Next Book in Edits

 My next book to be released, Threshold to Midnight, is in editing. 

How I feel now: 

5 Ways Not to Lose Your Story Ideas

 I'm driving to the day job, watching the road, thinking about the other drivers and the landscape around me. 

SUDDENLY! 

I've got a story idea. It's rolling around in my brain. Building up. Getting legs and growing. Yeah, I like this story idea. I want to run with it. 

However, I'm driving. Not able to write anything down without crashing my car. Options? Pull over somewhere and put notes in my phone or scratch it out on one of the ten a gas receipts flowing around in my console. Do I do this? Naw, I'll remember and take notes when I arrive at work. 

I pull into work and there goes my brain. I'm not even out of the car yet and my mind is thinking about workie things. Did I write this brilliant story idea down? No. Do I remember it hours later? No.

5 Ways Not to Lose Your Story Ideas

1. Always carry a notebook. These are easily purchased in any store (Dollar Store, too!) to keep in your purse or your car. Make sure there's a pen or pencil with your notebook. 
2. Notes on the phone. I use this feature for a lot of stuff. From work passwords to reminders and grocery lists. It's a quick easy place to write it down if you have no pen or paper. 
3. Learn to use the voice recording feature on your phone. I think that comes with every phone on the market now. On the iphone it's called Voice Memo. I moved this to the top of my aps so I can easily click it when needed. --> At the red light and never while driving. :)
4. If  unable to get it down any other way think of key words. Like building anything online a key word will help trigger your brain into remembering. Don't use generic words like rain or road. Think of something more story specific. If the story is about a woman who meets a prince that turns our to be a serial killer use something like killer prince. Story about aliens landing in a backyard of a hippy. Use alien hippy. Whatever is more exact but short. 
5. Repeat your plot/idea out loud over and over. Then again and again. Repetition is one way to memorize things. Saying it out loud helps cement it into your memory. 

Be Prepared and save those ideas! 

5 Steps to Complete NANOWRIMO

 

The challenge; Complete 50,000 words in the month of November.  Don't worry it can be done without panic. 

First: Check out all the good stuff on the official NANOWRIMO website; https://nanowrimo.org/ They've got lots of inspiration and things to get you writing. 

Second: Plot your NANO attack. I don't mean plot your novel but you can if you're a plotter (not a pantser?) I mean plot your work time. Think of your life and where you can get uninterrupted time to write.  I once got up a half hour early to win NANO. That book is now up on Amazon: Soul Mates A Different Kind of Love Story At that time in my life I was in work by 8:30 am so I got up at 6:30 am and wrote for a half hour to an hour depending on how the story was moving. But it was getting up at that hour that gave me time to dedicate to my goals. 

So plot out your writing time. Make it a time when you can have some uninterrupted writing time. I chose morning before the family woke up but if you're more of a night owl go for it. What's your perfect time?

Third: Assemble your space. There's nothing worse than having to get up and clear dishes or toys off your table before getting to work. Truthfully, that has tanked my writing sessions more often than not. Got a desk? A table you can squeeze into a corner or any place you get on your laptop, tablet or however you write and be set to go when you sit down. Make it yours, make it comfortable and make it a place you want to go. 

Fourth: Get down the bones. Write your story. Get up & go to your special place and write. Decide if you're a plotter or a pantser. This is probably something you already know if you're been writing a while but the one thing to know is you don't have to be exactly one or the other. You can combine it. 

I get an idea and first write the blurb of the idea. You know that first inkling of a story that comes to you? Not the whole story but maybe a bit of the direction you're going. The blurb is kind of like that thing on the back of the book or in the book description that gives you a bit of the bones of the story. It doesn't have to be a lot just enough for you. If you like to plot then write down that outline. You don't have to follow it but if it gets you going, then great. If not, then change it as you go. The writing rules at this point are your rules. 

Fifth: Tell people. Join a NANOWRIMO group in your area. Find other writers either in person or online for encouragement and to help keep the NANO alive in your vision. Life gets busy and sometimes our goals fall to the sidelines when that happens. Connecting with others with the same goal can keep you on track. 

GO NANO! You've got this! 

Here....Comes....NANOWRIMO! Ready?

 
No, not ready and have no idea what story I'm going to tell. Could be anything at this point. 

Does NANO have to be fiction?  

