A NaNoCRATE

#7 • BITE-SIZED GOALS

Feeling intimidated by the sheer scale of that 50K? Author Emily X. R. Pan is here to help!

There are a few things about NaNoWriMo that are true for me every single year:

It completely reinvigorates my writing practice.

It challenges me.

It's absolutely daunting.

The first point: I always refer to my writing as a practice. It works your brain just like a muscle training to lift more weight, or to play a piece on the piano. The more we practice, the stronger our writing muscle. NaNoWriMo is like a month-long boot camp.

Number two: No matter how many years I've spent writing book-length projects, it never gets easier. It's my primary job now, and it's still a struggle. Just like a marathon challenges a runner in good shape, NaNoWriMo challenges even those who write all the time.

Finally: We're all doing this for the same reason. We want to finish a draft of a novel. Whether it's your first book or your twentieth, there's always the nagging question: Can I do it? The answer is: Yes, absolutely. Believing it is half the battle.
I guess I'm following the rule of threes in this blog post. So here are my three favorite tips from my years of NaNoWriMo-ing:

Tip #1: Break your goal down into bite-sized pieces.

I gave away my biggest piece of advice in the title of this blog post, but I think it's the key that unlocks all doors.

I swear by this. I almost even believe it's the only tip you really need. The end goal is 50,000—or however many—words in one month. But how do you carry yourself from one word to the next?
Visualize for a moment that you're in a spaceship looking down at the Great Wall of China. You can see almost all of it; you can see just how daunting it'll be. But when you're actually climbing the Great Wall, you're zoomed in up close, focused only on just the stretch of stone immediately ahead and behind. You have to take it one step at a time.

We have to stop thinking about those 50,000 words and what they'll look like all together. We have to focus on the little steps. I prefer to approach it in terms of the story—it's more organic. I break my story into pieces and use those to set mini-goals. I'll tell myself I have to introduce this character before breakfast. I have to set up a new conflict before I run to a meeting. I get ice cream once these characters reach the crucial part of their conversation.

In these little chunks of 100 and 200 and 500 words, you'll reach the 1667-word daily goal. And day by day, you'll inch your way closer to that finish line.

Tip #2: No amount of spare time is ever 'not enough time' to write.

I always surprise myself with how much I can get done in little snatches of five or ten minutes. Carry a notebook with you everywhere: I've done so much writing in the time spent waiting for a friend to arrive at a restaurant, or sitting in a doctor's office.

For these small, unpredictable periods, why not try setting the goal of just doing the smallest something? Even half of a new sentence might be just what you need to push forward in your next session.

Tip #3: Pause your writing in a place where you already know what's coming next.

I live by this trick that apparently was also Ernest Hemingway's rule.

It's so much quicker for me to find my momentum again if I come back to work in the middle of a scene and already know how the rest of it needs to play out. So I try to end each writing session in a place where I know what's coming next.

So there you have it. Get those pens and fingers into position. Ready? Set. Go!

We hope your second day of NaNo is going well! Introduce yourself in the comments with your NaNo username, so other fellow writers can add you as a buddy!