NaNoWriMo Prep: Are You Ready?

(Hint: I’m not)

That’s a hard thing to admit because I’m signed up to be a Model WriMo this year, a.k.a. a Municipal Liason (ML). Being an ML can be as serious or casual as you want it to be, but you all know me –or will know me soon– and you know that what I decide to do, I take very seriously.

So I’ve been hatching plots and scheming over pastries and mugs of hot tea with my fellow MLs for over a month now. We’re having a NaNo Prep event this Saturday, and we have high hopes for talking about Plotting, Pantsing, Outlining, Scrivener, Word Prompts…All. The. Things.

Oh, and is the outline of my dreams for Mayhem Under the Maple ready?

(That’s rhetorical. I told you the answer.)

So where can we start? I say ‘we’ because I’m in the same boat as you, unless you’re already prepared, in which case, um, I could use a little help here…

1. Luckily for us, the NaNoWriMo Website has us covered. It is free to join, and whether you’re writing a novel or anything else that needs to add up to 50k words, this is a great place to get support, advice, and the cheerfullest-cheering on.
2. Who doesn’t love lists? Once you’re signed up as a WriMo, you can access the Prep Forums, where all the other Wrimos are gearing up and sharing their ideas about what “preparation” is. It looks different for everyone. For example, I’ve never seen a group of people so obsessed with snacks.
3. Once you’ve got your list, start crossing things off. I can’t even begin to express how happy it is going to make me to cross off “Write your NaNoPrep Blog Post.”

If we’ve learned nothing else from participating (or planning to participate) in NaNo, it is that Mary Poppins may have been right on with “In every job that must be done there is an element of fun,” but she was kinda wrong when she quoted Aristotle’s “Well begun is half-done.” The finish counts.

WriMos know that writing “THE END” is one of the best feelings there is. No matter how you prep (or don’t), everybody in this community is ready to help you get to those two amazing little words.

Are you feeling like this post didn’t include the meaty content you wanted? That’s okay. Check out these links from authors who are way more on top of it than I am:

• Boho Berry
• Better Novel Project
• Ninja Writers

And please send me links in the comments to add to this page if there are authors you love and trust who have great Prep content available on their sites!