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NaNoDoMore Is Back!

Wow, 2020 really threw us all for a loop! Here it is November already (at last?), and writers around the world will engage in NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, or some other form of daily wordcount goal this year. We applaud any and all efforts to up your writing game, but for most of our staff here at YeahWrite, we just can’t even. Most of us have tried one challenge or another, but this year those challenges just seem, well, too challenging. And so:

Welcome to Year 3 of YeahWrite’s NaNoDoMore. It’s like a little scavenger hunt for your writing.

30 days, 30 goals, but only because that’s a convenient number (I promise you will not be writing a novel in a day). Do any number of the goals. Do as many or as few on a given day as you want to and as you’ve got room for in your life. If big wordcounts are your thing, we’ve got you covered. If you want one or two achievable goals? We’ve got your back.

But Do More. Do something new this month. Stretch yourself a little. There’s no prize for doing the most or the least but there is a prize for one person who does something! 

How to “win” NaNoDoMore

We’re gonna make it simple this year. All you have to do is post at least one thing you accomplished from the list in the YeahWrite Coffeehouse Facebook group with the hashtag #NaNoDoMore. Everyone who posts at least once will be entered in a drawing, and at the end of the month, we’ll select one participant at random to win a $30 voucher to the YeahWrite online shop! (Well, give us till December 15 to tally up the names.)

(Not on Facebook? *gasp* We’re disappointed, but we get it. Tag us on Twitter or Instagram along with the #NaNoDoMore hashtag, or send us an email at editors@yeahwrite.me with the subject “NaNoDoMore” detailing at least one thing you accomplished from the list and we’ll count you in!)

This list is NOT in ascending order from easiest to hardest. What we think is easy you might think is hard, or vice versa. It’s not in order of “this is for your blog, this is fiction, this is nonfiction.” We want you to be comfortable zipping around in the list and just picking out the ones that sound exciting or interesting to you. There’s only one rule: try to do something you’ve never done before, or help someone else do that. Sound good? Let’s hit the list.

  1. Submit your first post to a YeahWrite grid. Not sure how? Here’s our quick-and-dirty guide. Already a veteran? Submit to a YeahWrite grid you’ve never been on (or the one you submit to less). Is fiction your jam? Try a poem or essay! Are you an essayist? Write a story or a poem!
  1. Share a link to a story or essay that you love on social media. Talk about why you love it.
  1. Get a friend who’s never written for YeahWrite onto a grid (you can host them on your blog if they don’t have their own, just put a disclaimer about whose work it is so we don’t think you submitted twice).
  1. Mix up your writing methods: try writing longhand if you usually use a computer. Or if you usually write longhand, try drafting on a computer or dictating your writing.
  1. Submit writing to a market that pays. That’s right: get paid for your hard work. We know, it’s a novel concept. (see what we did there?) 
  1. Write a complete story in under 100 words. Hit us up in the Coffeehouse if you need a prompt! 
  1. Read some poetry! Check out the daily poems at poets.org – you can find something new, or read old favorites. Bonus points: read something by a BIPOC poet.
  1. Write a 500-word post (fiction or nonfiction) for the YeahWrite grid.
  1. Sign up for a workshop or class on writing. Do a web search, ask for recommendations in the Coffeehouse, or keep an eye out for YeahWrite’s next class!
  1. Write an elevator pitch for your WIP. Not sure how? Check out this Year of Fearless Writing post with tips.
  1. Write a story in a point-of-view you don’t usually use. Love that first-person? Try third. Or even second!
  1. Start a conversation in the Coffeehouse about anything writing related. 
  1. Update your author page with a biography and list of publications (This can be as simple as a list of your favorite posts with links to the posts. Don’t be intimidated by the idea that other authors may have more. There will always be an Agatha Christie out there.).
  1. Beta read for someone. Don’t have a writer friend? Find one in the Coffeehouse! Super Challenge participants, this one’s for you!
  1. Time for a coffee break! Check out the new prompts in the weekly kickoff post.
  1. Pull an old story out of the drawer and revise it.
  1. Help an author out: review their book on Amazon or Goodreads. No Amazon or Goodreads account? Write a review on your own blog or website and with a link to purchase the book.
  1. Post a darling (a favorite phrase or sentence, or a brief passage; something you’d hate to delete) from your current work-in-progress in the Coffeehouse.
  1. Host an online reading or critique group. For readings, invite writers to read for about six minutes from a WIP or completed work. For critique groups, have everyone come with a short piece to workshop.
  1. Co-write a story with someone else.
  1. Enter a writing competition. Nervous? We’ve got a few tips on approaching prompts that should help.
  1. Participate in NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo. (What? If you’re doing all that work you should get credit for it in as many places as you can!)
  1. Start reading a book that you feel like everyone has read but you—one that you don’t want your writer friends to know you haven’t read yet.
  1. Find your own prompt! Read a poem, visit a photography website, or listen to some new music. Open yourself up to be inspired.
  1. Write an essay you’ve been afraid to write because of what your family might say. (You don’t have to post or publish it. Just write it.)
  1. Write a poem in a form you’ve never tried. Check out our Poetry Slam archive for ideas and tutorials. 
  1. Find one interesting anthology that’s accepting submissions and post about it in the Coffeehouse: what makes it exciting to you? Why should someone think about writing for or submitting to it? 
  1. Write your own “Best of 2020” roundup. Link to at least five books, stories, and/or essays you read this year and let us know why you loved them. Or make a YeahWriter’s day and put together a list of your favorite grid posts!
  1. Write a short story or longform essay between 1,000-5,000 words. Share a link in the Coffeehouse!
  1. Buy a book for a child. It doesn’t have to be your child. If you don’t have access to a suitable child, ask your local school or prison library what books they’d like and make a donation.

Remember: this isn’t a checklist for destroying your life in 30 days. You’re not supposed to get through all of it. But why not try as many new things as you can reasonably fit into your November? No pressure, no shaming, just… a little NaNoDoMore.

We’ll be checking in with you all month in the Coffeehouse, sharing our adventures and scary baby steps too. What’s the first new thing you plan to try?