: Re: I'm not a great pantser; what kind of preparation do I need for NaNoWriMo? I'm very appreciative of NaNoWriMo's "your first step is writing a crappy first draft" credo, and I like the motivation

@Carla500

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NaNoWriMo would never ever work for me, because without the prep work, it's just logorrhea. But if you're trying to use the butt-in-chair time as a motivator, then instead of "when timer dings, start typing your book," maybe it should be "when timer dings, start working through your prep work."

If all you want to do is get into the habit of writing, then how about "when timer dings, start writing blog post"? or "start writing short story"? Or one exercise we used to do in creative writing classes, which is "when timer dings, write, and do not stop writing under any circumstances until timer dings again in five minutes. Even if what you write is 'I can't think of anything to write about and this is really stupid,' keep writing. Write the alphabet if you have to."

These exercises are not "novels," to be certain, but they will get you going.

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