    Why? The writer is in control so write what you want. Do you know how to calibrate antennas? Write a how to book. Love to cook and have a closet full of recipes? Write that cook book. (Don't forget the yummy photos) Got a life to tell us about? Write your memoir. Like making up stories and adventures? Write fiction. 

    I write fiction. So I'll think up some kind of murder, adventure or paranormal something. 

    I think it was the movie, The World According to Garp, where the man (Robin Williams 💔) sees a pair of gloves on the side walk and it prompts him to write a story.  The moral here; Ideas are everywhere. 

    When my kids were young and we'd go to a restaurant, or anywhere we had to wait, we'd play a What if game. I'd challenge them to find something in the room and I'd tell them the story about it. Pick up a spoon? Well, I'd say. This was the spoon that George Washington ate his oatmeal with on the morning he crossed the Delaware to fight the British in Trenton, NJ. In fact, since Martha gave it to him, after breakfast he put it in his pocket for good luck. He lost this spoon during the battle and it lay in the dirt for decades. Then when they were building this restaurant a workman found it and put it in the sink of the restaurant. And here it sits, on our table. George Washington's spoon. 

    The kids loved this game as sometimes the stories got pretty silly. (Don't ask how we time traveled and peeked in an outhouse to see Mrs Lincoln on the potty. Yes, some stories stay with you.) Soon the kids were making up stories and asking me to pick the item. Creativity explodes!

    The point is that there are ideas everywhere if you're looking. Remember to keep the "What if" in the front of your brain. Look around, take a walk, eyeball that stranger in the supermarket and think what secrets could be hiding in his closet. 

Okay! Don't scare people by staring at them! 

Be discrete. 

    Think of all the myths and stories there are out there. Can you bend them & take the winged Pegasus and make him human? What if? Or read the news and put something sinister behind the scenes. What if an angel lost his wings and was forced to earth to pay for his sin? (Wait, I already did something like that!) Someone gifts our heroine a plant and as she takes care of it she begins to see messages printed on the leaves. Magic or gaslight? 

    So look around, open your mind to the possibility that anything is possible and get ready for NANOWRIMO! 

  

Kindle Short Reads - Let's Write!

  Did you know you can write and publish short stories for Amazon Kindle? 

I've been hearing about the Kindle Short Reads for a while but finally investigated. And tested. 

As far as my research took me, these can be a few different lengths, needs to be approved, and just like every other Kindle book has to have a cover. 

Word count categories: 

15 min read: 11 pages
30 min read: 12 - 21 pages
45 min read: 22 to 32 pages
60 min read: 33 to 43 pages
120+ min read: 65 - 100 pages 

To test this I went through a few of my dozens of short stories. (All saved and filed all over my computers - someday I have to get organized.) 

I picked a creepy old story I wrote about a year ago. Went to Canva and did a quickie book cover, and popped it up on Kindle Short Reads. Took maybe twenty minutes to a half hour.  

Two things I wish I had done; 

Picked a better background picture. Done better font. 

This cover was done in five minutes. I should have slept on it. 😝  

Escaping Pigwell was 14 pages in a Word doc, double spaced, Courier New. (Yes, I should have used Times New Roman - the standard) On Amazon this story came up as 10 pages/1964 KB. I did put it through as a word doc and not a pdf. Keywords I used the basic read tags like Horror, murder, etc but also added "short read" so Amazon would tag it appropriately. 

Pricing is your choice, of course, but I opted for .99 cents. 

Since this went up so easy and went live just a couple hours later, I'm going to put up more. Sometimes I have an idea and it never makes it to book length. Now there is an place for all our stories and people who look to read them. 

In my search of these short stories I saw some shorts by Dean Koontz, Debbie Macomber, John Grisham, Jodi Picoult. So know, if you decide to publish a short, you'll be in good company. 

So if you want a dark creepy read check out Escaping Pigwell on Amazon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

It's Almost NANO Time

 November brings NANOWRIMO; National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write everyday & try to complete a novel in 30 days. Can you do 50,000 words in a month? Yes, it is possible. 

Of course, writing it down isn't the hard part. It's after that they my finished novels just sit in the drawer (or hard drive) and wait for the editing to start. 

So, now with another NANO starting in less than a week it's time to start thinking about what to write.  There are plenty of writing prompts on the internet. (Thank you, Google) And there are our own ideas. 

I was talking to another writer yesterday and she suggested shutting off those audio books I listen to while driving. That my head should be in building the world of my novel and not living in the works of others. 

