NaNoWriMo 2017 Goals

Here's what usually happens during NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, which takes place during the month of November: I decide to do it, write for a couple days, fall behind in my word count daily goals, realize I can't possibly get 50,000 words in one month, freak out because I have an extreme fear and anxiety around failure, and quit to avoid said failure and also because I am still a little afraid of writing what I really want to write.

That is not what is going to happen this year, because I have a great cheerleader in my boyfriend, and I have new goals that are going to make this month of writing more manageable and doable:


1. Write for a couple hours every day. If I set a time goal rather than a word count goal, I'm hoping I'll be more inclined to not view my writing sessions as failures.

2. Write more of Queer Bookish Novel. Maybe I won't finish it, but that's not my goal. I just want to get more of a draft on paper.

3. Don't worry about hitting 50,000 words so much. Even though that's the "official" NaNo goal, my own goal is just to write as much as possible.

4. Write even when I don't know what to say. All the writing advice I've been reading about writing during NaNo and writing a first draft says it's okay if your story goes around in circles in your first draft and if things aren't perfect. So, I'll try to remind myself of this as I write, and just try to get something down most days.

5. Outline the poop out of this novel. I feel like I'm probably more of an outliner than a pantser, so I hope to outline most of this novel so I have at least some idea of where the heck it's going if I don't finish.

6. Have fun. I'm going to try my best not to put too much pressure on myself to be perfect, which is hard for me, but I'm going to try to do it because writing is supposed to be a thing I enjoy, and I want to make the most of this month to remind myself I like writing.