ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite s ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite series!!  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I’m currently reading the Shadow and Bone series (on book #3) and I’m really enjoying it!!  I also love ACOTAR (but I still haven’t read the new one πŸ™ˆ), Noughts and Crosses, ToG and Caraval! πŸ’•  And speaking of Caraval, this gorgeous bookmark from @bookbookowl is probably my absolute favourite out of my collection! Isn’t that quote just so perfect?? You can use my code WANDERING15 on the whole range of bookmarks!!  #aestheticpost #amreading #bookbookowl #bookseries #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bibliophile #bookcommunity #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #readersofinstagram #pinterestinspiration #shadowandbone
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite a ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite authors 😁  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I love Erin Morgenstern (The Night Circus is my favourite!). I also really like Philip Pullman and Carlos Ruiz Zafon (and of course Cassie Claire!) ✨  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #pinterestinspiration #authorsofinstagram #favouriteauthor
ππŽπ“πƒ- do you like romance in books?? ππŽπ“πƒ- do you like romance in books??  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I really do!! My favourite genre is fantasy but I always love if there’s some romance in there as well 😁  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #favouritebooks #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #romance #romancebooks #romancereadersofinstagram #fantasyromance #yaromance #pinterestinspiration
ππŽπ“πƒ- are you going to be reading ACOS ππŽπ“πƒ- are you going to be reading ACOSF? And did you enjoy the ACOTAR series! * I know this isn’t ACOTAR but I don’t have the books with me! At least it’s still fantasy πŸ˜‚  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I love the ACOTAR series (I prefer it to ToG, although I do love ToG too!!). I can’t wait to read ACOSF!  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #beigeaesthetic #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #acotar #pinterestinspiration #acourtofthornsandroses
ππŽπ“πƒ- do you have a favourite fantasy ππŽπ“πƒ- do you have a favourite fantasy book/ series?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- as you all know, I adore The Night Circus! I also love Caraval (and how beautiful is this Jack’s bookmark from @bookbookowl ??)  ✨ @bookbookowl rep- The February book book owl mail box is going on sale tomorrow- 15th February.  This month’s theme is Bitter Attraction (enemies to lovers, forbidden romance 😍) and some of the books included will be Red, White and Royal Blue, The Shadows Between Us and Beauty and the Beast. You can use my code WANDERING15!  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #winterreads #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #bookbookowl #bookbookowlbookmarks
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me your perfect cosy day ✨  π€πŽπ“πƒ- mine includes a good book (Shadow and Bone will do it πŸ™Œ), a cosy cup of something warm and a fluffy blanket ☺️  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #cosyaesthetic #cosypost #cozyposts #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #coffee_time #coffeeandbooks #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments
ππŽπ“πƒ- what are your plans for the week ππŽπ“πƒ- what are your plans for the weekend?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I have a week off now!! Which I really need because school has left me so frazzled.  But I’m currently in the middle of about 6 books so I’m hoping to finish them off and hopefully just relax 😁  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #cutephoto #simplemoments
ππŽπ“πƒ- have you read Shadow + Bone or S ππŽπ“πƒ- have you read Shadow + Bone or Six of Crows? And are you excited for it coming to Netflix?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- as you may know if you’ve been watching my stories, I’m currently reading Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone #2) and really enjoying the series! I can’t wait to read Six of Crows 😁  ✨ thank you so much if you dropped in for my live today! It was so much fun and I can’t wait to run another one! ✨  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #sixofcrows #shadowandbone #grishaverse #leighbardugo #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #rusticpages
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me a popular book that you ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me a popular book that you just didn’t get along with ⬇️  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I didn’t love the Nevernight series πŸ€” I know loads of people did but it just wasn’t really to my taste- should I continue the series??  #aestheticpost #amreading #nevernight #nevernightseries #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments  #pinterestinspiration
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Writing · June 27, 2020

10 Tips to Win NaNoWriMo

It’s coming up to November, and for writers, that only means one thing- NaNoWriMo! But how does it work? And more importantly, how do you win (and smash those writing goals!)?

A recap of NaNoWriMo…

What is it?– NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place in November. If you aren’t familiar, NaNoWriMo is an organization that pushes writers to write 50,000 words in the month of November, with the help of pep talks from famous authors, live sprints and daily motivation.

And the big question, how do you win?

Build in consistency

Of course, this one had to be number 1 because it is the hardest and most annoying, but also the most important. If you want to hit 50,000 words (or whatever target you have set for yourself), you need to write. Every. Single. Day. Well maybe not every day, but as many as you can (its ok, its only for one month ?. But how can you become consistent?

