Mistakes writers make during national novel writing month

[@amaliaborges3638]

You helped me realize why I struggle with consistency sometimes. I always end my sessions at the end of chapters! It does make it harder to start the next session.

[@writingamongtrees]

You'll have to let me know if your writing sessions become easier making that small change!

[@TheEccentricRaven]

It helped me recently to write ahead. I made my minimum goal be 2,000 words a day. It assures me if I get busy later, I won't need to be as worried about getting behind. On one day, I stopped where I was most excited. It ended up being better than I thought. At my next writing session the next day, I wrote tons because I was so excited to write the scene I looked the most forward to. It also helps that I'm passionate. I think the worst mistake writers make in NaNoWriMo is joining when they aren't passionate about writing their story. Writing is so hard, you need to have the passion or else it might be too much for you.

[@writingamongtrees]

Finding that passion is crucial! I spent my first couple of times spinning my wheels trying to learn how to write, I don't think I truly enjoyed my story as much as I could have. Now it's just an excuse to have fun and spend the month writing. I'm thrilled to hear you stopped writing when you were excited and picked it up the next day. And you're writing ahead! Great job!

[@Rebecaelisie]

Great tips! And your dog is so cute!

[@writingamongtrees]

Glad you liked them! Meeshka is one of three of my dogs. They like 'helping' and being a part of the video. I'm sure they'll be making many more appearances!

[@swordqueengames1847]

Love your energy, and these were all super helpful!

[@writingamongtrees]

Thank you! I'm happy you found the tips helpful. :)

[@madametrafficjam8347]

I think the biggest mistake is to get too hung up on the wordcount. The wordcount isn’t the point, it's just a measure. And second, to judge other people's methods and define yourself and others too rigidly into planner vs pantser. It leads nowhere. Third, thinking that writing will only happen during nanowrimo or camp. The point is the habit. Maybe they won't write 1666 words each day in December, but thinking that writing stops on November 30th is a bad idea.

[@writingamongtrees]

Building that writing habit is so important. I agree that the word count is just a good measure, and if you can come away with anything from NaNoWriMo, it's a new dedicated writing habit. My earlier years I was relieved to stop writing in December and take a break, but nowadays November and NaNo brings me a lot of energy. It's helped me to restarted my own writing. :)

[@fabiele1508]

Thank you very much for the tips, I really enjoyed your video :)

[@writingamongtrees]

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the video!

[@Sue-pn7mq]

Thinking the reward is feeling good about reaching the 50k, instead of the manuscript itself.

[@writingamongtrees]

Yes, you're correct! Writing that many words is a huge accomplishment, not matter how much polishing your manuscript needs.

[@aaaah540]

I don’t get it. If you write 100-200 words a day for 30 days, you’ll only have 3,000-6,000 words, which is nowhere near 50,000. Did you mean to recommend 1,000-2,000 words a day?

[@writingamongtrees]

I'm sorry that wasn't clear! I was trying to say to write an additional 100-200 words a day on top of the normal 1,667 daily word count. So aim for 1,800-1,900. I personally try to get to 2,000 words a day to give myself a good headstart.