The Secret to Writer’s Block: Misfit Inspiration - Post Four

Daylight Come and I NaNoWriMo: 

 

Utilizing Social Media Challenges to Help Break Through Writer’s Block

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo was founded in 1999 to encourage writers to do just that - write. The project started as a small venture and has since grown into an internet event - including tips and resources for writers and writing groups for motivation and encouragement. The main idea is to write 50,000 words of a new project during the month of November. That’s an average of 1667 words per day. To give you an idea of how many words that is, most of my blog posts are between 700 and 900 words. So, yeah, it’s a lot of writing!

As I have delved more into the world of blogging and writing over the last year, I have become more aware of some of the events and resources out there for writers. One of the most anticipated (and also most feared) is NaNoWriMo. Amazingly, I have met several authors that have participated in the event for five or more years now. It seems like one of those things that once you do it, you are hooked. So, I figured I would give it a try this year. How hard could it be right? I mean, I am writing pretty regularly for my reviews and blog posts… Needless to say, I did not know what I was getting into.

First let me start by saying that I preplanned this venture. It was advice that was given to me by other authors that had participated before and by NaNoWriMo as well. I typically post one writer’s block post and one Heather’s Bookshelf Review a week. (That’s not including all the reading, blog formatting, email management, etc.) I knew that hitting the word count per day was going to be tough, so I busted my butt and wrote 3 weeks of posts prior to the published dates. I also came up with a concept and did a little research before November 1st for my new book venture (this is completely allowed in the challenge). This leads me to Lesson 1 learned during NaNoWriMo: I did not do enough research about how best to hand NaNoWriMo prior to starting the writing challenge.

When I wrote my first book, Arriving Through Time, I would write when the mood hit me. I was not on a deadline and so I would write as I was inspired. I could work through writer’s block and spend as much time as I wanted/needed on research. Some days I would only research and not write a single word. I did not realize how much research that I actually did (or how much time it took) until I started NaNoWriMo. I had to stick to an aggressive timeline to meet my daily goal. I found that I had to fit in all my research on weekends around writing. There were several times that I had to skip around sections of writing until I had the time to research more information. This was very different than how I had written before. That leads me to Lesson 2 learned during NaNoWriMo: I did not do enough research about the main topics and ideas in my new novel prior to beginning the writing challenge.

November happened to kick off on a Sunday, which worked great for me. It gave me the time that I needed to start my writing journey off on the right foot. I wrote about 3000 words on day one and was really excited about it. I logged my words written throughout the day so that I could get the hang of the webpage as well. I really enjoyed the website aspect of the challenge. I found that logging my words written was more motivational than it was frustrating. You can log your words either by total words or in words written in that session. There are also badges that you earn as you write to give you a little extra motivation. If you know other authors that are also participating, you can add them as buddies or join your local area’s group. There are a lot of tips and tricks on the website and it is really easy to use.

Overall, I started off strong, keeping up with the lead that I had made for myself through Tuesday of the first week. But then the exhaustion of working ten hour shifts hit me and I realized that I couldn’t keep up. I fell behind on Wednesday and even worse on Thursday. Friday became my make-up day. Friday became my designated catch-up day. This became my pattern with writing. I would do pretty well on Saturday and Sunday, forcing myself to sit down and write, fall behind over the week and then catchup again on Fridays. I never planned on falling so behind during the week and would have tried to get a little more ahead on the first couple of Sundays if I would have realized that would happen early on.

I am writing this blog post a little over halfway into the NaNoWriMo challenge. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook if you want to find out how it ends. I hope to keep up this pace so that I can successfully finish this insane writing challenge. I have found this to be both extremely demanding and also super rewarding. I really hope that I can keep it together to make it to 50000 words!

So, the next time that you feel like writer’s block is keeping you from writing, try a social media challenge like NaNoWriMo to keep you accountable and on track for that ever elusive writing goal. 

If you are currently working on NaNoWriMo, send me a buddy invite and let me know what you have found to be helpful in making you successful!

I hope that these ideas help you to break through! 

Found a great source of inspiration that worked for you?  Let me know!

Still getting writer’s block?  Tell me how I can help!

Image courtesy of NaNoWriMo