Happy week 3 of NaNoWriMo, and also, happy Monday!
While I am not doing NaNoWriMo traditionally this year, I am still making sure I get a lot of writing done, and in order to do that you have to do one thing…and that is turning off your inner editor.
NaNoWriMo is about writing a LOT of words in a short span of time, and in order to do that, you can’t be editing every word you write right after you write it. This can be really hard though because sometimes we can’t handle our writing being crap…which during NaNoWriMo it usually is if we are being honest. However, it is possible to turn off that inner editor and get those words down, and here are a few tips to do that!
1. Use Timed Writing Sprints – This is something that helps me because if I have a timer for 30 minutes, I know that I have to use that time to write and that there is not enough time in that sprint to also edit as well. I still don’t recommend editing AFTER the sprint either, personally, I would wait until after NaNoWriMo or until after I finished that project’s draft…but it’s better to do it after than during. Use that designated timed writing sprint to just write and worry about editing later.
2. Remind Yourself of This Quote by Anne Enright “Only Bad Writers Think Their Work Is Really Good” – Okay, this is true to a point because I still think you are valid to be proud of your work and think it is good (eventually, usually after lots of edits), and thinking that doesn’t make you a bad writer. Buuuuut if you think your first draft or even second draft is really good…your ego is going to suffer a lot in the writing world. Get used to the idea that it takes time to get your writing to a good place, and recognizing that it’s bad is actually good!
3. Reward Yourself for NOT Editing – At the end of each day, reward yourself if you held back and didn’t edit, and punish yourself if you did. Maybe you got through the whole day without editing any of the words you wrote, so you take yourself out for a coffee. However, if you did edit, maybe you can’t watch Netflix for a day. I recommend making the rewards and punishments kind of extreme, to a point, of course, but by doing this it will make you not want to edit your work even more…which is good.
4. Turn Off Any Online Editing Apps – I have Grammarly on my computer and LOVE it by the way, but seeing something underlined in red makes me want to go back and fix it. Sometimes I do, and it’s harmless when it’s only like one word but it can lead to a whole editing frenzy. We don’t want that so for whatever you are writing your project on, turn off any editing apps (you can leave on spellcheck if you want, but turning it off might help if you are someone who really can’t help but edit their work immediately) and just write.
Those are four tips for turning off your inner editor and making sure NaNoWriMo STAYS NaNoWriMo and not NaNoEdiMo…get it? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and found it helpful and make sure to let me know how your NaNoWriMo is going if you’re participating! Also, don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts linked below. Thanks 🙂
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