How to ensure NaNoWriMo success
Are you gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year?
Me too! I love this challenge, and while I don’t participate every year, I have “won” it three times. I’ve also had a couple of false starts along the way. I think one year I got as far as writing the title of my project, and then I did nothing else.
But the structure of NaNo works really well for me. I can commit to a short period of high-intensity writing, and I love the hit of dopamine whenever I see that I’ve logged another 1,667 words.
In fact, that daily word count goal helps me ignore my perfectionism for a brief period of time. Because the focus is on producing words instead of getting them perfect, I don’t worry about mistakes the way I usually do.
Of course, the downside is that a soon as December 1st hits, I lose the momentum, and I feel lost without the structure. All the self-doubt comes rushing back in when I look at my messy draft and realize it’s FULL of problems.
And in the past, that’s stopped me cold. I’ve never edited two of the three projects that I “finished” during NaNo, and while I did work on the third one for a brief period of time afterward, I eventually gave up.
If you can relate, you might feel the same frustration I did. And maybe you’re wondering why this happens.
Perfectionists are prone to all-or-nothing thinking. That means we assess ourselves and our writing in extremes. We believe we are either a success if our novels are perfect, or we’re a failure if they’re even slightly imperfect.
So a writing session during NaNo might only feel productive if you’ve hit 1,667 words. Or maybe you tried to write every day, but as soon as you missed a day, you stopped writing completely. And you might feel like NaNoWriMo itself is only a success if you’ve “won.”
Otherwise, you find yourself giving up at the first sign of imperfection. If this happens during November, you might abandon your whole project as a failure. Or if you win NaNo but then realize how terrible your draft is, you also discount your effort and write off the experience.
When we’re in an all-or-nothing mindset, it’s hard to see the value of tiny wins and to give ourselves credit for progress. We only see perfection or failure.
Alternatively, if we can appreciate our process and our effort for what it is, we’ll be able to stick with a project longer and have a better chance of seeing it through to the end. We’ll also learn and improve as we go, which results in a better outcome.
So how do you set yourself up for NaNoWriMo success?
Absolutely shoot for your word count goals! I’m definitely not telling you that you shouldn’t be motivated by the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month.
But also challenge yourself to recognize when all-or-nothing thinking is creeping in and be prepared to reframe your experience when you need to.
For example, if you have a day when you completely skip writing or you fall short of your word count goal, notice if you automatically consider that a failure. If so, try to reframe your thinking. Appreciate the fact that you still created some words that weren’t there before or that you always have another chance to try again tomorrow.
Then try to find something positive or valuable about the work you’ve done so far. Or maybe ask yourself what you’ve learned about your story or your writing that day. You might even consider giving yourself a process-related goal over a product-related goal, like “I will write more often than not this week,” instead of “I must write every day this week.”
When you choose to focus on progress, you see every new word you write as a step in the right direction. This allows you to keep writing even when you make mistakes or face challenges with your plot. Then you build confidence in your abilities because you improve your writing and storytelling the more you work on it. You also build trust that you can stick with a project. And all of these things can be considered success!
This approach will carry you through NaNoWriMo and keep you invested in your project until you complete it. But if you still need some help sticking to your deadlines, consider one-on-one book coaching. Find out more about how I can help you finish your novel: