Preptober has officially begun! Woo!
What is Preptober? It’s the month of October where NaNoWriMo hopefuls spend their time prepping for NaNo. Oh, I suppose I should mention that NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which happens every November. People across the world try to write the first draft of a 50k word novel. Some people like NaNo; Some hate it. I adore it.
I tried for probably about 3-4 years before I actually managed to hit the 50k words in a month goal. In retrospect, that makes my current goal of 84k words a month—for 12 straight months—seem a little wild.
Was I less motivated back then? Maybe.
Slower at writing? Probably.
Busier? Hello, social distancing!
But one of the biggest changes from the time when I couldn’t win NaNoWriMo to now trying to do Milwordy is…
I won NaNoWriMo.
Seems like circular logic, I know, but bear with me here. I think learning that I could write that much in a month, made it more likely that I would write that much in a month. After all, if I’d done it once, I could do it again. Bye bye mental block!
I have crossed the finish line on most of the NaNos I’ve attempted since then, and most of the failures involved either life getting in the way, or a lack of proper preparation.
Which brings me right back around to Preptober. This is an important time for NaNo participants to get their ducks in a row for November. Time to get those outlines written, those characters molded, and your schedule cleared. November will be here before you know it!
If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll already know that I’m currently doing Structure Saturdays where I take you through my outlining process on my 2020 NaNoWriMo project. I hope that this can help anyone else currently prepping for NaNo, if not by giving help with the outlining process, then at least providing you with some company. To me, one of the greatest things about NaNoWriMo is the community. Novel writing can be a lonely process most of the time, but NaNo gives us all such a great opportunity to interact as we stumble our way down this literary path together.
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? What, if anything, are you doing to prepare?
If you’re enjoying the blog, please like, follow and share! I post 2 to three times a week.
-Robin
Rambling Robin 
I am still trying to figure out if I’m doing NaNo this year and if I am, how. I know I cannot use my current work in progress because that requires something other than volume-volume-volume writing.
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As much as I love NaNo, it doesn’t always work out. I’ve definitely had to say no a couple times and that’s okay. If you really want to do it and still work on your WIP, there are some people that don’t do the traditional 50k in a month, but still particpate in the community stuff. You could also set your own challenge for how many hours you want to write in November for example, though the NaNo website won’t track this.
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your work in progress?
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Thanks. The community stuff is not why I do NaNo, just the routine building. I am coming up with an alternative already – blogged about it today! 😄
My current WIP is a story I have been working on for the past year or so. It is coming along but needs proper attention to plot details, not word count. 🤷♀️
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Oh, I’ll have to check out your blog! I’d love to see what your alternative is!
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