Surviving Nanowrimo Without Caffeine

I'm not a coffee drinker. In fact, I don't do caffeine often. Last year however, when I read a Nanowrimo motivational essay, the first bulletpoint for success was:

DRINK LOTS OF COFFEE!

I laughed, but once I got in the thick of Nanowrimo madness, I realized that a caffiene rush could help propel my productivity. So, I began the tradition of starting each writing session with a mug of Stephens hot chocolate.

It was lovely.

I looked forward on those cold November mornings to my mug and keyboard. I can see how people get attached to such a calming moment with themselves. I finished my 50,000 words in just twenty two days of writing. It was incredible! 

Here is my proud first print of my novel! 
 

But this year, I don't have hot chocolate. I'm halfway through Nanowrimo, dreading every moment I sit down to my keyboard because I have no idea how to crush that many crappy words out of my brain. It is much, much harder without caffeine.

But I've learned a few things. Ways to dig deeper, and let go so I can accomplish my goals regardless of how hard the day is. First:


1. Take a moment to inspire yourself.

Meditation. Connecting with Nature. Praying. There are so many ways you can feed your soul. Writing is often a spiritual experience for me and I like to involve God in the process. I begin with a prayer, then spend a moment of mediation- not thinking about my book, but thinking about what I believe in. What matters to me. More often than not, those themes find a way into my writing and make it more genuine, complex and enjoyable.

2. Never hit delete.

I read somewhere that you can't create and critique at the same time. I love that sentiment. Critique allows for second guessing and backtracking, the two sure killers of momentum. Let your fingers run away with your keyboard. Let them spell out exactly what your mind is thinking, without worrying about sentence structure, consistancy, grammar, etc. You'll find that though you'll make mistakes, your words will be vibrant, raw, and impulsive. Your draft may be riddled with cliche's or plot holes, but those are things that can be fixed. Just finish the scene. You'll have an emotional guidepost to build onto till you have a perfect picture.

3. Don't expect a final draft.

Have you ever seen an animated film storyboard? The pictures drawn out are sloppy, often colorless, but when you pair them next to the finished product, they are unmistakably the same scene. The storyboard captures the emotion and direction the storytellers wanted to portray. When you are writing for nanowrimo, you are writing the storyboard. You are in no way completing a finished product. Don't stress yourself out by telling yourself that it is.

4. Get a support group.

I have an amazing, wonderful, lifesaving critique group called Writing Through Brambles that adopted me last year. They live two states away, but continue to let me skype in to meetings and read their work via Googledocs. All six of us are Wrimo's this year, and so for our most recent session, we did a skype write in. Most of our time was spent in silence, typing madly on our keyboards, but there was something about the sound of us all typing that made me feel so supported. Like I could actually follow through and do this! Every time I see their updates on facebook I am motivated and reminded that if I want to win, I should go get writing.

Now, time for me to get back to writing my novel. Cheers!

-Rachel