Things I learned from NaNoWriMo #6 (#nanowrimo)

#6 Do tell people that you are doing NaNoWriMo.

There are two great motivators in play when you tell/brag about doing NaNoWriMo. The first is that you will have cheerleaders to root you on. My husband and friends Katie and Grace get huge gold stars for last year for not only sending me little pep talks but for caring, even if they were pretending. It’s nice to have people care and it makes what you are doing feel less stupid.

But you know what motivates better than positive reinforcement? Shame. Embarrassment. If I don’t finish NaNo this year after going on about it all this time on my blog, I will feel like an idiot. Don’t think for a second that isn’t going on in my head while I am writing. I am much more likely to finish no matter how much I want to quit because I don’t want to look dumb.

Tell everyone you know. Post your word count every day. Even if no one around you actually cares, you will think they care and if you fail, you will feel like they all are mocking you. Trust me, that will motivate the heck out of you.