  • Choose a time and place to write and stick to them– I like to write at the top of my garden, and so when I go there, my brain knows its writing time. Even if you write for just 10 minutes a day, make sure those same 10 minutes are spent writing EACH day.
  • And whilst we’re at that… make sure where you write is organised and uncluttered– I don’t know about you but I honestly cant concentrate on anything if I’m surrounded by mess. Ok, that’s a slight lie– my room usually ends up covered in papers when I’m writing there- BUT, its so much easier to concentrate on just writing if your notes, stationary, is tidy.
  • Have a clear writing routine– as well as time and place, what other parts are their to your writing routine? Maybe you have a particular playlist. Maybe you read a writing pep talk first, or watch some on youtube (I have a whole playlist just for writing tips and pep talks). Maybe you drink tea, water, coffee whilst writing. Whatever it is, it helps your brain to know that when you have those things, it’s time to write, and this means you can get started much more easily.
Make a plan

This doesn’t work for everyone, but I’m an obsessive plotter– honestly, I would not be able to write 50,000 in a month without my strict, 10-page outline and in-depth character descriptions. Whether you plot this extensively or not, it helps a lot to have some sort of out-line, even if that’s just a few words summing up each scene.

This can also be a major help to avoid writer’s block (it’s impossible for me to not know what to write when I have such a long plan ?).

Practise sprinting

NaNoWriMo is that it is designed as a (pretty strong) push for writers to get words on the page; the focus is placed almost entirely on quantity rather than quality. If you’re going for 50,000 words, that is roughly 1667 a day.

This means you have to get really good at writing really fast! The best way to do that is… practise sprinting. Sprinting just means writing as many words as you can for a particular scene in a certain amount of time (usually five or ten minutes).

NaNoWriMo ran Youtube, Instagram and twitter live writing sprints- these entailed writing as much as you can (often with prompts, given by the organisor) in five or ten minutes. Trust me, if you’ve never tried sprinting a scene (even if you aren’t actually going to include it), it can be so useful– not only to get into the heads of my characters, but to have a lot of fun and engage with the community (who are all sprinting at the same time if you take part in a live sprint session).

And if you really want to improve your sprinting, the key is…

Turn off the inner-editor

I was going to include this in number 3, but I think it definitely deserves its own point. When it comes to sprinting, you cannot afford to reread or question your writing– get the words on the page and worry about how good they are later. If you need to, dim the screen, or change the word colour to white so that you physically can’t edit your work.

This is also a general rule for all of NaNoWriMo; no matter how much you might think your work sucks, don’t look back. Don’t reread, redraft, replan until you have reached your goal. This was actually something I found really freeing when I took part- giving yourself complete free reign to be rubbish. You can always rewrite the whole thing next month ?.

Engage with the community

A lot of people don’t realise how important this is– writing can be extremely lonely and NaNoWriMo provides the perfect opportunity to connect with writers in writing groups and to make β€˜Writing Buddies’. Whether or not you reach your goal, finding friends who are writers is invaluable and comes in very handy (not to mention, they’re just super fun).

As well as this, you can engage directly by joining Instagram or Youtube lives or by following the daily creative prompts sent out by NaNoWriMo.

Make the time

I understand as well as anyone how busy life always manages to be, but truly, the only way to find the time to write is to make it. You’ve already passed the first hurdle of signing up, you’ve made the commitment and now you have to stick to it.

That might mean carving out one hour each morning to write, or even just joining each Youtube or Instagram live sprints and using that time to write as much as possible. It doesn’t matter how much, just take out a little time each day where all you have to think about is writing.

Write efficiently

This comes down to:

1. Writing quickly (the only way to do this is PRACTISE)

2. Writing whatever you like– seriously, just work on any scene you like; it doesn’t matter if it isn’t at the point in your story that you’re at. If it’s later, you can always go back and edit it to fit your characters, and it could maybe even give you some insight into where they’re heading.

3. Cut out the distractions– whilst you’re writing, use that time to do just that- and nothing else. Switch off your phone (trust me, this is something I find really hard), turn off notifications and focus just on your work.

Have fun and experiment

Make sure you don’t lose sight of the reason you write! For fun, because it’s your passion and you love it! Writing to a deadline can be stressful, but remember, if you reach 50,000 words but hated every single one, it wasn’t worth it (but none of the words have to be perfect either ?). Experiment! Find your style! Write terrible passages and golden ones and horrifically mediocre ones! Use the month to have fun with your writing and to enjoy your story.

Take breaks

Inevitably, there will be days when you don’t want to write. Instead of letting them spring up on you (and potentially turn into weeks), plan in breaks. I am constantly trying to work on this but if you plan in the days you won’t write, you can plan FOR them by writing more on the days when you have more motivations.

Reward yourself

This is where cake comes in ?. Honestly though, 50,000 words (or whatever your goal is) in a month is a massive achievement and deserves rewards. Make sure you also plan them in along the way as pick-me-ups for when writing feels harder.

And that’s it! Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? Do you plan to? Let me know if you found this useful in the comments, or by contacting me on any of my social medias.

In: Writing · Tagged: camp nanowrimo, nanowrimo, nanowrimo writer, nanowrimoprep, nanowrimosprints, national novel writing month, Writing, writing advice, writing consistently, writing routine

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Comments

  1. gmglobalacademy says

    June 28, 2020 at 7:42 am

    Thanks for your valuable suggestions please. I would like to follow if possible.

  2. Millie says

    June 28, 2020 at 11:39 am

    Ah no problem! You can easily follow my blog by signing up by email or clicking the follow button πŸ™‚

  3. universewithinpages says

    June 30, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    I love these tips! Lovely post

  4. Millie says

    June 30, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    Thank you! That’s so kind of you πŸ™‚ I’m super excited to officially start Camp again tomorrow!

