(This NaNoWriMo, don’t let anything get in your way . . . including fear)
It’s that time of year again . . . the one many fear. Danger lurks around every corner, monsters seem to be all around us, and the sense of anxiety, dread, and sheer terror are palpable.
What’s that? Don’t be ridiculous–Halloween was yesterday. I’m talking about NaNoWriMo.
Why NaNoWriMo can look so scary
I’ll skip over the part where I explain that NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, during which writers are challenged to complete a novel of at least 50K words in thirty days. You probably already know that bit. So I’ll just go straight to where I say, no matter how excited you are to begin this adventure, it can also inspire a certain amount of apprehension–especially if it’s your first time.
Fortunately, I have a solution writers can apply in order to ace NaNoWriMo.
My fail-safe solution for NaNoWriMo
I’ll be the first to admit I suffer terrible anxiety at the thought of attacking a huge, hairy-scary problem, let alone completing an entire novel in a month. Sometimes, I even have trouble proceeding step by step. I can’t understand all those people who tell you to “buckle down” or “just do it!” I can’t hit a problem head-on. It freaks me out.
But I can do it sideways.
Let me ‘splain. “Coming in sideways” is where I convince myself that a “problem” (like NaNoWriMo) is no big deal. I’ll just inch forward. I will not take measurable steps towards a certain goal. That is still attacking the problem head on. Which, if you recall from a paragraph ago, gives me hives.
It is also not the Way of Sides. Sideways glances at the problem. It doesn’t even acknowledge the problem. It just says “I’m going to move a little closer to this, er, interesting phenomenon over there. Maybe, if I’m vewy vewy quiet, it won’t notice I’m here.”
Applying Sideways Thinking to NaNoWriMo
When I had ten thousand online articles and books to read about self-publishing, all I wanted to do was go back to bed–and I hadn’t even gotten up yet. But when I said to myself, “I’ll just read this one article because it looks interesting. That’s all. I am not attacking the problem I’m pretending does not exist.”
Well, you can probably guess what happened next. One article became two. Two became three. I gained traction, and somewhere along the line, three became ten thousand, or however many there were. Sometimes, I had to drag myself off to bed at night because I didn’t want to stop reading! I wrote my first few books in much the same way.
When doing something like NaNoWriMo, Sideways Thinking like this comes in very handy. First, I just pull up my project on the computer. I ignore it for a while and do something else. Then, when I’m taking a break, I’ll peek at it. I’ll make some notes or adjustments, maybe write a paragraph or two. Maybe it gets me thinking, and I write a page.
If things get rough, I do not admit they are rough. I ignore the project until my next break. I continue like this until I gain enough momentum till I write several pages at a time. Then, I continue even further until I forget I’m writing pages at all, and get completely lost in the story. I do not even admit to myself that I am writing a novel at this point! If things get rough again, rinse and repeat the steps above.
Coming in sideways helps NaNoWriMo writers succeed
I don’t know about you, but when I get involved in a task, achieving that ever-desirable “flow” state, mountains become mole hills. Then I step over those mole hills and look for more mountains to climb.
But I can’t do anything unless I am already in the flow. And sometimes, when you are too scared to jump in that raging river, you must fool yourself by thinking “I’ll only dip my toes in.”
Sideways. 
What keeps you going through NaNoWriMo?
How do you deal with NaNoWriMo fears? (and remember that “flaking out of NaNoWriMo” is not an acceptable answer). Tell me in the comments!
(Top image by FindYourSearch)