What do you think? 

NANO ~~~ Why have I deserted you?

 Yes, the beginning of NANOWriMo was rockin'. I wrote and wrote and then started a new story and wrote some more. Problem? I took the premise as a challenge from my daughter and never really fell in love with the character or thrust of the story. 

No lie, I have about 100 story starts in my computer. Whenever something pops into my head I get it down before I forget it. I sometimes do a whole Hero's Journey outline then stuff it in a file. Sometimes I just write the book blurb. I dream of the day when I can just stay home and write. 

Oh wait! I had two months of that last year. Did I finish a book? No, I was too wound up worrying about my business. (We started a business 7 months before we were shut down for covid) 

So now I have other excuses. 3 very needy foster dogs. Business work stuff; meetings, marketing and paperwork.  Oh yeah! Tomorrow I get my booster vax so I can use that excuse, too? Eh I didn't react to the last two shots so probably won't this time either. 

Excuses aside, there are 3 solid days left for NANO. I'm at 4573 words in Aliens Hiding in Plain Sight (not really a title)  story and 1056 words in Xiberon Survivors, another 813 words in Day 864. I think I wrote a little in Saving Saverine, too but that was on my other computer so I don't have the word count. 

I feel this NANO is doomed. 

So cheer me up! How's your NANO going? 

Double Timing NaNoWriMo Word Count

 I have two laptops. My old laptop is on my desk at home.  Most of  my writing takes place on that one. It's got a lot of stories and idea blurbs on it. 

NaNoWriMo is Here! Are you Rockin' It?

 I'm a bit over 2000 words. Not really a great count for day 6 of NaNo, but its something. 

Here's the problem. 

This was a challenge to do from a randomly picked prompt. not my idea or something I'd usually write about.  So I spend a lot of time forcing myself into the shoes of my MC (main character) to come up with the next move. 

This time I also printed out a worksheet of the Hero's Journey to fit my story into. I've got some of it down but mostly I have no freakin' clue where I'm going with this story. 

And so I flounder... questions! Questions! Questions! 

What next? 

What should MC do now? 

How does she know this isn't just her imagination? 

Is the guy she just met one of them or will he help her?

Is she about to get sucked into a nightmare? how do I save her and let this get crazy? Should I? 

Oy! My head! 

Ok, NaNo, See in tomorrow at 7 am with coffee. 

Good luck out there you NaNo wizards. Write on, Write good, Write often. 

How's your word count? 

Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

 Most writers know what NaNoWriMo is; National Novel Writing Month in November. It's yearly challenge, started in 1999, for writers to complete a 50,000 word novel within the month. Yes, it's possible. My novel, Soul Mates was a NaNo. Good things come through a little discipline. And coffee.... lots of coffee. 

How???

Here's a few tips to do now to get ready to join the NaNoWriMo challenge. 

Best Habit a Writer Needs

They say if you can do the same thing for 30 days it becomes a habit. Every day for 30 days. Now you've got a habit that easy to go to, easy to do. 

So what's the best habit for a writer? Show up. Make a writing time and place and go to it every day. 

Every. Single. Day. 

When I wrote Soul Mates (A different kind of love story) I set a 6 am alarm to get writing time in before that other real job thingy. After a week or two I didn't even need an alarm. I just stumbled out of bed, hit the button on the coffee maker and headed for my desk. Everyday until I typed the words "The End."  

One thing that did was get the book finished. At least the first draft. But considering the other first drafts I had from other creative endeavors this was a pretty clean first draft. I believe that's because I was more focused on my task. It was time to get to work and that's where I went on time.  It also gave a deep satisfaction. Yes, I could finish a book. All it took was a little discipline. 

Do you have to get up at 6 am? No. 

Do you have to set a time to write? Yes, that gets you to the table where your craft begins. 

Stephen King said, in his book On Writing, that he goes to his desk and doesn't get up until he had 10 pages written. Some days he's happily tripping down the road at noon, other day's he's there late until he chokes out those 10 pages. That is discipline and that is why he's such a prolific writer. I highly recommend his book, On Writing, for all writers. 

Okay, you've picked a time to write, now what? 

Set up your desk so you can get right to work and not have to struggle to find a pen, plug in your laptop, or find your reading glasses. Your writing space should be ready when you are. 

