Preptober is in full swing, and I know what you’re thinking: There’s no way I can do NaNoWriMo. I can hardly keep our household moving in a normal month, and you want me to write 50,000 words right after Halloween and during Thanksgiving?
I get it. 50,000 words is a lot. Writing 1,667 words a day can feel unachievable. I just outlined my own November, and I need to binge write much more often than simply keep up with the average daily word count. Yet, for reasons having mostly to do with my strategies for working at home with kids, I believe I can do it.
I found tons of useful blog posts and videos on “winning” NaNoWriMo while researching for this article. Some do mention a family, but only Heather Mattern devoted a page in her NaNo journal for how to write a novel with kids. Lizella Prescott offers up a great foundation for attacking NaNoWriMo as a parent and Frankie Thompson aligns with my theory that the more you involve your child, the more time they will happily give you to be creative.
Still, it is very hard to prioritize your own personal writing joys and struggles when there are small humans to nurture. See if some of these tips work for you, and let’s hit that 50K together.
Your Prep
1. Overplan, but don’t overdo it.
You know you will get off track. Thanksgiving as a parent is not a holiday weekend so much as more work for you, so overplan, but simply.
What do I mean by that?
Watch the prep videos for inspiration, but don’t try to do everything. When you’re a parent, the simpler and clearer your prep pages, the better. I viewed this entire playlist (planning videos are my zen time, what can I say?) and took note of what might work for me. If you’re having trouble deciding which prep pages to include, just ask yourself where you find challenges, and how can you help yourself move past them.
For instance, I stink at meal prep, so that is a whole page in my NaNo journal. I take Neil Gaiman’s advice and keep a “compost” page, where I add thoughts on the project that might not make sense at the moment, but could fester and grow into better ideas with time. My project is a nonfiction workbook, so I don’t have a lot of the novel-centric pages. Those are easy to find, especially through Writer’s Atelier.
2. Find a calendar and add visual goals.
You know those fundraisers that show you how much money has been raised in what looks like a laboratory tube? Get a big poster board. Make one of those. Have your kids decorate it and suggest reward tiers. In my first NaNo blog, I suggest that you set a timer and immediately cuddle or play with your kids after it goes off. This can lead to a great ritual!
The timer goes off, you celebrate w/ your kids by coloring your progress into the tube every day. They helped you toward your goal, too!
3. Be a NaNo Rebel
A NaNo Rebel is anyone who isn’t writing a novel but using the time to work on another project. This can be revising a novel, which is what I’ve done the past few years, or writing a short story every day, or a picture book.
Any way to get to that 50,000 words goal is fair game for NaNo, and don’t let anyone tell you differently!
4. Be consistent and write every day.
Arggggh. So hard. When people suggest a consistent time to write during NaNoWriMo, they mean that you need to sit down at your desk or favorite coffee shop at the exact same time every single day so you don’t get to bedtime and just put off your word count until tomorrow.
Which you know never happens when you’re a parent.
Before my kids were in school, I couldn’t have an exact time every day. However, I knew that naptime was my golden hour, whatever time that might be. Sometimes it was in the car, sometimes at home, and that is when Google Drive is my savior. No matter where I am, I can write. I will add it into the manuscript at a later time but meanwhile, those thoughts can weave out of my head and into an auto-saved document.
As always, I block off days that I just KNOW my energy will be sucked away by the little gorgeous vampires called my kids. Then I can see where I need to overcompensate on my word count.
Just understand know that your meaning of “consistent writing time every day” will be different than someone without kids. Don’t let that deter you. It may not be 5-7 AM, because you need every single second of sleep until it’s time to shove them into clothes and out the door to school. It may be at an indoor playground where you can jot down ideas while they play within your sights. Your writing time could be while they watch Daniel Tiger.
There is no shame in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.
Your idea of consistency could be by the sink while the kids take a bath. Add bubbles or let them take some toys into their bath to give yourself extra time.
You can find the time you need if you attach a consistent time with a consistent activity.
