What are good self-care tips for writers during NaNoWriMo?

Edited for readability. Passages from the original recording that are out of date have been left out and are marked in brackets.

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You've come to the right place. I'm Carissa Andrews, international bestselling indie author, and this is the Author Revolution podcast. Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Author Revolution Podcast.

I hope you had a great week and you're enjoying the start of this new NaNoWriMo. So here here's the thing that I wanted to talk about this week. It's actually an impromptu Change of Plans podcast episode this time. I was going to be talking about something a little bit different, but being that I have managed to come down with a head cold, non-COVID, thank you.

I figured now might be a really good time to talk about other self-care tips during NaNoWriMo, because things like this do happen, and it just is what it is. And so we have to find ways around it in order to continue to be prolific in order to continue forward. But within reason.

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I might be a little under the weather, but hey man, that's life.

So here we are now. Today we're going to talk about other self-care tips. And the reason I want to talk about that is sometimes stuff like this just happens. You get sick and you can either let it take you down or you can push through it, or you can try to find a balance that actually works well for you.

So obviously in the past I am a double Virgo guys. I would push through and just say, to hell with it, I'm going to get the thing done. I want to get done because I want to get it done. But now I've learned a little bit more that you know what?

Life gets in the way. The reason we get sick, the reason, things like this happen, is to remind us to take a little bit of time for self-care. And I'd like to think normally, at least this year, I'm a little bit better at doing the self-care stuff. But when your whole household, your kids, and everybody get a head cold, you're pretty much guaranteed to get the head cold, too.

It just is the way it is. So it all started with my son, and now the whole house has it. But you know, it's actually not the worst thing ever. And at least it's not Covid.

So here we go. I have seven tips for you as we're going forward with NaNoWriMo, which I hope everybody that is participating in this is doing a great job already. If you're hearing this as the podcast episode launches, it should be Wednesday, November 3rd. So it should be day three.

And as of right now. So I'm recording this on Tuesday. So day two of NaNoWriMo and so far I'm doing okay. I haven't hit the 1,667 words every day just yet, but I'm on my way.

I, I've already got something like 13,000 words written, so I'm not super concerned about the word count goal necessarily, but I am working towards that every day anyway. Okay. So hopefully like I said, you're getting to those word goals. And if something like this comes up though, I want you to be thinking about how to take care of yourself.

And for those of you who maybe won't even come up against having a cold, I want you to think about how can you prevent something like this from happening during NaNoWriMo? And the way we do that is truly through being a little bit more aware of our self-care. So let's talk about seven tips. There's obviously more, but let's just talk about the seven big ones I think are super critical when it comes to self-care and making sure you can keep going.

So tip number one is mindset maintenance. I know I'm starting with mindset. Go figure guys. But really it is powerful because you want to make sure as you're starting out you're not setting yourself up for failure.

So self-care does start in the mind. It starts with how we tell ourselves we can or can't do something. So the first thing I really do want you to think about doing or incorporating daily is meditation or affirmation. And I think those are both super powerful when it comes to aligning your subconscious mind with the goals that you're setting, and helping you to do what it is that you're trying to do, which is obviously a big goal, right?

1,667 words daily is a big deal. And sometimes we just don't feel like it. Sometimes it seems hard, even when you're having a good day, even when you're not sick. So what I want you to be doing is doing a morning meditation, doing something that first thing in the day puts your mindset in the right place, and maybe even include some of those affirmation mindset meditations.

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Okay, so tip number two is hydrate. Water is super important. I know a lot of you people probably aren't drinking enough water. I know I'm not usually either, but I want you to make sure that you're drinking more than enough water to hydrate your cells, to get rid of all of the crap that could build up in those cells and make you sick.

And if you do get sick, it's even more important. So make sure you're drinking enough water. Plus, it also helps with your brain. Did you know that it actually clears out all of the junk that's in your brain that keeps your head foggy and clouded and keeps you from being able to write better?

Who knew, right? So just make sure you're drinking enough water. Next up is Eat Right and take your vitamins. Yes, I'm a mom.

I'm going to tell you all of the same things every other mom has probably told you your entire life. Eat right and take your vitamins. Those are going to be critical to making sure that you don't get sick like me, and probably making sure that if you do get sick, you're able to bounce back quicker. So tip number four, I want you to lean on your friends and family.

So as you're going through NaNoWriMo, this is a really big deal. It's a lot of words. And sometimes if you're new to this process, writing that many words can actually mean taking up a big chunk of your day if you let it. First of all, set a better goal if you can, where you're trying to write within a sprint time frame.

