S1B2: Last Day! (aka: NaNoWriMo pep talk)

Hey Toucan! 

Welcome to another National novel writing month, or NaNoWriMo, bonus episode. 

As you know, today is the last day of NaNoWriMo. 

I really hope you had a blast, whether you made it to 50,000 words or not. I hope you carved out a chunk of words on your manuscript and are that much closer to the end. 

I for one did not make it to 50K, but I also set out knowing that I probably wouldn’t even still, I am so proud of the words that I did write. 

The story I worked on was a lot of fun. And I’m planning to come back to it in the future to finish it. 

As usual I had good days and bad days. And I also learned a few things from this past month, a feverish novelling. 

Number one: I can still log multi-thousand word days. 

My best writing session was over 3,700 words. That’s 3,700 words. That’s a lot of words 

I was also like super in the zone that night. I remember because my house could have exploded around me and I wouldn’t have even noticed I was so deep into it 

The second thing I learned is I can still pad my word count with over-writing, -LY adverbs, and wordy placeholders when I can’t think of the word I actually want. For instance, “Insert the word for when someone smiles at you in a way that, you know, they feel pity for you.”

Number three, I can still write long form fiction. 

It was a legit fear of mine after having been away from long form since December, 2021. And now I know I can still do it! 

Number four. I still struggle with coming up with character names. 

Luckily I have the internet at my disposal. Plus Scrivener actually has a name generator. Did you know that? It’s pretty cool. 

Number five. My non-processed process still works for me. 

You see, I typically use NaNoWriMo to tell myself the story that I want to write, to figure out who these characters are. 

At first, they kind of seem all over the place with varying motivations and goals, but the more I write, the more they reveal themselves and they become real to me. 

A weak female character suddenly becomes the strong lead when she kills her husband to run off with her lover in some crazy turn of events. That’ll eventually lead to her undoing. Or his, or everyone’s probably. 

I write horror. There’s a lot of undoing. 

And number six. The badges you earn on NaNoWriMo’s website are ridiculously motivating for me. 

I want to get all of them. Remember what I talked about, rewards and episode eight about breaking bad and creating good habits. This is what I’m talking about. These little badges on NaNoWriMo’s website are exactly the kind of small rewards that keep me motivated. 

On this final day of the national novel writing month challenge, I have one last pep talk for you. 

If you already logged your session for the day. Congratulations! Look back at what you have accomplished over this past month with pride. 

If you have not yet logged your last session, there’s still time! Set this podcast aside and start your timer. Get that last session logged, then come back here, rewind a little bit and listen to my congratulatory note again. 

As Rudy from the movie Rudy says, “Sometimes a winner is a dreamer who just won’t quit.” 

If you did not reach the end of your manuscript: Keep going. Adjust your daily goal to something that works for you. The wonder of NaNoWriMo, doesn’t have to end here. Look back on your daily word counts over the past 30 days, average them set some level goals. Remember from the plan for anything episodes? 

And keep going. Toucan20 your way into December and beyond finish your book. 

In the words of Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” 

Now, if you want a tracker that has stats and charts and graphs that look very similar to the ones on the NaNoWriMo stats page. Check out my deluxe tracker tool. 

I actually made this specifically to carry on with NaNoWriMo into December last year when I was working on the third book in my Origin Codex trilogy. 

I’ll link to the Deluxe Tracker in the show notes. 

And as a valued and appreciated listener of the podcast, you even get a discount. 

The link that I’ll put in the show notes will automatically apply that coupon. 

And again, no matter how you did during this past November of feverish novel writing, or just Toucan20 sessions, if that’s what you did, be proud of what you’ve accomplished, celebrate and reward yourself for a job well done And remember, keep writing, in fact… Set your timer. Go write!