NaNoWriMo Pep Talk: the last half of the month

Today is the 16th of November, which means we're officially in the last half of NaNoWriMo, ladies and gentlemen.

I can hardly believe how quickly it's gone by. I hope you've all been able to get big word counts every day and that you've nearly reached your 50,000-word count goal for the month! If not, that's okay. Just keep writing! There's still lots of time to finish. And even if you don't hit 50,000 words by the end of the day on the 30th, you've got lots more writing now than you did on October 31st, so be happy!

I'm not going to lie--the last half of the month has always been the most difficult for me. Your motivation is likely waning, your story may not be as robust as you initially anticipated, and as Thanksgiving approaches, you may be finding less and less time to work on your NaNo novel.

There are things you can do to keep your story moving forward, unusual as they may be.

If you've written yourself into a corner, well...change the architecture. Make it a dream or something. I know, it may be a cheap escape, but that's what revision is for. November is about getting words on the page.

If you've run out of plot, add a character. Or a conflict. Or transport your entire cast to a new location. Crazy, I know. But crazy adventures call for crazy action.

Whatever else you do, just keep at it. Even if you only get a paragraph down in a day, it's a paragraph more than you had yesterday. And it's a paragraph closer to 50,000 words by the end of the month.

You can do this. I know you can. So close this browser window, open you NaNo novel, and keep writing.

Happy scribbling!