How to Have an Amazing NaNoWriMo

With NaNoWriMo underway, and perhaps the early excitement and momentum beginning to fade, now is the perfect time to ponder how to approach such a massive writing challenge.

“I know how to do that, silly muffin,” you might say. “Sit your butt down every day for 30 days in a row and write exactly 1,666.6 words per day, even as your life crumbles around you and the story you’re writing goes in five billion different directions and you never want to see it again once you’re finished. Voila! NaNoWriMo!”

While you're absolutely welcome to approach it this way, I think there might just be a better path, don't you?

How to Overcome Writer's Block in a Unique New Way

Have you found yourself dreading your writing time of late? Maybe sitting down diligently but watching the clock and feeling secretly relieved when it's over? Lying awake at night, doubting your abilities as a writer and wondering if this is a sign you should just give up on your creative dreams?

Not so fast, creative soul. Before you take one step further in that direction, I need to tell you a story.

How to Create a Workspace Inspired by Beatrix Potter

Never let it be said that lack of a beautiful home office begets writers block, but let's be honest: it's delightful when the space we work in, be it portable or stationary, sparks the creative fire, isn't it? And while there are some gorgeous home decor makeovers out there, sometimes all you need is a bit of innovation, encouraged by creations or creators you love.

Today we're bringing nature to the forefront for a workspace inspired by Beatrix Potter.

How to Organize a Story In Microsoft Word with Styles and a Table of Contents: A Step-by-Step Tutorial for Writers

How well do you know the program you use to write?

Microsoft Word has been my go-to for nearly two decades, and my love grew tenfold when I learned how to use Styles and create a table of contents.

Knowing how to use these tools allows you to do things like:

• use whichever font you love best for drafting a story, then change it before sending it to your agent or a beta reader
• rearrange entire chapters or scenes
• organize reams of story research

When you're ready to follow this quick tutorial, you'll emerge on the other side with a document that's set up to hold whatever you can throw at it, one that can be traversed in a flash, and you can apply it in areas other than writing, as well! You'll be creating a document from scratch here, but once you understand each of the steps, you can apply the same principles to any documents already on the go for your stories.

This tutorial assumes a basic knowledge level of how to use Microsoft Word. You should know how to create a new document, the difference between "Save" and "Save As", and be able to find your way to the various tabs and their associated groups (e.g. the Font and Paragraph groups can be found in the Home tab).

Nearly everything we do in this tutorial can be found in the Home tab.

I'm currently using the latest version of Microsoft Word through Microsoft 365, but this tutorial doesn't dive into any advanced features, so the steps should be nearly identical or at least similar for many older versions of Microsoft Word, as well.

With all that being said, let's style some text and table some contents! 😉