A Look at My NaNoWriMo Writing Sessions

It's nice to play with words for a warm-up before you settle into your novel writing. Image copyright Lori Gravley

Generally, I write 1,000 words an hour.  That means that most NaNo sessions for me are roughly two hours unless I’m trying to replace the ceiling in my kitchen.

Still, two hours is a good chunk out of a busy day, so I try to optimize my time.  Often my writing sessions take place right after a meal.  If I’m at a write-in, I eat and get to work. If I’m at home, I’ll have some fruit and tea and sit down to write. I write better when I’m not hungry. 

Once I have sated the rumbly in my tumbly, I settle in and open my document.  

I’ll often write some sort of warm-up, like this one, and though I’m mostly a traditional NaNo writer, I do write all my words for November, even blog posts, in a single document.  So I open up my November document and either move to the last day’s writing on my novel or to the end of the document where I right reflections on the process, blog posts, and questions to answer in my manuscript later. 

Some days, I’ll write a poem or type up notes for a poem. I’ve been known to warm up with a picture book draft.  So long as it’s writing meant for an audience (not business writing, but fiction or non-fiction related to writing.  It goes in my November document and gets counted in my word count. 

It often won’t be a part of what I count at the end of the month for NaNo words, but it helps me feel like I’m moving forward even through the messy middle or, this year, in the muddled beginning.  

Once I’m warmed up, I scroll back up to my draft and read the last 1,000 words or so.  When life is busy and frenetic, as it is right now with our kitchen renovation, my writing happens in a sort of fugue state.  I don’t always remember exactly what I wrote the day before, so re-reading reminds me of my world and my concerns. 

And, most of the time, once I’ve read those words, I’m ready to write.  Of course, that is aided by the fact that I never end at the end of something.  I end my words for the day in the middle of a conversation, in the middle of drama, in the middle of some action so that the next thing I write will be clear the next day.  

Then I write.  I finish the previous scene and start a new one. I take a look at my scene cards and my notes about the character arc.  I put myself in the setting and wander around in my imagination to see what comes up. 

Sometimes, I’ll make a deal with myself that I can’t get up from my chair, not for anything, until I’ve written a thousand words or the day’s words.  

Some days, I don’t reach my target, actually, every day since the start I’ve missed my target number of words, but at this point, I’m still writing every day and a few 5,000 word days will get my caught up to the desired NaNo total. 

Okay, eat something, get a cup of tea, visit the necessary room, and get those words done.