I’ve been working on the same novel for about two years. I also have two small children, one of whom is younger than my novel. I have a full-time job, an active social life, and a number of extracurriculars, hobbies and obligations. I’m busy.

So, it’s hard to keep tabs on my novel sometimes. I’ll take a break from it and then realize a month has passed. After a break, I need to do a lot of catch-up to pick up where I left off, and that means that I’m wasting time that I actually could have spent writing.

A screenshot from the My Wonderful Goals app calendar.

I have a new strategy to prevent that. It’s called WORK ON YOUR NOVEL FOR AT LEAST TEN MINUTES PER DAY. And it’s totally working.

The key here is the AT LEAST. Ideally, I should work on it for at least a few hours per week, which I generally do. But, since I spend at least ten minutes on a day hanging out with my novel, I’m not always trying to catch up.

I found a great productivity tool to help me. It’s an iPhone app called My Wonderful Goals, and it reminds me every day that I need to work on my novel. I usually work on it at night, so I have my alarm set to go off at 11PM to ask me whether I worked on my novel yet. If I haven’t, I make sure to get a little noveling done before bed. The app gives me a star on my calendar every day I made my goal. (I only missed one day this month!)

The other way I’ve managed this is to make it really easy to work on my novel. I don’t need to be in my office or in front of my computer or even in a quiet place. I’ve put my entire novel on my iPhone for quick access. When I need to, I can literally work on it in the palm of my hand.

The next step is to add to my daily goal. I think I’ll add WRITE AT LEAST 1,000 WORDS PER WEEK as an additional goal in a month or so. The key is to have attainable goals that will enable me to slowly and steadily get my novel written.

I’m also planning to attempt NaNoWriMo next month by working on my existing manuscript instead of starting a new one. I’m just hammering away one nail at a time, hoping to have this novel built eventually!

So, there’s my productivity tool of the month — what’s yours?

This November will be the seventh year I’ve done NaNoWriMo — I’ve even won a few times! I’ve read all kinds of NaNoWriMo prep posts, but I have a few fun NaNo tips I haven’t seen elsewhere. Here’s my list of silly but effective NaNoWriMo prep tips:

1. Shower Smart. The shower is a great place to get some thinking done. Instead of just zoning out while you wash out the suds, set yourself to the task of planning out your novel. Think about the characters as if they were real people — what kinds of things do they do and feel in the morning? Think about your setting or plot points that you haven’t yet decided on. The more time you spend focused on the world of your novel, the more comfortable you’ll be spending the whole month of November there.
2. Trim Your Fingernails. It sounds silly, but it helps. Unless you trained yourself to speed-type with acrylics, fingernails that are too long will likely slow you down. If you’re not a nail-biter, trim your fingernails on Halloween for optimal speed when November 1st rolls around.
3. Practice Word Processing on Your Smartphone. You would never write a novel on your smartphone, right? You say that now, but you might change your mind when you’re hell bent on hammering out 1,667 words per day and stuck on the slow train home, wishing you could figure out how to work on your novel on the fly. Trust me, I’ve been there.
4. Practice Improv. Thinking on your toes is imperative to successfully completing a novel in a month. Remember that a skilled improv actor never drops an idea — he always asks, “Yes, and?” Learn some improv techniques to get your creative juices flowing.
5. Study This Chart.

It seems simplistic to resort to a list of emotions, but the more feelings you can empathize with, the more easily you can write about them. This chart (or anything similar) lists a full range of emotions, which you can use to narrow down a particular feeling. For example, if your character is angry, what kind of angry is it? Insecure and irritated are two entirely different ways to be angry. Thinking about the different ways emotion can manifest will help you to better understand your characters.

So, those are my unconventional NaNoWriMo tips — got any for me?

Note: I don’t know where the image above came from. If you do, please let me know so I can add image credit. Thanks!