Write Everywhere! A NaNoWrimo Writing Plan Pep Talk

While my neighbors are gearing up for Halloween with inflatable witches and faux tombstones staked in their yards, I'm frantically scurrying to prepare a writing plan for NaNoWriMo while maintaining a full-time job.

I'm a member of a writing community on Facebook and in a recent post, the topic of space and time came up. One poster mentioned the need for his environment to be just so and a solid chunk of time in order to dive into worldbuilding. While I don't disparage this approach - to each their own - I have found that relying on the perfect environment and the perfect amount of time paralyzed me more often than not. I would spend energy and time cultivating a clean, well-lighted place, often to the detriment of the time and mental energy I so desperately needed. After years of working this way, I realized just how little writing I was producing, and I knew there had to be a better way.

Sometimes I write here...

I ditched the idea of needing soft music, a candle, the perfect beverage, a comfortable chair, etcetera, and took to writing everywhere. I keep small notebooks and pens on me. I use Dabble on my phone to type furiously while waiting on my son to finish guitar lessons or my daughter Taekwondo. I write when my students write, and when I'm able, during my lunch break or my planning. I stay up fifteen to thirty minutes occasionally to work, although after a long day of interacting with 100 students, my brain doesn't work as well after 9 p.m.

If I had more pockets of time available, I suspect I would work to cultivate a more conducive space and determine which times of day are best for my creativity. My current life situation has not and does not support this, and as hard as I tried, it isn't something I can force. I cannot wait on perfect writing conditions if I wish to maintain any momentum, so I've chosen the path of mildly controlled chaos. This means that I occasionally misplace notes and have to take the time to find them, and sometimes I have to reread what I'm working on all over again to get a sense of where I was taking the story, but I am producing.

Over the past five years, I've also learned that working on multiple projects at a time keeps me motivated and prevents boredom. I write every day, even if it's only a hundred words. If your goal for NaNoWriMo is to produce 50,000 words, then you need to write on average 1,667 words per day. This year, I'm taking two days off to work on both NaNoWriMo and graduate school applications, and, I get up earlier to churn out the words.

Here's a writing plan that has worked for me:

1. Prioritize function over form in regard to space.

2. Write whenever and wherever you can. Waiting in line at the grocery store? Write. Car rider line? Write. Sitting on the toilet? Write.

3. Write every day.

4. Read every day...if you can. During NaNoWriMo or other periods that require intense focus on writing it can be hard to keep a reading practice, especially if you have another job. Remember: Audiobooks count! Plug into an audiobook while you're washing dishes or mowing the lawn or commuting.