October 18 2018

Finding Time to Write NaNoWriMo

As October draws to a close and November approaches I find myself thinking about how I will fit in the time it takes to write every day. There are several things I can do during October to lessen the demands on my time next month. While I am planning to use these to find the time to write 50,000 words in the 30 days of November for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), these ideas could work for anyone at any time of the year for any reason you might be looking to find more time in your schedule to do the things you need or want to do. So here is what I can do to save as much time as possible.

Stock the Pantry

This sounds so simple, but if we stock up on the basics and make sure we have what we need to make meals and snacks, this will save us from unscheduled trips to the grocery. I also highly recommend that you make sure you have enough toilet paper, paper towels, laundry detergent, paper plates or whatever it takes to keep things running smoothly without the need to do those pesky little tasks like washing dishes for the next four to six weeks. Obviously, I try to stock up when things are on sale anyway, but this might not be possible, so just this once, sale or not, I will be stocking up to get me through the month of November at the very least and preferably through the rest of the year…think hectic holidays.

Menu Planning

You might already plan your weekly meals, and if so, that is great. If you don’t, now is the time to get started on that new habit. Plan things that can be prepped now and frozen, then just thawed overnight and dumped in a crockpot in the morning before work to save time with dinner prep later. Consider adding bagged salads or salad kits to your meal plan once or twice a week. When life gets crazy-busy, this is not the time to eat junk food and cut back on fruits and veggies. These can actually be easy or no prep snack and meal options to fall back on. These are also super easy to throw in a lunch bag when heading out the door to work. Trust me, plan simple meals that take little time to cook or make extras and freeze meal-sized portions to be eaten next month. Maybe menu planning means partnering up with a friend and making a schedule where you trade off cooking and share the feast every other night or something. Get creative, but plan to nourish your body instead of punishing yourself with unhealthy alternatives.

Consider things like browning larger batches of ground beef or turkey all at once then drain and freeze it in bags of about 2 cups/1 pound so it is ready to make tacos, sloppy joes, spaghetti, Hamburger Helper or whatever you use it for. It thaws much faster when it is precooked than a block of raw meat and make dinner prep much faster because there is less cooking and cleaning time involved.

Grill a whole grill full of meat the next time you cookout and package the meat in individual serving sizes and freeze after it cools. We have pre-cooked burgers, brats, pork chops, chicken, and more. Having this food cooked and “banked” in the freezer means you can eat grilled meat with very little trouble all year long.

Clean all of your produce and bag it in snack-sized portions so it is easy to grab the healthy stuff and get back to writing. Anything you can do in larger batches and ahead of time will save you time later.

Clean the House

Yes, this means you. If your house is cleaned thoroughly this month then you can let it slide a little while you are busy next month. If possible just pick up after yourself regularly so it stays basically company-ready through November and you will be that much ahead of things for the holidays. We don’t want cleaning to be your procrastination activity of choice to avoid writing your novel. If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, try FlyLady.

Practice Your Craft

Practice writing or doing something to work on your novel every day, if possible, to get a jump start on the habit for next month. Don’t hesitate to count “writing adjacent” activities toward the daily habit. My friend Alicia introduced this phrase to me and it means doing anything from outlining, reading, watching movies in a comparable genre to the novel you are writing, research, etc. as long as it has something to do with writing. It might just be five minutes a day the first week, but the next week you can increase it to ten minutes a day. If you want to be a writer, you must make time to write. Make it a priority in your life and start building small pockets of time to do something toward your writing goal with any free bit of time you find even if it is only five minutes at a time. All those little pockets of time can really add up. Keep a notebook or index cards with you to jot a quick idea or note about something that you thought of that you want to add to your novel. You can do this while standing in line, instead of pickup up your phone and scrolling through your social media feeds, instead of binging on TV or NetFlix. You know what your time stealers are…you don’t have to give them all up, but switch a few to writing adjacent activities. Thanks, Alicia for sharing writing adjacent-ing with us!

You Need A Plan

Plan what you will write. That means you need to get to know your characters, your setting and at least your major plot points ahead of time. Do whatever you can ahead of time to make sure you know what you are writing and will be ready to jump in a start writing on November 1st. If you have a well-planned project, you will be less likely to struggle with writer’s block when the pressure is on.

Those are my suggestions for organizing your time, specifically so you can write your novel with me and all the other NaNo participants in November. If you are not a writer, you can still make use of these tips (most of them anyway) to get you through those super busy times in your life without compromising your mental or physical health while you do so.

If you have any other time management tips to share, please leave them in the comments below, use the contact form or send me a message via email. I am always looking for ways to save time or make more time for the million things I really want to do but never seem to have enough time for. If I get enough tips, I will compile them into a new post to share here.

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, please read more here. It is really a great way to meet other writers and get started on your story.