ARE YOU READY FOR #NANOWRIMO 2020? (Part Two)

Now that you’ve got your story outline and your tools ready to go, let’s get your workspace in top shape to help you channel the creativity of the gods.

STEP FOUR: PREPARE THE CAPTAIN’S CHAIR

Who’s the captain? Psssst…it’s you. YOU are driving this ship and you need a NaNoWriMo command center.

The first phase of building your command center is choosing where it is located. You might have only one option with that ball-and-chain desktop, or you might have too many options with that easily transported laptop.

For a desktop fixed to a single location or a wise laptop user who still prefers to work at a specific space like a desk, you will need either the reality or the illusion that you are in a special creative writing space during the time you will be drafting. If the computer is used for anything other than creating your novels—such as *gasp* work or *double gasp* paying your bills—you will need to first create a set-up that triggers your brain into understanding when you are in NaNo blurping mode and when you are in other modes.

Regardless of what else you use your desktop space for, clean it up. Now. Organize files, sort paperclips, and empty all those Starbucks cups and candy wrappers from the trash bin. (Admit it—you needed to do that anyway.) Now consider how the desk will be arranged for its other functions and how it will be arranged for sacred NaNo drafting time. After work or bills, it should take you no more than five minutes to put away one workspace personality and don the trappings of another.

Think of this as putting together a new fall outfit for your desk. Curate inspirational accessories, comfortable textiles, and convenient ways to control the noise level and the temperature of your immediate working space.

This is basically the same process for a laptop only there are more options. I edit at my desk and I compose in a comfortable chair set between an antique trunk and my gun safe. I have also gone as far as having two separate laptops, a PC and a Mac, so that the only function my Mac has is to create stories. I have no social media or anything with notifications even connected to that computer to eliminate as many distractions as possible. Within easy reach I have a pillow, a weighted blanket, hand lotion and lip gloss, hard candy, and a pen to play with when I get fidgety. I also have it arranged so that every time I look up from my screen, I am looking at art pieces that inspire me. That all helps me stay in the zone.

I write at home and have designed my space to support that focus. I have friends who have much more varied preferences for their creative spaces. I have one friend who writes best in noisy hotel lobbies, another who always goes to a coffee shop, and another who drives up into the mountains where there is no internet.

Be intentional about what your NaNo command center is going to be and set it up now. (By the way, you would benefit from setting up a motivational workspace for any task at any point in your progress. It’s not like you can miss the deadline for this.)

STEP FIVE: BECOME A NANOWRIMO-ER

This might seem like a ‘duh,’ but it’s time to sign up on the website and become part of the NaNoWriMo community. This is like joining a team of novel writing superheroes.

NaNoWriMo.org offers a lot of very professional and encouraging support for reaching that 50k word mark. Progress badges, a regional group, supportive chats, buddies, etc. It’s a very well designed nonprofit organization that exists solely to promote writing literacy. They got your back like no one I’ve ever seen.

Now click the link and get over there!

STEP SIX: COMMIT

This step trumps the previous five. In fact, you could almost (but not quite—I recommend you have a story in mind when you begin) skip the other five steps and still write a story if you commit. I’m talking the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae take-no-prisoners level of commitment.

Put your phone in another room. Set up forcefields or put a sign on the door. Mark your progress on the NaNo site AND somewhere you can get up every morning and see it. Look at yourself in the mirror and make a promise to yourself OUT LOUD that you are going to show up for writing EVERY DAY.

Also, determine rewards for meeting your goals. Are you a daily word count writer? Give yourself a daily reward. Are you a weekend warrior? Give yourself a weekly reward. Are you a little more experienced writer playing along for fun? Give yourself a reward at the end of the 50K.

I co-authored a serial killer thriller this summer. My reward for completing it by the deadline (and I went until midnight) was a pair of nightstands for my bedroom. This worked really well for me (and the nightstands look amazing, btw).

Maybe your reward is a new pair of shoes, a piece of jewelry, or even a new computer. You could even go so far as rewarding yourself with a weekend away. I know a very prolific author who pays himself every day he writes by putting $50 into a vacation/travel fund. If he misses a single day, he loses the ENTIRE fund and has to start over.

He found his carrot. I believe he’s been out of the country several times.

What works for you? What motivates you to dedicate that BIC time? I mean, having a completed book feels pretty damn good all on its own, but the  psychology of positive reinforcement is particularly effective with us indulgent humans.

Maybe it’s ordering the cover for your book from that cover designer you admire or putting a deposit down for an editor…

Whatever it is, write it down or print out a picture and set it up in your workspace so that your end goal is right there in sight.

You’ve always wanted to write that story that’s haunted you since high school.

Now’s the time.

Your team of novel writing superheroes is waiting for you.

Christine Nielson is a freelance editor and experienced writing teacher who will be writing Jack and the Queen of Daggers, the second story in her Saturday Morning Sinners middle grade series, during NaNoWriMo 2020. You can be her buddy at Nano username CNielson.