today to give yourself a cushion.

That’s 10 fifteen minute chunks.  Yes, that’s two hours and thirty minutes of writing.  And you might not have the time to such a long span, or the attention span to write such a long span.  Well, let’s find some time for you.

I bet you can get in 30 minutes of writing before you go to school or go to work – get up after the alarm goes off instead of snoozing your way through a half an hour.  That’s 2 fifteen minute chunks right there.  8 to go.

I bet you also squeeze one in during lunch, or while in between classes.  There’s 7 more.

I bet right after work or your classes, you could go somewhere before heading right home and get in at least 2 more 15 minute chunks.  And we’ve got five left.

And I bet you could take an hour of writing time at home for four more 15-minute chunks, and then right before bed for one final chunk.

There, we’ve worked in our 10 chunks.  And even if we averaged 200 words, we’ve suddenly got 2k more written in our story than yesterday.  Even if you’re blocked, start with this sentence.  “<insert name here> decided it was high time to change his location and go shopping.”  And write.  You know, if it doesn’t advance your plot, thats fine.  Here’s another secret for you from the LitFic genre – not every word has to matter for the plot.  A word is a word.  But you’ll be surprised what pops out for your plot when you’re done with those 15 minutes.  My plot made a sharp turn to the left tonight during a 15 minute word war and ended up in a much better place as a result.

Many wrimos feel like they have to do all of their writing for the day at once.  That is soooo not true.  Split it up into chunks.  And at the end of the chunk, write yourself a real quick note where to go next.  That’s the secret to my high word count right there.  15 minute word war chunks with random notes on where to go next.  Using these 15 minute chunks, I was able to get to where I needed to be for the end of the day, and even got a head start on tomorrow’s goal.

I bet you can too.

And, if you’ve made it reading this far, congrats.  I would like to throw out a reminder to everyone to update your wordcount on the website daily so we have an accurate picture of our war with Denver, who pulled ahead yesterday!   You can update on the top of any page of nanowrimo.org after logging in.

I’m writing to you before the official start of NaNoWriMo – we have about 20 minutes to go.  You may be thinking to yourself right now some of the same things all of us are thinking – Will we be able to pull this off?  Will we make our goal?  Will anything I write be good?  Am I completely nuts for wanting to do this?  Am I good enough to do this?

First, let me tell you, you are good enough to do this.  Every author who has ever published a book has had these same thoughts when they sit down and stare at the blank screen, the blank page, and start working on their first draft. Everyone who has ever completed NaNoWriMo and won it has had these same thoughts as they anxiously watch the clock count down on Halloween towards midnight.

Next, we are all going through it too.  Those of us who by the end of the month will have hit 50k, those of us who by the end of the month will have hit 100k, or higher.  We all have the same questions running through our mind right now – can we do it?  Can we do it again?  And those of us who have won in years’ past can tell you that the questions don’t go away.  But its what you do with the questions that matters.

You could let these questions get you so jittery that you can’t write a word – then the questions become a self-fulfilling prophecy, and you might last just a day.  But you could let these questions motivate you – yes, yes you can do this.  Yes, you are good enough.  Yes, you will make your goal.

We can do this NaNoLanta.  We are all in this boat together – we’ve all got an oar and are about to start paddling across this deep sea.  If you need to drop the paddle for a minute, that’s ok, but we need you to pick up the paddle again.  We are here for you to make sure you don’t drop the paddle down into the sea, and say you’ll try again next year and jump off the boat with your paddle.  (Ok, so maybe I need to work on my metaphors.  But you hopefully got my drift

Let’s do this NaNoLanta!

Grab your paddle, and lets start rowing…