Mary J. McCoy-Dressel

Maybe you can learn some things from my past NaNo Experiences.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an expert in this. My three years and two days five years of NaNo wins is a drop in the bucket compared to some.

Onward to year six.

This is about how my NaNoWriMo experience has evolved. I follow the rules (most) and I’ve learned a lot. But…my biggest rule breaker might be the one where I allow my inner-editor to sit on my shoulder. Heck, she can sit on my lap if she wants. I’ll share my M&M’s with her. After all, I’m used to sharing my chocolate with my stubborn little muse.

The OLD Me:

• Strikethroughs HEY YOU, yes you—do not delete that word. ← (The old me.)
• Don’t Do not use contractions
• Use plenty—I repeat, plenty of adverbs, adjectives, extra words of any kind to get your daily count. Make your character write a recipe or shopping list. (Oh, wait, maybe that’s just me. One of my heroines is Italian. Another character is a ranch mom with three grown boys/ men, and there are three ranch hands she considers part of her family. She and the Italian need shopping lists!)
• Send the drill sergeant of an inner-editor away on a thirty day vacation
• Misspell words, skip them and keep going. (Ekk, I hated this!)
• I wrote run-on/fragmented sentences. (Still do)
•  M’bad for all of the above?

Do you want to get your word count when you’re stumped? Go ahead, use the above ideas for yourself. Been there done that. Please, don’t remember who gave you some of these ideas when you start edits and revisions. Whatever you do, don’t throw your computer against the wall. (You will want to if you do a number of the above items.)

The NEW NaNoWriMo Me:

• I don’t have a strikethrough icon. (Shh, I really do, but don’t tell.)
• Don’t use contractions? What? You don’t want to hear how many four-letter words I’ve used because of this.  I’m writing fiction here, I shall use contractions. Trying this will kill you in revisions—almost make you throw your computer out the window. And check the mirror. You’ll be missing some hair.
• Adverbs, adjectives…I’m still torn on this. Yes, I use some. How about you?
• If my inner-editor thinks she’s going on a vacation in November, she better think again. My inner-editor needs to remain right here on my shoulder beside Ms. Sexy Innocence—my muse.
• Misspelled words. Absolutely not! I can’t do it. (If you find one here, let me know because I’m human. :-0) In all honesty, I do mix up words. My biggest is change, chance, and as of yesterday, right, write.)
• Sentences? Okay I still do write fragmented sentences, even in my best work. I’ve read experts who say to use fragmented sentences as a variation. That’s good enough for me. I can’t fight against my “voice.”

My recommendation is to write as many words as you can, when you can. You will have days when you won’t be able to get your daily count. Life happens.

Now when I participate in NaNoWriMo, I do what is easiest for me. You need to find what works for you. Newbies, and never be ashamed to admit you’re a newbie, go ahead and learn what it takes to write 1,667 words a day (or more).

Being a full-time writer helps. I admit to this because my writing hours aren’t limited like they used to be. BUT…and yes, this is a big but—I’m trying to get two books written, so in reality, some of my time is limited. Haha, here we are in 2015, and I am still working on two books. Different ones, of course! Did I mention I just revised two books? They need to be reuploaded to book retailers when the formatter is finished.

Yes, I do tend to be a little nutty when it comes to making myself busier than I should be during NaNo. It will take some patience to stay away from my Netflix binge, too.

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Thanks for stopping by to read my updated post. Come back to visit. 🙂 Good luck with NaNoWriMo