What I learned from NaNoWriMo

What did writing 50,000 words in a month teach me?

It taught me that writing isn't as hard as I make it out to be. As writers we're GREAT at making excuses about why we're not writing as much as we would like to be. Taking a month and writing 2,000+ words per day taught me that it's way more manageable than I tend to think it is. I am a super busy mom of four kids. My day is full before I wake up, and even when I don't have other commitments. During NaNoWriMo, I woke up an hour earlier. I asked my husband to hold the baby in the evenings, to put the kids to bed, to take the kids out of the house on Saturdays. I FOUND time. I MADE time. It was usually only two hours a day, but in those two hours a day, every day, for a month, I wrote more than half a novel. Half a novel that would normally take me 9+ MONTHS to write, when I make excuses instead of making time for writing. 

It taught me that while I enjoy "pants-ing" (writing whatever the heck I want in any order I want with no prior organization), I'm much more productive when I outline. This NaNoWriMo I used a simple and straightforward outlining format that I learned in the book "2,000 - 10,000: Writing Faster, Writing Better, and Writing More of What You Love" and I discovered that I LOVE the freedom and fast pace that comes with outlining! It's beautiful! If you don't let yourself get caught in the black hole that outlining can become, it will DRAMATICALLY increase your productivity. No more excuses. Get this book, read it, and CHANGE YOUR LIFE, WRITERS!

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