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Hi! I'm Millie, an avid reader, blogger and bookstagrammer from the UK. You can usually find me buried in a book or stressing about my recent writing project. Here on the blog, I also share tips and strategies on posting, taking pics and engaging on bookstagram and building a book blog

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ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite s ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite series!!  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I’m currently reading the Shadow and Bone series (on book #3) and I’m really enjoying it!!  I also love ACOTAR (but I still haven’t read the new one πŸ™ˆ), Noughts and Crosses, ToG and Caraval! πŸ’•  And speaking of Caraval, this gorgeous bookmark from @bookbookowl is probably my absolute favourite out of my collection! Isn’t that quote just so perfect?? You can use my code WANDERING15 on the whole range of bookmarks!!  #aestheticpost #amreading #bookbookowl #bookseries #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bibliophile #bookcommunity #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #readersofinstagram #pinterestinspiration #shadowandbone
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite a ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me some of your favourite authors 😁  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I love Erin Morgenstern (The Night Circus is my favourite!). I also really like Philip Pullman and Carlos Ruiz Zafon (and of course Cassie Claire!) ✨  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #pinterestinspiration #authorsofinstagram #favouriteauthor
ππŽπ“πƒ- do you like romance in books?? ππŽπ“πƒ- do you like romance in books??  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I really do!! My favourite genre is fantasy but I always love if there’s some romance in there as well 😁  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #favouritebooks #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #romance #romancebooks #romancereadersofinstagram #fantasyromance #yaromance #pinterestinspiration
ππŽπ“πƒ- are you going to be reading ACOS ππŽπ“πƒ- are you going to be reading ACOSF? And did you enjoy the ACOTAR series! * I know this isn’t ACOTAR but I don’t have the books with me! At least it’s still fantasy πŸ˜‚  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I love the ACOTAR series (I prefer it to ToG, although I do love ToG too!!). I can’t wait to read ACOSF!  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #beigeaesthetic #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #acotar #pinterestinspiration #acourtofthornsandroses
ππŽπ“πƒ- do you have a favourite fantasy ππŽπ“πƒ- do you have a favourite fantasy book/ series?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- as you all know, I adore The Night Circus! I also love Caraval (and how beautiful is this Jack’s bookmark from @bookbookowl ??)  ✨ @bookbookowl rep- The February book book owl mail box is going on sale tomorrow- 15th February.  This month’s theme is Bitter Attraction (enemies to lovers, forbidden romance 😍) and some of the books included will be Red, White and Royal Blue, The Shadows Between Us and Beauty and the Beast. You can use my code WANDERING15!  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #winterreads #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #bookbookowl #bookbookowlbookmarks
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me your perfect cosy day ✨  π€πŽπ“πƒ- mine includes a good book (Shadow and Bone will do it πŸ™Œ), a cosy cup of something warm and a fluffy blanket ☺️  #aestheticpost #amreading #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #cosyaesthetic #cosypost #cozyposts #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #coffee_time #coffeeandbooks #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments
ππŽπ“πƒ- what are your plans for the week ππŽπ“πƒ- what are your plans for the weekend?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I have a week off now!! Which I really need because school has left me so frazzled.  But I’m currently in the middle of about 6 books so I’m hoping to finish them off and hopefully just relax 😁  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #cutephoto #simplemoments
ππŽπ“πƒ- have you read Shadow + Bone or S ππŽπ“πƒ- have you read Shadow + Bone or Six of Crows? And are you excited for it coming to Netflix?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- as you may know if you’ve been watching my stories, I’m currently reading Siege and Storm (Shadow and Bone #2) and really enjoying the series! I can’t wait to read Six of Crows 😁  ✨ thank you so much if you dropped in for my live today! It was so much fun and I can’t wait to run another one! ✨  #aestheticpost #amreading #aquietmoment #sixofcrows #shadowandbone #grishaverse #leighbardugo #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookblogger #bookfeature #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments #rusticpages
ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me a popular book that you ππŽπ“πƒ- tell me a popular book that you just didn’t get along with ⬇️  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I didn’t love the Nevernight series πŸ€” I know loads of people did but it just wasn’t really to my taste- should I continue the series??  #aestheticpost #amreading #nevernight #nevernightseries #alwayscozyforeverbooks #averybookishpost #becauseofreading #bookgram #bibliophile #bookaddict #bookaholic #bookcommunity #bookfeature #bookflatlay #bookishlove #bookphotography #booktography #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramuk #cozyvibes #favouritebooks #hyggebookstyle #ofsimplethings #neutraltones #readersofinstagram #simplemoments  #pinterestinspiration
ππŽπ“πƒ- which was your last read? And di ππŽπ“πƒ- which was your last read? And did you enjoy it?  π€πŽπ“πƒ- I finished the Bear and the Nightingale a few days ago, and it was a weird one guys!!  I was really struggling to get through the first chunk of it (I felt like I wasn’t really in the story πŸ€”) but for the last 100 pages I was SO into it. Has anyone felt the same about this one?  #thebearandthenightingale #currentread
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