30 Days of Encouragement for NaNoWriMo (and other writers, too!)
Today’s tip is something you probably won’t agree with, but I’m going to say it anyway: Stop obsessing over your word count.
What? Isn’t NaNoWriMo ALL ABOUT THE WORD COUNT?
Well, yes and no. Yes, the idea is to write 50,000 words, but no, it isn’t productive to update your word count on the site every time you write a paragraph. Wondering why the site is so slow? I guarantee you thousands of people obsessively updating their word counts all day long are a part of it.
If you’re updating your word count online more than once per day, cut it out. It’s a) likely just another way to procrastinate and b) probably going to make you feel more angst about meeting your daily goals than is necessary. Just write and write until you feel like you’re “done” for the day. If you are lucky enough to have more than one writing session per day, add up the totals for the day once you’re all done rather than entering your word count each time you write.
There isn’t something magical about 50,000 words. You won’t “become a writer” by getting to that point. You are becoming a writer right now by writing, not by counting.