PREPTOBER 2022 | Ten NanoWrimo Goals

Over the past few days, we’ve talked a lot about the five categories you should base your NanoWrimo goals on. Those five categories are health, support system, writing, accountability, and fun. For categories and goals that don’t necessarily have to do with writing, I strongly recommend checking out Angie Bellemare’s YouTube channel.

Now that we’ve thoroughly discussed the five categories, it’s time to start putting your top ten monthly goals together. One or two of your goals should be dedicated to each of the five categories and add up to a total of ten goals for NanoWrimo.

Becoming a Goal Digger

I’ve mentioned before that I used to go into NanoWrimo with the goal of writing 50,000 words. But that goal isn’t personal enough for me. That’s part of the reason why I like to break down that larger goal into ten individual goals. Those ten goals need to speak to me on a very deep and intimate level.

For each category, I think about what is nagging at me in the back of my mind. What’s an absolute embarrassment to me that I want to change? I used to not be able to walk up the stairs without huffing and puffing. No one ever said anything about it, but I felt embarrassed about it. As a grown woman, I shouldn’t have been out of breath by the time I reached the top of the stairs. Now I exercise almost every day because I made that one of my health goals. I made a decision that I never wanted to feel that humiliation of being out of breath after walking again.

Think about what’s really bugging you and turn it into a goal for the month of November. Use those strong emotions to help you accomplish them.

Be Selective

Pick your goals not based on what you think others want for you, but what you actually want for yourself. If you want to finish NanoWrimo strong, then plan your goals around that. How can each of your top ten goals drive your ultimate goal of having written 50,000 words over the course of a month?

Be picky when you’re deciding on your top ten goals for NanoWrimo. Remember: your driver for the month is to write a novel in 30 days. All of your goals for the month need to be driving you towards that.

Make sure you think each goal through. How will your health goals fuel your writing throughout NanoWrimo? How will you use your support system to get you through the month? What are your actual writing goals aside from the 50,000 word count? What is holding you accountable and keeping you on track to finish? What will you do to reenergize yourself and blow off steam throughout the month?

Be Specific

50,000 words is a lot. Especially in a month. Don’t just look at the month ahead and say, “I’m going to write 50,000 words.” Get specific on how you’re going to use your goals to actually finish NanoWrimo.

Remember to tie your goals to a number and make sure that they are measurable. If you have a generic goal to just workout, that won’t do. Write down how many workouts you’ll complete throughout the month of November. Are you aiming to workout every single day? Then your goal for November should be to hit 30 workouts. Will you write every single day? Then your writing goal should be to write 30 days straight.

These goals need to speak to you on a whole other level. Really give these goals some thought and figure out where you want to be, how you want to feel, and what you want to have accomplished by the end of November.

Tomorrow, I’ll talk through roadblocks that you might hit during NanoWrimo and how you can start planning to overcome those.