What? Taking a break during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? What kind of advice is this? I can’t take a break. I have to get 50,000 words written in thirty days. This is madness.
Not really. There are times, even when a deadline is looming, that a writer has to take a break. When my creative juices have run dry, applying more pressure to squeeze out nothing isn’t productive. But the deadline is still there. Taking a two week vacation from writing is not an option. So how do you take a break and meet the deadline? Try my suggestions below.
Your Break Depends on Your Problem
What kind of problem are you experiencing in your writing? Before I sit down to write, I will outline the basic point of each scene, the reason this scene has to be in the story. Then I try to write the scene. If I flounder, it’s often because I can’t figure out how to start the scene. I’m hung up on details, such as I need Mrs. Thompson to reveal that her grandson was in the Army but don’t know how to create a conversation so that bit of information comes out naturally.
For those type of problems, I’ve found staring at a blank page or screen a hindrance, not a help. I have to step away and do something like laundry. But my mind is still working on the problem. I’ll let it wander while I work, and it almost always comes up with a solution. Sometimes, I only need to take a five minute break before my mind bores a hole through my writer’s block.
But maybe your problem is mental fatigue. You’ve overtaxed your imagination, and now it’s coming up empty. I find this requires a longer break, usually for the rest of the day. A solid night’s sleep is the most help. But if you can’t afford to take off part of a day, do something during your break that has nothing to do with writing and don’t let your mind wander to the story. Baking is something I like to do that is totally separate from writing. While your mind and attention are focused on this activity, your creative juices have time refill.
Look Forward to Thanksgiving
I imagine a lot of Americans tackling NaNoWriMo dread Thanksgiving because you either can’t write that day or you have to make drastic alterations to your writing schedule to get your word count in like getting up at 4 a.m.
If you’ve found yourself fighting through your manuscript, use Thanksgiving as your break. Don’t allow yourself to think about your novel during the day. You will probably be surprised at how productive you are on Friday.
Writers, what do you do when you need to take a break?
As I said last week, I did my own version of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMO) in March of 2022 and only achieved fifty percent of my goal. So I wanted to hear from other writers. What are your tips for success during NaNoWriMo?
Many outside incidents can interfere with your plans for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and you may have limited or no control over them. But what about problems within your manuscript? How do you keep writing? Check out my tips below on how to overcome obstacles during NaNoWriMo.
Don’t linger.
In my first drafts, my writing is usually dialogue heavy. That’s because dialogue is the main way my amateur detective Rae Riley discovers clues. The dialogue is the point of the scene, and I want to get that down first. But as I write down the most important aspect of the scene, I know I need to put in dialogue tags, action tags, and descriptions. That’s where I can bog down.
I’ll write a very effective two-person conversation, and then move Rae out of that scene into another. In the new scene, I have to describe the setting and my flow comes to a grinding halt as I decide what I must describe, the mood I’m trying to set, and many other details. I’ve learned that if I want to keep going, I just need to jot down a few notes that I will attend to when I edit.
If Rae moves from the library where she works to the Main Street of her small town, I’ll write in all caps and highlight (DESCRIBE WEATHER) and then dive into the meat of the next scene. If I stop writing because I can’t think of a good action tag to go with the dialogue, I just use “he said” and “she said” and know I’ll replace them later.
Sometimes, I realize I need to do some research in an area. For example, in A Shadow on the Snow, I knew a character would pawn a stolen item and the police had to find it. It was a small point, so I could just make a note that I needed to research that one fact and go on to the next scene.
You should only stop writing if you realize your obstacle is so big that it must be dealt with before you can continue because the whole story will change if you don’t. Let’s say your main character’s uncle is a cop. His profession is a key plot point in your story, but you know nothing about law enforcement. This is when you stop writing and do some research. You may do the research and realize that you will have to change your story completely to fit with reality. Or you may find you only have to make a few tweaks. But once you’ve decided you have to stop writing, work as quickly as you can to get back to the manuscript.
What advice do you have on how to overcome obstacles during NaNoWriMo?
Since it’s November, I thought I’d ask writers, who have accepted the challenge, about what are the pros and cons of NaNoWriMo.
I haven’t done a genuine NaNoWriMo. November is a terrible month for me to set time aside for a marathon of writing. So a friend and I decided to do our own version in March of 2022. March is usually a very boring month for me. Because I have a lot of neck, shoulder, and back pain from writing, I set a goal of one hundred hand written pages–I always handwrite my first draft. My friend and I held each other accountable, but so many other events and activities interfered with my goal.
I only finished fifty pages, and only forty of those were any good. But they were the kickstart to my second novel. I also learned a lot about my peculiar process for writing, which has helped me write faster.
