Thursday, October 6, 2011

NaNoWriMo Checklist!!!

OK... The last three posts were all about me, so I'll make the next three posts stuff that is not entirely about me!
Exciting, isn't it?
All right, so judging by the fact that you're on a tiny, unknown little blog called 'Ink Splotches', which claims to be about writing, you probably like writing, or are a robot that can flip through every web page in existence in the blink of an eye. And you know which one of those is cooler.
The writer, obviously.
So, if you ARE a writer, and it is the month of October, you probably know what's coming up next month: NANOWRIMO!!! And, oh yeah, it IS the month of October.
If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, here's a link: NaNoWriMo.
And if you're a young writer, or a wimp who can't write 50,000 words: YWP NaNoWriMo
Basically, the idea is that you write 50,000 words in one month, and that month is November. The 50,000 words, however, cannot be scattered all over the place; you have to focus them on one novel. If you don't want to write the whole 50K, you can go on the Young Writers Program and set your own word count. But you're pretty much only allowed to go on there if you're under 18.
ANYWAY.
So now that you know what NaNoWriMo is, I am going to post a checklist of stuff you need to get done before NaNo starts. I'm assuming you're participating in NaNoWriMo, because why wouldn't you?

1. Finish writing the novel that comes before your NaNovel in the series you are writing. (Mostly applies to me).
2. Prepare a writerly Halloween costume. (Fictional characters do not count unless they are from a book over 50 years old and/or are Harry Potter characters).
3. Fill out the cute little workbooks they have on the YWP NaNoWriMo site. It helps if you pretend you're an elementary school student doing this with her class.
4. Fill up on chocolate. Be sure to leave room in your house for Halloween candy.
5. Outline your NaNo book. You'll have an easier time of it if you do.
6. Set up bribes and blackmail all over your family so that you are more convinced to reach your word-count goal. Ex: If you reach 50,000 they will buy you a chocolate cake. If you're not at 30,000 by the third week, you will empty the dishwasher for the rest of the month. That sort of thing.
7. Download a bunch of old NaNo pep talks and read them for inspiration.
8. Get a head start on any school projects due in November so that you don't have to worry about that instead of your novel.
9. Possibly research anything if you made the stupid mistake of deciding to write a historical fiction book. (Note: Do not write a historical fiction book for NaNoWriMo).
10. Set up a little nest of things to help you write and stay up until midnight on Halloween to herald in the new month.

Anyway, most of that stuff was me just trying to fill in 10 things on a checklist, but I hope you enjoyed it! Unless you're an adult, in which case your list is probably, "Do work stuff and then clean the house and prepare Thanksgiving dinner!"
HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!!!
I'll write more some other time. I have to work on The Old Cities, which is the book in the series directly before The Gold Door which I'm doing for NaNoWriMo. And The Old Cities still isn't done!

-Ariel (magic-esi)

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