5. Make a vision board.
I hadn’t done a vision board since my theatre directing days, but there’s a reason they are so popular. They should evoke a mood. You should get lost staring at them, understanding exactly how you want your readers to feel when they read your writing. Even with nonfiction, there is a journey through the chapters.
There are many more amazing looks at how to create a vision board for a novel. I highly suggest printing the images from your Pinterest Board or “Images” file folder to give yourself a physical vision board to carry with you, to reference when you need a jolt from poopy diapers to a fantasy world of your own creation. Don’t let your vision only live on a webpage, or you’re more likely to get distracted than focused.
Your Process
1. Take time away to catch up.
You need it. Author Valerie Willis keeps herself accountable to her weekend time by posting an image whenever she gets away. If you aren’t going to fall behind, if you need to stock up on words before Thanksgiving, secure one day per week that you leave the house at an appointed time. Be clear with your partner or sitter that this time includes 30 minutes to shower, get dressed, and then leave the house.
This is your job. It is also your treat to yourself. Four or five days over one month will help you more than you know.
2. Have a “Shiny!” collection.
This is where you keep all those big and beautiful ideas that you must outline in detail right now or they’ll leak out of your head, never to be seen again. That’s what you say, anyway. Nothing is a better procrastinator than a new idea. Dump it onto this page and get back to your word count.
3. Write your next thought down before you get interrupted.
I have to do this for all my work, not just NaNoWriMo. When those beautiful ravenous monsters need Cheerios right now or the world will end, they can wait just a half second as you type the beginning of the next sentence in your head. Otherwise you will lose so much momentum. Even if you were just staring into space to think of a coherent sentence, jot down your random thoughts. You can return to your desk later, apocalyptic starvation averted, and understand what your mind was trying to sort through.
4. Give your kids their own related projects.
These include coloring pages, activities, problems in your project to solve, or have them make their own book. I’ll print out maps of my worldbuilding and send them on a treasure hunt or fold some paper in half and ask them to illustrate their own story. When I’m at a break, they can dictate their book to me and voila! Your kids understand the gratification of finishing a project. Theirs might be closer to fifty words, but that’s still an accomplishment! You can download activities I use specific to NaNoWriMo here.
Your Persistence
1. Take field trips to remind them of your goal.
When you all need motivation and time out of the house, use it to reinforce your writing dreams. Visit Storytime at the Library and show the books that inspired you. Take them to a book signing and explain how cool it is to meet a favorite author in person, and why you want to be that author. Many larger bookstores have a children’s play area or café; bring your kids there for a word count reward, then set them to the alphabetical task of finding where your books would live on the shelves. It won’t just help them; you will get yourself more motivated too!
2. Four eyes are better than two.
Find a fellow NaNo parent buddy and set up a tag teaming time. I’ve seen parents do this at the playground so they can exercise, and it’s a great way to combine an accountability buddy with a babysitter. Indoor playgrounds work for this, too. One parent is on supervising duty while the other can run off to a café or finish up their word count in a corner.
The most important thing to remember is that your kids want you to succeed.
They want you to be happy, and if you can explain why writing makes you a happier, better parent, they will understand the time you need, even if it is away from them.See more tips and downloadables to help usher your children through NaNoWriMo here.
Cindy Marie Jenkins is currently a write-at-home mom in Beijing for cool reasons that require multiple NDAs to explain. Cindy chronicles her life as a trailing spouse and work-at-home parent on her blog and Instagram. Her short story “The Keys in Her Lock” was published in Battle Goddess Productions’ anthology Demonic Household: See Owner’s Manual, and two more stories are slated to publish in Spring 2019. Her editorials and articles have been published at The Mary Sue, Theatre Communications Guild, The Clyde Fitch Report, The Mom Forum, No Proscenium, Dwarf+Giant (a blog of The Last Bookstore), Better Lemons, Theatre @ Boston Court, and more. You can find her at her website and on Facebook and Twitter.