Pros and Cons
Pros: I had a goal and a friend with whom I could share my successes and failures as I worked toward that goal. I also learned I can’t write a first draft from beginning to end. I write four or five chapters, type that up, edit a bit and then move on to the next few chapters. Understanding that that’s my style keeps me from worrying about getting enough done.
Cons: I had a goal. When I wasn’t meeting that goal, I could get anxious. I have to give myself permission to fail because family matters that had to take precedence kept cropping up. Because of my physical problems, I couldn’t sit and write for hours.
Now let me hear from you. If you’ve done NaNoWriMo, what are the pros and cons you’ve discovered?
My theme this month is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and I’m so pleased to introduce you to author Regina Felty. Not only has she published several books, but NaNoWriMo is how she kicked off her writing career. She explains why you may want to accept the NaNoWriMo challenge. The stage is yours, Regina!
I’m a goal-oriented personality who loves the gold medal–or at least hearty applause–at the end of an achievement, especially for something I’ve worked months on bringing to fruition. I maintain a planner to keep my life in order. Structure and organization are a priority, or I become overwhelmed.
So, when I decided in 2019 to write a book, the first thing I did was purchase a writing program that would keep my characters, scenes, settings, and plethora of notes in an organized layout. I outlined and presented the story in great detail to my faithful sounding board: my husband. But as is common with dreamers–who have lofty ideas and strategies–the motivation to tap out words on a screen was lacking. At the rate I was going, my novel wouldn’t be published for another decade! And since I hadn’t gotten serious about writing until I was fifty, I wanted this book done before I collected social security.
My research for writing motivation led me to an event called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), where ambitious writers set out to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Yes, that’s over 1,600 words a day for a month. Looking back, I remember thinking that NaNoWriMo sounded more like a Double Dutch jump rope song than the writing cult movement that it is. But I was all in. I created a profile on the website, set up my book project, and was poised to hit the floor (keyboard?) running. I hadn’t factored in that Thanksgiving is also in November, and I host the annual holiday at my house.
What was I thinking?
However, I was determined to do this thing and needed a plan (have I mentioned how much I love a plan?). I decided to wake up an hour earlier and write before work every day and extra on weekends. Most days, it felt like I was just vomiting words on the page. Plots and scenes resembled a 5,000-piece puzzle tossed off a twenty-story building more than a novel-in-the-making. For the challenge, it was all about the word count and I reasoned I would sort it all out later. My daily mantra was, “You can’t edit an empty page, right?”
Whew! I did it. Those coveted 50,000 words in thirty days! Yay me!
But … was the book done? Did it resemble something that would later be wrapped in a cover and displayed on a shelf? Not even close. But it was all about the challenge, and the hope that my words could be shaped into a novel. I mean, who wants to give up after making it to 50,000 words?
I still had a lot of work to do before I could line up beta readers and an editor. But NaNoWriMo was my catalyst. My shot in the arm that this old gal could be an author. Seriously. Of an actual book.
Four months later, my debut novel, While You Walked By, was released. And, let me tell you, March 2020 was not the best time to launch a book from a new author.
But the novel has received almost 6,000 reviews on Amazon, and I’ve since launched four more novels and am working on another to be released in 2025. I no longer participate in NaNoWriMo because I’m more realistic about what I can achieve in thirty days (Remember, I’m over fifty now!). However, NaNoWriMo was the motivation that sparked my writing career.
And, who knows, maybe NaNoWriMo is just the challenge you need to get started writing too!
An unlikely friendship that brought healing to both.
Ben doesn’t know what to think when a homeless boy shows up late one night behind Angelo’s Bakery where he works as a handyman. He’d seen his share of suffering humanity on the streets of Philadelphia, but this boy is so young…so vulnerable.
Pushing sixty and feeling as if his life has no purpose, Ben wrestles with his own demons. A recovering alcoholic, he is gripped with remorse over the loss of his wife and son, but determined to stay sober.
Twelve-year-old Aden starts to run when an old man comes out of Angelo’s Bakery and catches him hiding, but something about the man draws Aden to him. Terrified and naive to life on the streets, Aden is forced to forge his survival in the face of dangerous predators and violence after his mother abandoned him.
Can Aden trust the gentle old man who offers him food and a hand of friendship? Will Ben be able to forgive himself and search for his son?
While You Walked By delivers a heartfelt, coming-of-age story about the hope that can be found even in the most desperate circumstances.
REGINA FELTY lives in Arizona with her husband, Andrew, and their energetic rat terrier, Rocco. She spends way too much of her free time listening to Crime Junkie episodes and scrolling through social media when she should be writing.
Although she has always written to entertain others, it was during her dicult teen years that Regina turned to writing as a source of personal therapy. Besides dividing her time between being an author and her career as an American Sign Language Interpreter, Regina also manages her blog, It’s a Felty Thing, and has a special place in her heart for troubled youth. You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Goodreads.
