Never start with a blank slate

Here’s a trick I use to make sure that whenever I open whatever I’m working on, I can get going right away. Unless I’m at the end of the story, I never write everything I could possibly write that day. I always leave ideas for tomorrow – I make a few quick notes about what I think I’ll write next at the bottom of the part I just finished.

I know I didn’t invent this idea, but it’s something that really works for me. If I write until my brain won’t give me any more, then the next day, I’m more likely to struggle. If I stop when I know I could continue, but when I’ve already written a good amount for that day, it’ll be easier when I next pick it up.

Today:

1,051 words. I’m behind, but I’m not bothered. I’ve always failed NaNo when I started in a blaze of 3000-words-per day glory. I’m going to pace myself – the most important thing is that I like what I’m writing! 50,000 words in a month will be pointless if I don’t like this version either!

Plus today I had the day off from my day job, and I slept til 11:30, which I needed after barely sleeping on Wednesday night.