NaNoWriMo Archives - Catherine Dunn

So you won NaNoWriMo… now what?

I don’t like the term ‘won’ for NaNoWriMo, but if you got your 50,000 words down by the end of November, congratulations! That’s quite an achievement. Even if you didn’t make it to 50,000, it’s an achievement to have written anything. I hope by this time you’ve had a well-deserved rest.

I wrote a blog over at Help For Writers about what to do now you’ve done your first draft, or even just the skeleton of the first draft. Getting it from first to final draft might be arduous and it might be time-consuming, but getting words on a page for the first time is the hardest part in my opinion. It’s the same with drawing and painting – blank page syndrome. You have to get something down before you can see where you’ve gone wrong and start correcting it. I hope you find my tips helpful!

Triumph motorbike decorated with Christmas decorations — “Join the Triumph of the skies…”

I don’t usually feel Christmassy until the week before Christmas, but this year, because I’ll be overseas for Christmas, I’ve had to start all my preparation early, which has put me firmly into the spirit of the season. My Christmas cake is marinating in brandy, presents are wrapped and I’m looking forward to holding a belated celebration in the New Year.

NaNoWriMo – my top tips

It’s almost NaNoWriMo time! If you’ve never heard of it before, that’s National Novel Writing Month. The aim is to write 50,000 words during November, which will hopefully form the first draft of your novel.

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole which is the internet and emerged, bleary-eyed and cramped, with my top tips for NaNoWriMo. I hope you find them useful!

After so much reading about NaNoWriMo I almost feel inspired to have a go myself, but not quite inspired enough to actually have a go. After reading tales from the coalface – people who work 60-hour weeks and look after kids and pets and elderly relatives and pursue other hobbies and still find time to hit the 50,000-word target – I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a wuss. One thing I do have, however, is this:

I bought it on impulse earlier in the year and the pages are still virgin. If I can at least write in that every day during November, I’ll consider my writerly itch scratched.

On the shore of a different creative sea, I’ve started sketching out this year’s Christmas card. It involves a lot of snow, and I’ve run out of masking fluid, so I’m wondering whether I can get away with a blank piece of paper (it’s a very snowy scene).