The Reward System – One Word on Day 30

So every year I have managed my 1667 words per day for NaNoWriMo. In fact, somedays I write more – usually at the beginning few weeks. Then I get less confident of my story, or the direction it is going and I begin to write less and less until the last few days when I panic and realize I have to write, write, write to get that 50,000.

Over on the boards, I saw someone post something that intrigued me. She called it the Reward System – where you write 1 word on day 30. (guess I better make it a good word).

Here is her post off the boards in its entirety … I’m sharing because I AM DOING THIS – and you may or may not want to also.

If you’re like me, you start out strong when writing a new story but immediately begin slacking as ideas cease to flow and the concrete past constricts the once-fluid future.

Therefore, I developed a NaNo writing technique to accommodate this writing style! Each day, you write a few less words than the day before, until finally ending with only a single word on day 30! Here’s the breakdown:

Word Quotas

Week One
Day 1: 3346 (It’s day one! Hell yeah, go for it!)
Day 2: 3216
Day 3: 3101
Day 4: 2986
Day 5: 2872
Day 6: 2757
Day 7: 2642

Week Two
Day 8: 2527 (This is the hard part. Week one is out of the way, but you’ve still got some painful quotas left. Just do it!)
Day 9: 2412
Day 10: 2298
Day 11: 2183
Day 12: 2068
Day 13: 1953 (Almost there…)
Day 14: 1838 (Almost there……)

Week Three
Day 15: 1724 (Halfway point! After this, you’ll be writing less every day than everyone else!)
Day 16: 1609
Day 17: 1494
Day 18: 1379
Day 19: 1264
Day 20: 1150
Day 21: 1035 (Less than a thousand words a day after this!)

Week Four
Day 22: 920
Day 23: 805
Day 24: 690
Day 25: 576 (That’s a single good Word War! Feel free to laugh at the people with over three times this quota today!)
Day 26: 461
Day 27: 346
Day 28: 231

Week Five
Day 29: 116
Day 30: 1 (Aww yeah! One word left! Make it a good one!)

So – seems pretty simple to me. Especially since I start out with a gusto and I will have no problem keeping that going throughout the month. Hey, I figure I’ll try it out this year and if it doesn’t work, I’ll revert back to the good old 1667 words per day.

Oh, and I made myself a wallpaper for my computer. I converted it for my daughters computer and our netbook. These are the only sizes I am making it in, but if one works for you – enjoy it. They will only be available until November 5, 2010 – then I will be removing them.