Nano here we come! Preparations Part 4

Don't know what Nano is go here. 

Final Preparations 
We are down to the last few days and I must say I'm not very ready. Most of the time by this point I have an outline and have things pretty well ironed out but I've just been too busy.  I hope you Nanoheads are doing better than me. 

Around the house 
I do have things around the house in better order.  I have some frozen soup, and

some canned veggies for those days when I want to write without cooking. Almost all of the laundry is caught up, and I'm hoping to get some chips and snacks to help feed my muse. :)

Dogs
Yes I have to lovely inside pets and they will want a lot of attention so I will try to break and be sure that they go outside and get some play time.  I must say that a laptop can help a lot when you have pets or kids. 

Last Minute Tips
Speaking of laptops, it's good to have one set up somewhere that is a high traffic

area for yourself.  You will be surprised how many words you can get down between stirring supper, or washing dishes, just be sure and don't burn anything and always dry your hands.  I normally place my laptop in the kitchen on the bar, and I get quite a few extra words that way.



Drop Box
This is a really handy little thing I found.  It's a way to share what ever work that you have on every computer you have.  If you have M word on both of your computers, if you have two, you can just switch back and forth between devices by dropping your current work into the drop box icon that will be on your computer.

I have Carbonite for back ups too, but this is handy because there is not a lot of searching necessary when you want to work on one novel on two different computers.  It's really a breeze and you can also use it on your ipod for images and some music.  I really do love it. Check it out here. DropBox.

Pacing Yourself
It's a good thing to set a word count goal.  If you type 1666 words a day that will take care of everything, but I prefer to have some stellar days, where I knock the ball out of the park.  Last year I hit 10 K in a 24 hour period.  Yes I really did.  I am going to try and have a day this year where I beat that, but it will be hard.

Word Count
Trust me during that first ten hours or maybe even the first few says you are going

to wear out that word count button.  I know I can not be happy until I have at least 5k under the old writers belt.  Try to forget about it, and to just focus on writing.  I know it will be hard, but the main focus is keep writing.

When to write
When it comes to Nano I will be sitting in front of the computer on Wed night ready to start writing when the old clock hits 12, and if all goes well I will punch out about 1500 words or so and start again when I wake up the next morning.  I normally like to write when it's quiet in the house, so every chance I get even if it's just twenty minutes I'll be there writing every word I can.

Final Thoughts 
The thing is to not freak out and sit there looking at a blank screen when you can't think of anything to write.  Just get up and move around, play with the idea in your head, pick a scene on later in the book and write on that.  Don't focus on I can't get this chapter done.  Drop it and move on. Nano teaches you to write, and write. Don't correct mistakes, don't edit just write.

It will help you to learn to write things that you would never consider if you were just on a normal word count day.  You will find yourself writing your characters out on a limb that they would have never even thought about venturing on because you are looking at that word count button again.

Prayer
It can never hurt to pray about anything.  I am a Christian and I pray about

everything, so sure I'll pray that the Lord will bless my mind with some great ideas, and that what I write will end up being worth something that someone will enjoy reading later. 






Everyone have fun,

Nano is about learning, about pushing yourself, though it's fun to win, it's not about winning.  It's about learning to write and keep your rear in that chair until you have came to the end of the month. It's taught me a lot, it's placed me on the road to self publishing and it's helped me to make a lot of new friends.

Until November

Nano Nano Samantha Fury