Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about the time management lessons I learned
Speaker 1: from participating in Nano Ramo, which is short for National
Speaker 1: Novel Writing Month. Across the US and now really across
Speaker 1: the world. Thousands of people will attempt to write a
Speaker 1: fifty thousand word novel manuscript in the thirty days of November.
Speaker 1: This is quite an undertaking, but participating can lead to
Speaker 1: major creative breakthroughs, a sense of accomplishment, and some interesting
Speaker 1: lessons on time. I've long been intrigued by Nano Raimo.
Speaker 1: The rules are simple. You write a fifty thousand word
Speaker 1: draft of a novel in thirty days. The rationale won't
Speaker 1: go to any cocktail party, and after a drink or two,
Speaker 1: people will confess that they have a novel that they're
Speaker 1: just dying to write. Nano Ramo says, Okay, let's turn
Speaker 1: that novel from idea too rough manuscript. Let's take it
Speaker 1: from your head to the page. I'm happy to report
Speaker 1: that I've successfully completed this challenge several times. Of course,
Speaker 1: I've only got two novels out there. In the world,
Speaker 1: which should tell you something about writing a novel in
Speaker 1: thirty days. Not all of them are going to be
Speaker 1: any good, but I still find the practice fulfilling as
Speaker 1: I aim to make space for fiction in a life
Speaker 1: of nonfiction content and family responsibilities. And I've learned a
Speaker 1: few strategies from nano Rimo over the years that helped
Speaker 1: me with all aspects of time management. First, the people
Speaker 1: who succeed in writing a novel in thirty days make
Speaker 1: sure to do what anyone facing a big project does.
Speaker 1: You break it down into small steps and figure out
Speaker 1: how much time these steps will take. If you want
Speaker 1: to write a fifty novel in thirty days, this is
Speaker 1: about six d sixty seven words per day. However, as
Speaker 1: anyone doing a big project discovers, doing something every day
Speaker 1: is tough, most of us need space to take breaks
Speaker 1: or in case things go wrong. If you plan to
Speaker 1: work twenty days in November, taking weekends and Thanksgiving off,
Speaker 1: or just in general writing four to five days per week,
Speaker 1: then you need to write words per working day. This
Speaker 1: pace allows for flexibility. If you lose a writing day
Speaker 1: because of a work emergency, you can sub in a
Speaker 1: weekend day and get back on track. Successful Nao rimo
Speaker 1: novelists also figure out how long those daily words will take.
Speaker 1: I write for a living, and over the years this
Speaker 1: has helped me figure out my speed. I can write
Speaker 1: rough drafts of stuff where I know the outline at
Speaker 1: a pace of one thousand words per hour. So to
Speaker 1: write words, need to block out about two hours of
Speaker 1: time as someone who doesn't sit down at a computer
Speaker 1: every day to bang out podcast scripts and blog posts
Speaker 1: might need a little longer, let's say three hours. Then
Speaker 1: there's the question of where you're going to block in
Speaker 1: three hours five times a week. To do this well,
Speaker 1: you'll need to study your calendar. For many people, this
Speaker 1: is going to involve multiple shifts per day. You get
Speaker 1: up ninety minutes early and right, then right for thirty
Speaker 1: minutes at lunch, and then for an hour after the
Speaker 1: kids go to bed. On a weekend, you might use
Speaker 1: the hours of six thirty am and crank out your
Speaker 1: words before the rest of your family stirs. Or perhaps
Speaker 1: your spouse takes the kids for the afternoon and you
Speaker 1: write for three hours in a library or coffee shop.
Speaker 1: To be sure, this requires logistical planning, your spouse might
Speaker 1: not naturally volunteer to take the children for three hours.
Speaker 1: You might have to ask, but if this is a
Speaker 1: priority for you, you can do so. You can promise
Speaker 1: to reciprocate for something else your spouse wants to do,
Speaker 1: like going on a three hour bike ride, or you
Speaker 1: can give this person a lot of project time in December.
Speaker 1: Then when you're in the midst of your three hour blocks,
Speaker 1: you need to actually focus. The phone goes in airplane
Speaker 1: mode or it goes away. For many people, it helps
Speaker 1: to have some sort of accountability. Team up with another
Speaker 1: novelist to check in each day or week on your
Speaker 1: word count, celebrate each other's victories, and figure out a
Speaker 1: way to get back on track when things go awry.
Speaker 1: But finally, the biggest lesson I've learned and I think
Speaker 1: other people learned from Nano Raimo is this done is
Speaker 1: better than perfect. When you write a fifty word novel
Speaker 1: in thirty days, it isn't going to be a good novel,
Speaker 1: at least not yet, but it's going to be something.
Speaker 1: The pace of writing required to produce fifty words is
Speaker 1: so fast that you are forced to get over perfect.
Speaker 1: Action is um and any sense that you should be
Speaker 1: editing you don't have time for that. Instead, you just
Speaker 1: get it down and it's rough, messy, convoluted form. Because
Speaker 1: here's what I've found, turning nothing into something it's much
Speaker 1: harder than turning something into something better. I can write
Speaker 1: in haste and then edit at leisure. I wrote a
Speaker 1: draft of Juliette's School of Possibilities, my time management fable
Speaker 1: in twenty days during November a few years ago. Then
Speaker 1: I spent the next eight months editing it. Done is
Speaker 1: better than perfect, because you know what, there is no
Speaker 1: perfect without being done. A novel might be perfect in
Speaker 1: your head, but until it exists in the real world,
Speaker 1: it can't be perfect. Existence is a necessary element of perfection.
Speaker 1: So have you ever done a challenge like National Novel
Speaker 1: Writing Month? Are you tempted? Let me know Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeart Media dot com. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four. Then Breakfast p O D You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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