Now it doesn't have to be a fancy desk by a beautiful view and your favorite mug. No. It can be a quiet corner in your bedroom, a little nook off the kitchen, or anywhere there's less distractions. King wrote his first book with an old selectric on his knees in a laundry room. Get creative, get a refreshment, and go to work. Okay, you can bring your favorite mug. 

So that's it folks. Most important thing a writer needs is a set time to go to work just like any other job. Show up and get to work. 

You can do it! 

NANOWRIMO Approaches... Are You Ready?

 Love this time of year when we prep for NANO.  What? you don't prep for NANO? 

I guess it comes down to a plotter or a pantser or even a just give me an idea! 

Seriously, Ideas pop into my head all the time. I'm constantly writing scenes in my head that might never make it onto the keyboard. 

I think it was the World According to Garp where he sees the red gloves in the gutter and a story pops into his head? Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been awhile. 

That's where I think the stories hide. In those everyday things all around us. Stephen King says in his book, On Writing that he just puts too ideas together. Like for Carrie; Telekinesis and a girl who gets picked on in school. Easy, right? Rapid dog and mom trapped in a car with her son. Writer has accident and meets crazed fan. 

So for this year's NANO I'm going to take King's idea and merge two things together. I'm starting a list; 

Housewife and the devil meet

Old car and ....wait! That was King's. :)

Vacation on an island and contact is lost from the mainland

Man gets job in restaurant Owner is a ghost

Woman is murdered and haunts her murderer

Girl discovers secret passage in her new home discovers aliens

Woman buys a bracelet at a garage sale and can suddenly hear voices. 

The list is growing.... which to pick. 

Who doesn't love a good NANO challenge?  

So where are you going with NANO this year? 

Soul Sucking Things that Get Writers

Covid 19 is a soul sucker. It's an on-edge feeling of fear, want & confusion. We fear the virus (or we should.) We want to be normal. To go back to our day to day life and to our old goals and ambitions. Right now all that is on hold. We face confusion every minute of the day. Information overload from all directions.

I was a that real job thing the other day when a man told me about those Americas Frontline Doctors who said that hydroxy-whatever can cure Covid. Wow, wouldn't that be great? So as soon as I could get to a computer I looked it up. A bunch of doctors said it's so. So I looked them up. Each. Individually. I wanted to know if they were people I should believe. 

First I saw that Facebook and Twitter had deleted the postings. hmmmm, why would they do it? 

Well it call came out that 2 of them were ophthalmologists and not regular medical doctors. One of them doesn't even have a license. The main speaker has publicly stated that she believes dreaming about demons can get a woman pregnant. 

Did I really have to read further? 

Ok so the ball of confusion is everywhere and by the time you research -- we are writers after all, that's what we do; research -- maybe an hour or two has passed. Then where are we? Certainly not writing or editing.  We all know social media is a soul sucker so now on top of all that we have Covid-land. So, how do we get our drive back? 

Back to basics; 

1. Schedule your writing time and go to it like a job. Every great writer does this so it's #1 on the how to get your writing mojo back. 

2. Close the door. Not just on the people in your house but on all that static from social media. DON'T OPEN IT! Consider it a demon ready to snatch your writer's soul. 

3. Set a goal. It could be 20 minutes it could be an hour. I like pages. Setting a goal by pages makes you get it done. I could daydream for an hour and then wrap it up. Done. But if I say I have to write 10 pages before I get up... well, then I'll have something to show for the time. 

Stay strong my writer friends. You are creative and the world needs your words. 

Writer's Toolbox

They say that a writer needs to read. Most writers are avid readers before deciding to write, but some just decide to give it a try.  Still, having the right tools goes a long way to writing a good book.

I was a reader and then the writing came naturally. Ideas flowed and the stories just had to be written.  Now there are boxes of stories under my desk and in the closets. Maybe some under the bed, too.

Not all stories go anywhere. Some were just the start of an idea, but we put them aside and maybe someday....

So what, besides reading, is in a writer's tool box? First it has to be grammar. I like Stunk & White Elements of Style. It's a good basic book for grammar.
I used to recommend a good thesaurus and dictionary, too. However in the age of the personal PC, that stuff is now at your fingertips.

Aside from that a collection of basic information and writing books. Not every book will fit every writer. Look for character development books, one that will help you flesh out the people in your book. Just giving a character a name and description isn't enough. If you've ever done a character sketch you've learned that the more you know about your MC the easier it is to write their reactions, thoughts, and dialog.

