How To Survive Camp NaNoWriMo

Don’t participate in the first place.

I’m kidding. I also joke when I say that someone needs to invent a universal sarcasm font, so no one ever misunderstands my terrible jokes and deadpan remarks. 

Seriously though, you survive by writing one word after another until the end of the month.

And then you do it all over again in July.

Why? Well, why not?

Unfortunately, it’s week three. In my opinion, the worst week of all.

Week one was fantastic. I found myself in this honeymoon phase where I was excited and ecstatic about my story. I had all the energy in the world despite school draining my soul.

Week two was slower. Still fun, however. I know some say the second week is the toughest, but I had my earlier momentum carrying me through it. Week one and two seemed to blur together. Wrote a lot more than I studied because priorities.

Week three was and still is interesting to say the least. I’m running into some issues like not failing my exams.

How’s Camp treating you? Hang in there!

Survive The Writing World

It can be done.

How? 

Run from scam and spam.

Some people will try to scam you. Some people will definitely spam you. Be aware. Ignore. Run away from your computer screaming at the top of your lungs. The latter will not let you down. 

Be proud of your work and yourself.

Don’t devalue your value. Enough said. 

Do what you love.

Do what you want. Do what you care for. Do what you’re passionate about. How original, Herminia. Now you’ve referred to yourself in third person. Now you’re talking to yourself. Great. I blame university for using up the hours where I’m somewhat sensible. Anyhow, write the story you’ve always been meaning to tell. Create a random blog post because you feel like it. Why inflict pain upon yourself when you can inflict joy or satisfaction? That’s obviously a rhetoric question. As a reader of aspiringwriter22, you already knew that, didn’t you? 

Try to get paid.

The pay isn’t always great. But if you’re going to spend half your week working on an article, it’s nice knowing you’ll be able to pay the bills…or ten percent of one. You don’t deserve to spend your whole life working for free. You’re better than that.

Continue to write. 

There’s always another story to share, a different post out there. There is always something you could be doing. Please tell you me won’t ever settle for one good book or one great article.

Never stop learning.

The older you get, the less you realize you know. That’s life. All the more reason to learn and learn. This is usually when the writer (me) tells the reader (you) to pick up a book and (gasp) open one, so you can (double gasp) read it.

Make your own breaks.

Relax, kick back, go on vacation. It’s not the end of the world if you take a day off.

You either live long enough that you write something or you die trying to. 

A NaNoWriMo Survival Guide

So you’re prepared for all that November throws at you.

• What to do if you’re “exhausted”
  1. Sleep
  2. Eat
  3. Relax
  4. Shower
  5. Exercise
• What to do if you’re “uninspired”
  1. Get by
  2. Get out
  3. Get away
  4. Get going
  5. Get together
• What to do if you’re “blocked”
  1. Take a walk
  2. Call a friend
  3. Read a book
  4. Listen to music
  5. Explore the neighborhood
• What to do if you’re “lost”
  1. Pull out your outline
  2. Ask a complete stranger
  3. Get even more lost
  4. Distance yourself for now
  5. Let your characters roam
• What to do if you’re “busy”
  1. Learn when to say no
  2. Give up what you can
  3. Reduce time with other activities
  4. Force yourself to just start
  5. Do not accept any excuses

There you have it. Five scenarios you may encounter during NaNo and five solutions for each one.

I hope you survive!

How Is It May Already?

You mean to tell me I survived 4 months but still have 8 more to go?