10 Ways To Stay Sane For National Novel Writing Month

NEW YORK, NY – JULY 09: (L-R) Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Ramos attend Lin-Manuel Miranda’s final performance of ‘Hamilton’ on Broadway at Richard Rodgers Theatre on July 9, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images)

Make Time For Your Writing

You don’t need to be Alexander Hamilton–or Lin-Manuel Miranda for that matter. I mean, you do need to write like you’re running out of time because you only have thirty days.

The key to National Novel Writing Month is to make time for you writing. I alluded to it in my last point, but again, any amount of words is better than zero.

Sure, we all hate to get up any earlier than we have to, but if you get up a half-hour early or stay up a half-hour later to write, it may help keep you on track. Squeeze an extra five hundred words out!

Use your lunch break to write rather than browse the internet or reading a book. Long commute into work on public transportation? Bring a notebook with you and write on the way. Write anywhere and everywhere at every available moment.

But also remember to pace yourself. Because you can burn out very quickly if you go too far with writing whenever you can. Unless you get far enough ahead in your word count to take a day off (or only write a few hundred words).

With any spare you minutes, ask yourself if you could jot down a couple of sentences.