I try to do something during Nanowrimo each year.  Not write a novel, of course. That would just be silly.

This year’s goal was 10,000 words and I managed it by writing enough each day I was off work to keep me up with my target word counts.  I built a spreadsheet for that because that’s what I do.  I tried not to count the “This sucks” and “I don’t know what happens next” as words but I’m sure a few of them slipped  in.

To keep me motivated, I used the WRITE OR DIE software, set for “Consequence”.  This means that if I stop typing for more than 30 seconds, there is a consequence. A big, ugly, terrifying consequence.  It also makes a nasty noise.

This is enough to get me typing frantically again as I strive to stave off the horrible creature.

The purpose of this misery is to scare my internal editor into retreat.  It worked well enough that I hit my target and, more importantly, made important discoveries about my characters and the plot.

Of course, a wee bit of … padding … creeps in during all of this. I could always tell which parts of Cold Hillside I wrote during Nanowrimo.  But that’s what editing is for.