Because remember, Parkinson's Law states that your work will fill the space and time allotted for it. So if you shorten that time frame, it will go faster and you'll still be able to accomplish it. Just ask any college kid who is trying to write a paper the night before it's due. Okay, so when you're doing all of this, there's a lot that you're trying to accomplish, and just make sure that you're leaning on your friends and family.

Let them in on this really big, cool, awesome task that you're trying to do. Let them know what you're trying to accomplish and how they can help you. Ask them for help if they can make dinner, or if they can bring you coffee or whatever the case is. Just ask them to help out wherever possible, because we suck at asking for help sometimes, don't we?

I know I do. So just make sure the people who love you are in on it, and it makes them feel special to when they're able to be a part of this big journey with you. Which brings us then right around to celebrate your wins, guys. Daily wins.

If you hit those 1,667 word goals, celebrate it. Make sure you're putting it on NaNoWriMo website so that it it tallies it up over there and let other people know that you hit your word count goal. We love to celebrate with our fellow authors. We love to celebrate when people are able to hit NaNoWriMo goals.

So just make sure you are celebrating and it reminds yourself and reinforces you as to why it is you're doing this now. Remember, your why is super important if you don't have a why. For wanting to write 1,667 words a day, you're probably not going to do it. Or you'll start doing it and then get lost along the way.

So just celebrate those wins. Speaking of celebrations in the United States, Thanksgiving also falls in the middle of NaNoWriMo. So if you live in the United States, one of the biggest things that I've struggled with in the past is how do you get those words in and still celebrate Thanksgiving? So you do that, in my personal opinion, in the way that I've done it in the past, by giving yourself a specific hour or two hours in the morning, maybe where that's your only time to write, you're not going to try to get your word count goal.

The the word count is irrelevant on Thanksgiving. And if you really want to, if that's a day where you really want to just celebrate with friends and family, maybe you've got family over for the holiday. Just let it go for the day and add those word counts in on a different day. Plan it out so that your week just bumps up a couple of words every single day.

So rather than 1,667 words on Thursday, on Thanksgiving, you, you know, divide that by six and spread it out. Me personally, I still like that daily process of checking in. So even though we do stuff for Thanksgiving, if I get up before everybody else at 6:00 in the morning, I can usually be writing by seven 730 and doing an okay job. I'm usually pretty awake by then, so I will try to go ahead and get my words done, you know, between 730 and to 930, and then by 930 in the morning, it's all Thanksgiving, all day long.

I really do want you to think about just cutting it loose and letting yourself celebrate the day with your friends and family, because that's a really important fun day. And then finally, I want you to think about taking care of yourself by taking the pressure off. I know we get really wrapped up in this idea of perfection. We want to, you know, do NaNoWriMo to the best of our ability.

We want to hit those goals, and we want to be able to say, we won NaNoWriMo for the year. But just remember, NaNoWriMo is not a one off thing. You're a prolific author who is trying to make an incredibly profitable, prosperous, and successful author career. In order to do that, it means knowing how best to work your career, and if that means easing up a little bit so that you take two days off a week, like I teach in Rapid Release Roadmap, then maybe do that even through NaNoWriMo, if it means doing a six week sprint and having those days off, do it.

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But ultimately, I just want you to take the pressure off a little bit and know that even if you fall below that 1,667 words, every single word counts. Every single word, even one, counts. Because that's one less word you have to write, right? So allow yourself to just go forward with it and not worry so much about absolutely 100% making things happen and just have fun with the process.

Trust the process. And like I said, enjoy it because it's supposed to be fun. The whole idea of this NaNoWriMo thing is to have a fun time, and fun, in my personal opinion, is the best way to take care of yourself. All right, guys, if you get sick though during NaNoWriMo, my personal self-care tip is also to ease back your expectations.

So not just take the pressure off in general, but if you do get sick, just ease back on the expectations a little bit, especially if you're on cold medicines like I am, or if you're just really not feeling well and can't see your screen very well. All of those things happen, and it just really comes down to you making sure that you're taking care of yourself in the best way possible. All right, guys, so

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And hopefully this was helpful for you guys today. It's a little bit shorter of a podcast episode because guess what?

I'm going to take care of myself as well. I'm going to go back to bed and probably have some more like hot tea or something, I don't know. I hope you have a great NaNoWriMo week and we'll see you again next week. Go forth and start your author revolution.