Somehow I hit the jackpot this weekend. My dear friend, who is really as close to another sister as you can get, had me and four other women up to her family’s cabin in Western Wisconsin (a beautiful and under-appreciated part of the Northland) for the weekend. And just for the record, the stock photo to the right may be Vermont but it could have been taken in Western Wisconsin!

It was a highly caffeinated, chocolate-y event.

People worked on scrapbooks, knitting and other craft projects, and I typed. I will admit I was less social than I would be normally, since when I tried to work out in the communal area my friends were far too distracting with their witty banter and mind-bending political and theological analyses. I thought of using headphones to tune them out, but I didn’t want to be that person. Instead I took my computer and retreated within my retreat to a bedroom.

There was a writing desk, a window with a view of the lake, a red afghan and more pillows on one bed than my house has in all the rooms put together.

It was lovely.

For the next day and a half I wrote, listened to music, drank coffee and ingested the equivalent of two pounds of sugar. My friend claimed one night that she was pregnant with cheese. I laughed until I cried (it may have been the late hour but I still giggle when I think of her comment).

I made great progress over the weekend and tried to work ahead so that if I don’t make my budgeted number of words on a future day (Gasp! Fie fie! Get thee behind me!) I should still be on target for the 50,000 word goal.

The thing I’m trying to be mindful of is that if I’m in a good flow, I should type until my fingers can type no more. And if it isn’t flowing, I jump to a part that sparks my interest. Later, I return to the trouble spot. Who knows? Maybe I will need to tweak it to fit with something that comes later.

The other thing I like to do is leave myself a note or a memory jogger/prompt so I’ll know where I intended to take a scene. In addition, it often helps me to stop writing when I do have a clear idea of where I’m going (rather than giving up in the midst of a trouble spot), so that I am able to pick right up when I begin again the next time.

I really believe that if you try to do these things, you will have an easier time making it to your 50,000 word goal. Also, I think that if I ever do NanoWriMo again in the future (and this is a rookie speaking here, so take it with a grain of salt) a great way to jump start the endeavor is to spend a couple intense days to lay a solid foundation. Get away if you can, get a babysitter for a nice chunk of time, take a vacation day or anything that will allow you to get the thing going, I highly recommend it!

How do you work towards your writing goal? Do you do your best writing in the morning or evening? What rituals do you use to indicate to yourself that it is now time to write? I’d love to incorporate anything that works for you and utilize it in my own routine and approach, so don’t be bashful – let’s hear it!