The Real+Good Writer's Guide to Preptober

Fall brings cozy sweaters and yummy coffee, the perfect combination to cuddle up with words. It also brings NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, where writers from all around the world compete with themselves to write 50,000 new words on their novel in 30 short days. It's a writing marathon that requires commitment, energy, and dedication to your story. To successfully prepare for NaNoWriMo, the writing community has also created Preptober. A portmanteau of prepare and October, this month-long retreat gives you the time to plan your story, create your characters, write an outline, and manage your obligations outside of writing so you can focus and succeed during your writing marathon. Learn all about Preptober and get the resources you need to successfully plan and prep your novel!

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Everything You'd Ever Need to Write a Novel: The ULTIMATE Novel Packing List

Perhaps you're ready to attack Camp NaNoWriMo next month or classic NaNoWriMo in November. Perhaps you're just embarking on your own personal writing quest on your own schedule. The truth is, you want to write a novel, and that's awesome! You're about to do an amazing thing. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be a challenge. But it's going to be well worth it. Before you get started with your novel, you have to be prepared. There's a lot of time, effort, and energy that go into writing a novel, so you want to make sure you're well-equipped for whatever's going to happen. This is the ultimate packing list of everything you'll need to write your novel.

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8 Steps to Mentally Prepare to Write Your Novel

Let's assume for now that you've already got that hard stuff figured out. This isn't about planning the intricacies of your novel. This isn't a craft lecture. Rather, this is figuring out how to get your mind in the right place so that when it comes down to doing it, YOU ACTUALLY DO IT. This is about mental preparation to set your goals and achieve them in the time period you allowed. Learn how to get your mind ready so that when you're ready to write, you write.

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