I echo that comment on Jeanne being organised - and the bit about Scrivener, a programme I learnt to love during NaNo in 2016. I'm Silverwords and open to having buddies.

Jeanne, you are crazy organized! I'll bet you win the challenge every year with all this.

I am completely sending my organized pals over here to this post to read your comment. 🙂

How exciting, Bette! And good luck on this new direction of yours. You're going to rock it. 🙂

It's not just about writing. Read the Nano Prep, read the forums for ideas and more world building stuff.

Prep your schedule. (when do you want to write). Find the best time to write. https://authorunlimited.com/best-time-to-write/ If you plan to write from 5am to 7am, do not do it in bed. Get up, get your teeth brushed, get to a writing area that is motivating...and set a timer.

Prep your meals. Pre-cook batches of snacks (brownies, cookies, sugar-free stuff if you like that kind of thing. Soups, chilis, store them in freezer. Tell your house mates to back off from making you cook/fend for yourself. Plan at least one order of Pizza if not more and make it big so you have left overs to eat for next day or two. Buy those pudding cups, applesauce, or jello cups. Great things to get you over an all out Tyrannosaures Rex moment of hunger.

Prep your phone with all the specific alarms that need to go off to remind you to stretch when writing. But an egg-timer, that little ticking gets to be a habit. https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730 Try different writing methods. Pomadoro technique (25 mins) or set the Egg-timer longer (45mins) but have the timer remind you to get up and move.

Prep your supplies. Swing by Walmart or wherever to get cheap yellow tablets or college rule paper or something like a journal you can keep near you to note stuff in. (I write while at work sometime and then type it up when I get home-shhhhh). I write at lunch. I write in the bathtub. I write in bed, just to get my word count.

Prep your clothing (i.e. have your outfits ready to go so you dont have to think about it).

Prep your outings (plan to cancel movies and Friday night/Sat night wild times). I'm an introvert in an extrovert body. I have NO interest in going out but if I get dragged out there, sometimes its fun.

Get a log sheet to log your time and word count. You should be logging your writing word count and time regardless of Nano so that you know when you are generating the best brain activity and writing the best during your day.
http://jenniferellis.ca/minimum-daily-word-counts/

Learn Scrivener. Buy it. Use it. Love it. I used it last year for first time prepping for Nano and thought OMG what have I done, but holy cow....the outline alone helped me write faster and longer than I ever thought. I was able to jot down notes and later when I had to edit the tool was indescribably wonderful. Walk thru the tutorial ever step. It saved me hours of frustration. And I was able to google a ton to get it tweaked perfectly.

Prep your writing. Get your outline of chapters down at a minimum. Outline your outline (aka put down 2-4 sentences beneath each chapter that you want to write into that scene)
Before you groan and say wtf...just write down the top 10 things you want to have in your book. Just jot them down on paper. Go on and do it. If you have those 10 things, and you have them arranged like you like them...fill in some gaps. Write a few more things that would increase tension, add some character flaws, kill off the antagonists BFF(shrug). Nobody liked her anyway.
Now write down the first 3 characters that you will introduce (i.e. Boy, Girl, Bully. Or girl1, girl2, parent1.) This will be chapter 1 and 2, intro to characters. Now write down five things you want to say about the world you are using (technology, money, politics, magic, nature, weather, clucking chickens, etc). Then incorporate the five world things into the 10 scenes that you have plans for already. That's like half the book people. Now go back and write 3 sentences that would expand those 10 scenes. For example: Scene 3, overcast day on steps of library. Boy trips in front of girl spilling his books. Girl helps him pick up books and finds the titles (Electricity And Kites, Boom Goes The Explosives, How To Build Impervious Armour) VERY interesting. Boy steps in front of girl to protect her when baddie Librarian suddenly arrives. Once you start writing and you have written the 10 things into your story. Stop and do it again. Add 10 new things and 5 new world building ideas. Then write 3 or more sentences on those 10 new adds. Nothing is impossible.

Lots more to tell you. But, that would spoil all the fun for the first timers.
Nanobuddy name is JLNickymaster
Have fun.

It would totally be tough to write with great-grandkids calling you to play. What could be more fun? I have won NaNo exactly ONE time. I don't even care...I just love it to pieces. 🙂

Of course you can use a book you've already started! I'm totally doing that. I'm finally writing Risky Baby Business and I'd love to just get that first draft 100% behind me, since it makes me cry. 🙂

Here's what you do...
1. Go to http://www.nanowrimo.org
2. Create a login/profile if you haven't already
3. Create your novel (it will prompt you to do this)
4. Go to Search in the upper right and find "jennyhansen"
5. Click on the "Add to Buddy List" button

Voila! We are friends and partners in NaNo crime at that point. Under the MyNaNoWriMo menu, you will find just about everything you need to find the local groups in your area.

Most of all, enjoy the energy of it all. NaNo is FUN.

I've never done NaNo, though I've done fast-drafting (only 14 days). But I'm VERY tempted this year. I have a first draft that is dragging on and on, and I'm only 25K into it after MONTHS. My inner editor screams at me and slows me down big time. I agonize and second-guess my plot choices.

I would love to have a first draft DONE by the end of November so I have something to edit! If I got another 10K done between now and November (and prepped meals out the wazoo), I'd need about 40K more to finish. Is it okay to use NaNo to finish a book, or is it supposed to be for a new one?

Also, I don't belong to any NaNo groups...would you be my writing buddy, Jenny? I sure could use your energy! 😉