Now, let's go to your genre. Is your book set in the present? The 1950's? Is it a story about where you live or a different area? Vampires? Crime?

This is where research comes in. You can get a lot of information off the internet, just make sure it's a valid site and not an opinion site. Don't get the info from another fiction book. Research will pay off in the long run because make one factual mistake and someone somewhere will call you on it. Possibly in a review.

Look to other more successful authors for the way they work their craft. I recommend Stephen King's On Writing and  The Weekend Novelist. Both touch on the craft of writing and the discipline it takes to get things done. For without discipline where are we? Staring at half finished manuscripts and empty pages.

So, collect your books and make notes. Study your craft just as you would when you learn any other job.
Happy writing!

Stay at Home - a Writer's Dream?

Okay, all writers stay at home and write! You can't say you don't have the time. Some nasty virus gave you hours upon hours of free time.  Wo0t!

So why aren't I pumping out the words?

Excuse list;

1. Catching up on every movie I never wanted to watch or even knew existed. 
2. Laundry! Still letting it pile up so I have an excuse to make today; Laundry Day. 
3. Walk the dog... again.  Face it, this Stay at Home order sure packs on the pounds. 
4. I finally have time to clean out that closet. 
5. Have to finish cleaning out that closet & hanging the clothes I pulled out and threw on the couch.
6. The dog laid on the clothes so now we have another laundry day!
7. It's lunchtime/snacktime/winetime. Gotta keep the schedule. 
8. Finally have time to watch that TV series everyone was talking about two years ago. Just one more episode...
9. Its a good time to start that garden I've been thinking about
10. I'll write at least one chapter today, I promise. 

So, how many excuses have you been through? Please post below as I need some new ones.... 

Nano & Plot twists

I started NaNo and I'm at a paultry 3412 words. And it's November 18th already! WTF?
So I have my story idea but it's only that. A basic idea with nowhere to go. :(

Tonight after our NaNoWriMo write in I realized how pitiful this story is and that I have nothing. It's getting to a blah, blah, blah phase.
So I came home and googled "plot twists" with the intention of just grabbing number 3 on whatever list I found and to just write it.
I didn't do that.
Instead I found the most amazing plot twist sites.
Check out my  fav which lists movies and how they used plot twists. That one is called. Reedsy Blog. 
The next awesome plot twist site was found at the Writer's Den. This was a generator where you just click and you get your twist. This was fun! Gave me some good future story ideas, too.
My 3rd required more info. Add some details and you get the twist. That one was out of the UK (love that country!) The twists are here. Check them out and find some unique ideas.

That's it, I'm back to NaNo-ing! I have some ideas and I'm ready to write!
Write on, my friends. I'll see you in the pages....

Blub on the Book Cover?

The blub on the back of the book, or now on Amazon, is one of the most important things in your book. It should give us info as to what kind of book it is, what I can expect from the plot, and tease a bit.
What it should not give is list of reviews.

I found this link shared by J.A.Konrath on Facebook.

So, I'm thinking Kool! Free Books! New Authors to love!
Then I go and start reading the blubs on Amazon.  For those of you who don't know, the blub is that bite of information on the back of the book or via kindle, the write up under the title on Amazon.

That's where I hit the brakes.  One had a quick; this person and this person now have this mystery to figure out...followed by 10 reviews. Gee, if I had wanted to read the reviews, I would have clicked on those little stars on top. Basically, I now know nothing about this book that hooked me. Pass.

Another gave too little info. Detective has to solve a murder but will it lead him into trouble?  Gee, that told me nothing. All murder mystery books just got covered by that blurb.  Pass.

Reading these blurbs annoyed me and got me thinking about how important and how much skill goes into writing them.  Don't tell me the story, tell me why it's an interesting story. I had a writer friend who could spit this stuff out like candy. I told her my one book was about an angel who saved someone who was destine to die and then she had no destiny and another angel doesn't want her to marry his human and on and on... that's a crappy blurb. I know. I struggled. 

My friend turned it into this;
"When an angel appears to tell Shay Deville she can’t marry her fiancé because she will forever alter his destiny, she thinks she is going crazy. Shay learns she was supposed to die seven months ago, but Merrick, her own guardian angel, broke angelic law and saved her. Now she is a woman without a future – or a guardian.

