I’ve been thinking about what I really need to do to be prepared for NaNoWriMo and I had just put down to the act of writing but (Mighty) Mur Lafferty is doing a daily NaNoWriMo podcast and has started off with a few podcasts about being prepared and it got me thinking about what I should be doing to be properly prepared for this years NaNoWriMo.

Here’s Mur Lafferty’s website where you can find all things Mur. http://murverse.com/  If you are not already listening to Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing podcast then I’d strongly recommend checking it out.

The first thing that came to mind is lunch. I do write during my lunch breaks during NaNo and I loose ten minutes getting something to eat or microwaving something so this year I’m going to try to do my lunch, i.e. a sandwich, of an evening in that time between getting home and having dinner and a bath (or shower) and cranking the words out.

I need to make sure that my desk is not cluttered up with all the crap that I seem to have migrating across it most of the time. I’m not the most tidy person, which I put down to a lack of space. I will have my own study one day 😀 but until then I need to make sure I keep that little corner clutter free. I also need to keep  my desk chair clear. I have a habit of throwing whatever might not have a home or ironing that is waiting to be put away on my desk chair. So quite often I get home, look at said chair and simply cannot be bothered to clear all the items from it so I can sit down and write. So it needs to be kept clear.

Each year that I have done NaNoWriMo I have ended up going away for a weekend during it. The first year was a disaster on a personal level so no writing got done once myself and my now ex-girlfriend got to where we were going. Last year was a much more enjoyable weekend with Tracie’s sister and her partner for her sisters birthday, but I did not take my laptop. This year we’re off to celebrate Tracie’s sisters birthday again but I’m taking the laptop this time and I’ll be hoping to squeeze in a quiet hour or two of writing during the long weekend.

Thankfully once I get home of an evening I can pretty much get cracking without any real items that need attention. Any little chores around the house that I have to do are done either in the morning or can be done once I’ve finished writing for the night. I do have to be sensible and think about my day job and not write into the wee hours of the morning but there is no reason why I cannot knock out the minimum daily target during the evening. As I said I write during lunch too so I’ll be able to get about a third of the daily goal done then.

At weekends I probably will not be as focused as I am aiming to be of a week night but I’ll have to wait and see. I may be able to get a good couple of hours done on a Saturday as I haven’t been doing much lately on Saturdays due to various reasons, although the first Saturday of the month I’ve got a night out with some close friends from my school days.

Sundays are for me and Tracie. We don’t get much time together, for reasons I’m not going into here, so on Sundays we make the most of our time together. So any writing done on a Sunday will be a bonus.

There are, no doubt, a fair few more little bits and pieces that I need to do in preparation for this years NaNoWriMo but I’ll add them into posts that I’ll be doing in these final days before NaNo starts.

If any one has any tips to share please spread the knowledge 🙂