10 Tips for a Successful NaNoWriMo

Part of a special month-long event featuring writing tips and NaNoWriMo strategies from guest writers and fellow NaNo participants.

Writing Tips for NaNoWriMo 

by MJ Flournoy

Hello everyone, MJ Flournoy dropping by to offer encouragement for NaNo. Do I believe in the value of participating in NaNoWriMo? A resounding YES! The first draft of the novel that I have available now on Amazon was completed during a NaNoWriMo! I don’t think I would have finished, much less sold, the manuscript without the rigor of joining NaNo. A Matter of Trust, my romantic suspense with paranormal elements novel was published in September by Renaissance Ebooks. While I didn’t write the entire manuscript during NaNo, I did complete it during and credit NaNo with getting it done.

Since this blog is scheduled for the seventh, I’ll assume you’ve got your ducks in a row and have been hitting the keys every day. What’s that you say? You’re running out of steam? Well, here are a few tips to keep the steam up and the words flowing.

1.                  Write every day, even if it seems disconnected from your work, just keep going.

2.                 Look back at you schedule, the one you cleared last week for NaNo (you did that, right) is there anywhere you can snatch an extra half hour?

3.                 Take a tablet and pen with you wherever you go. If possible take your laptop or notebook, but have something to write on with you. Stuck in traffic? Grab that table. Waiting at the dentist? Grab that tablet. Waiting to pick up the kiddo from practice? You really should have your laptop with you, but a table will be better than nothing.

4.                 Can’t sleep? Pull out your laptop and type a few pages.

5.                 Set the clock thirty minutes early and get up, put on the coffee and write.

6.                 Going to lunch? Brown bag it and use the extra time to write, remember that tablet.

7.                 When the words won’t flow, grab your laptop or notebook or a tablet and go somewhere special. (Starbucks works for me, but I have been known to drive out to the lake and sit at a picnic table to write.)

8.                When you really are stuck, phone a friend, someone who will encourage you without dominating your time.

9.                 Force yourself to write every day, at the same time, if possible. Do not stop to edit, ever during NaNo. Just keep pushing forward. As several very famous authors have been quoted, “You can’t fix a blank page.” So get those words and your story down on paper or computer file before you stop to edit. 

10.            Turn off the internet, email and Facebook. Use those as a reward for reaching your daily goal. If I’m missing on Facebook, or don’t answer your email, you will know I haven’t met my goal!

Happy NaNo!

About the author:

MJ Flournoy loves crafting stories of romance and suspense, most of the time elements of the paranormal find their way into her work. Although she is currently working on a romantic suspense, sans paranormal at an editors request. Her interest in writing grew organically from her love of reading. A late bloomer, MJ attended college as a non-traditional student and earned a degree in history with an eye toward writing historical romance.

 After graduation from college, MJ became a middle school teacher which helps to keep her grounded in the real world while her plots take her away to the extraordinary worlds of imagination and creativity. MJ enjoys adding a twist of paranormal to her plots.

 MJ makes her home in rural Georgia with her husband and one neurotic cat. She has two children and two granddaughters. Her favorite activities are writing, reading, and travel.

Visit MJ at authormjflournoy.wordpress.com or follow her on Twitter @authormjflourno or find her on Facebook as authormjflournoy.

By MJ Flournoy:

A Matter of Trust

Buy Now

Her paranormal abilities had always caused her grief. But can they save the life of a child who has been spirited away fro her parents and the life of the man she loves? 

Jolie Wyngate is a middle school teacher with an extraordinary gift—or is it a curse? Throughout her life, she's been never been sure. Now, when she is implicated in the disappearance of a child, the ultimate value of her powers will be put to the test. 

Mac Carlson, former Navy SEAL and security expert, is tasked with rescuing the girl, Rachael Anne. From the moment he meets Jolie, his suspicious and protective nature sets its sights on her as a prime suspect. Can Jolie clear her name and gain this man's hard-won trust? 

More importantly, can she save the girl before time runs out? She won't be able to do it without her psychic abilities—but Mac has a hard enough time trusting Jolie as it is, let alone trusting her powers to lead them to Rachael Anne. 

As Mac and Jolie realize they have no choice but to work as a team—and as they slowly warm to each other in the process—they realize they have a new problem: the man they are after has set his sights on Jolie. Now Jolie will need all of her abilities, and all of Mac's strength and skill, to stay out of the fiend's hands and bring Rachael Anne back home.