In spite of the angel’s warning Shay refuses to give up her dreams. She hunts down Merrick, her renegade angel, and demands he help her.Guardian Angel Merrick knows the Heavenly Handbook better than anyone, but when the time came to help Shay Deville cross over, he just couldn’t do it. Now Merrick is stripped of his wings and banished to the earthly realm until he corrects his mistakes and completes the destiny of his charge. But how can Merrick arrange to take Shay’s life when he has fallen in love with her? How can he not?

Will Merrick give up his wings and forever be cast to Earth for the woman he loves?
Can a woman without a destiny ever find happiness, or true love?"

Well, why didn't I think of that Heavenly handbook thing? So seamless. So easy and it gets the gist of the story across. 

Bottom line? Tempt me, make me excited to see what's going on inside those pages. Go check out the link of free mystery books. I did buy/get a few of the one's with the best blurb. 

These books hooked me with their blurb. 

• Someone Elses Daughter by Linsey Lanier
• A Gluten Free Murder by P.D. Workman
• The Ink Man Lies by Julia Hughes
• Last Call by J.A.Konrath
• Murder in the ER by Jackie Holiday
• Justice by Ann Voss Peterson 

Peace out! I got some reading to do.

NaNoWriMo Begins

NaNo is here! Wo0T!

Yesterday I was tooo crazy busy but got some words done today. So since NaNo is  a worldwide challenge I'm going to try to post my progress here every day or so. To the right is my word count.
Wish me luck!

Before NaNo I wrote a quick blurb for the story. Now I have no idea where to go with this story so it's a bit of a challenge.
Premise?
Woman stumbles into a grounded angel and they fall back into a bar where wayward angels meet. This gathering of angels have been put back to earth to earn their wings. They're a rag tag bunch and the woman can't be sure if they'll help her or not. One catch; she's trapped and can't figure out how to get out of the bar and back home.

Day 1 of NaNo, 231 words
Woman (Casey) is running from a mugger and runs right into an angel. They fall back into the bar that only angels can enter or even see.

Lordy! This is going to be a hard story to write.... Hello NaNo challenge!
See you tomorrow.

Where to Find Ideas for Your NANOWRIMO

Face it. There is a lot of pressure with NANO. We want to write the story all the way through to hit 50,000 words. We want to write that book that's been peculating in our brains. But what if....

The dreaded "What if..."

We have no story idea. Nothing is coming that could form into a plot. Our brains that usually has stories starting everywhere we go....goes silent.



Been there, multiple times. So where do you go when your writing brain wants to take a vaca?

1. Google. Of course you can find anything on Google. I've always thought Google and Amazon are taking over the world. If you need it, Google can tell you where to go. Just type in Writing Prompts.

2. Writers Digest. This is one of my favorite mags and they have a great article about prompts right here.

3. Another site is Awesome Writing Prompts on tumbler --> Here

4. My fav is the everything idea shop aka Pinterest! Just type in writing prompts and ka-powie! You got a whole page of them. Awesome!

5. Then there's the awesome advice from the Aimless Writer; 10 Prompt to Start Your Novel.  :)

So if you're looking for something to do the best NANO ever... just pick one and start writing down some ideas to go with it.

15 days till NANOWRIMO.  Tick Tock.

5 tips for a Successful NanoWrimo

This year I'm going to do it. Years ago I did. (now a book on Amazon) So why not again. What got me to the finish line was a lot of things. Life gets in the way? Sure! But here's a few tips to make it to November 30th.

1. Have a designated writing space. Whether it's a desk or a square of kitchen table stake it out and claim your space. Let them all know this is a writing space. It's kind of holy. 
2. Schedule your writing time. And guard it. Sorry honey, it's writing time. Bring dinner to my desk.  It's Nano time! 
3. Join a group. There are Nano groups all over the country that will meet and write together. No one understands your Nanowrimo like another Nano person. They know they pitfalls, they know the challenge and they understand that thing inside you that drives your Nano compulsion. You can go to the national Nanowritmo and find one in your area. 
4. Find a nearby Nano writer to help keep you on point. Report your word count, talk about your plot, work through those little niggling details. Most of all encourage each other to keep writing. 
5. Stay true to Nanowrimo and remember missing a day or two won't kill your Nano challenge. Jump back on the Nano wagon and know you're not done until the end of the month. 

See you at the finish line. GO NANOWRIMO!