Four More Days!

It's ALMOST THE END OF OCTOBER and you know what that means! NaNoWriMo is just around the corner!

I know many of you have been preparing, like Shadow and Ari have... But (If you're like me) You are freaking out because there's four days left, you can't think of what you're going to write, have major writers block, and are now writing furious poems about how you feel. Okay... maybe not that last part...

But! I have some tips for the nervous first, second, third or ninth timer!

1. It's magic. Writing is magic. It's a miracle that we were given this gift. Write about something you care about, it doesn't have to be a novel. As long as you're getting down words on a paper, and you're reaching whatever goal you set for yourself, it doesn't matter if it gets published or not.
   
2. Don't be intimidated by other people... That's no fun. If someone is romping around the forums singing "LADEDADEDA! I COMPLETED MY GOAL OF FIFTY THOUSAND WORDS IN ONE DAY OF NANO!!!" Kudo's to them. That's awesome! But what does that mean for you? Nothing. Does their outcome effect your writing? Does it effect the way you think, the way you type, the way you tap on the keys when you don't know what to say next? Absolutely not. If anything, their success will make you think "Hey, I can do this!" And make you work harder.
   
3. Make sure you're doing this for yourself. This is huge. You're the author. You have the creative spirit and imagination that made you decide to do NaNo in the first place. It was all just choices leading up to this. This is what you signed up for, what you were burning to do, what you said "Hey, I can do that!" to.

Still nervous? Me too... I mean, these tips are great, and they really help with writers block, but what about plot? Characters? Development? Relationships? What about my chapter construction? What about font? What size do I use? Do I double space? How am I supposed to get all of this done in four days?

Freeze.

Sure, you've got four days. Sure, you're characters may not be as developed as if you had put some more thought into them, but either way their YOUR CHARACTERS. No one can take them from you. They're a part of you. The shy side, nervous side, adventurous side, magical side... short side! Whatever! Everyone has a little piece of all of their characters in their hearts. Chapters? Font? None of these trivial little details matter. What do you think December is for? Christmas? NO WAY! It's for editing! (Though I do love Christmas...)

Chris Baty, my NaNo "Instructor" (He sends out the supportive e-mails for my district and runs our county meetings. You can google him if you're more interested) constantly says "DON'T TOUCH THAT BACKSPACE KEY!" You know what that means? It doesn't matter if you spell a word wrong. It doesn't matter if your sentences have no verbs in them. Your November novels are going to be a work in progress. They're not going to be perfect, so why waste time trying to make them perfect. Now, don't take this to the extreme... don't spell the word "The" "Het". That's just dumb...

The point is do your best.
That's all that counts.
The rest will come.

"Don't worry, be happy."

-Akeria Hale.

This is super helpful and encouraging. ^^ Great idea, making an announcement about it!

I freaked out like an hour ago when I realized... I figure I should share with everyone, so no one forgets...

Great tips, Akeria. (;

Thanks WL.

Lol, just seeing the title of this thread gave me an adrenaline rush. xD I'm like, "OMG! NANO!" and I didn't even know what it was about. Lol!

Thanks Keri ^^ I must start outlining and figuring out my plot XD

Oooh I have 36 chapters of planning done (I need 4 more) so I'm going to try to finish today. And I have pictures of my characters, and a map of the kingdom my characters live in.
I'm well prepared.

I looked up NaNoWriMo yesterday, and randomly decided "I'm going to do this!" (Not officially though. ) In terms of planning, I only started thinking about it yesterday, and I have two characters created, and then a bunch of familytrees/names. I think this will be a lot of fun. And my mom likes the idea, so this is going to count toward my writing for school!!!
I already wrote a short prologue.... because before I decided to do this story for NaNo, I had already had a small idea. Oops.

Okay, i take that back. I AM joining officially. I couldn't help it

Awesome, Aki! ^^ Welcome.

Yay, NaNo! I can't wait! xD