Preptober 2024

I'm giving Sarrah Cannon's challenge a go: The Rough Draft Challenge...

This November I'm going to give NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a go. I confess, I have only ever tried this once, and failed miserably. I think by day four, I’d given up because I’d fallen behind my 1,667 daily word count goal. For me, it was an unattainable goal that only real writers could accomplish.

But this year, I realised something… I am a REAL writer. And maybe… maybe I could do NaNoWriMo and actually succeed.

Evidence of my Realness

*Please note, I’m including this section for fun and to give myself a pat on the back, it is in no way, shape or form trying to suggest that one has to do the following things to be a real writer. We’re all real writers. And that’s pretty f**king awesome x

As you will know (if you follow me), I have already written a post about me realising I’m a writer: I am THAT writer. But I’ll be honest, I’m only just starting to truly believe it now. When I sat down and thought of all the things I had accomplished this year, whilst working as a teacher, and mummying, I realised something: I’ve done a really good job.

This year alone, I have:

• Read 10 books (yes this counts as part of my writing journey)

• Completed the first draft of The Book of Khem (I've Written a Book)

• Gone on multiple writing courses, including one on how to write a query pitch

• Started a brand new novel

• Started a Creative Writing club at my new school

• Written more Substack posts and revamped my home page/branding/all the other fancy bits that come with Substack

And much more… like writing poetry again!

I feel that now is the right time to give this massive challenge a go. But… 50,000 words in thirty days, whilst working and parenting, during the month before December… the month of Christmas, New Year, three close relatives’ birthdays and my own…

Can I realistically achieve this?

That’s where author, Sarrah Cannon, comes into the picture.

The Rough Draft Challenge (NaNoWriMo)

Sarrah Cannon is an author who has written 30+ books. She has a popular Instagram account, YouTube channel, and she hosts a community called Heart Breathings. She, along with her fellow writers within her community, came up with the idea that NaNoWriMo (whose target it is to reach 50,000 words within the month of November) is not attainable for all writers, but that shouldn’t mean they should become disheartened and give up.

Henceforth: The Rough Draft Challenge.

The concept is the same, you write a certain amount of words within a month. However, The Rough Draft Challenge has different levels you can work towards, and all sound shiny and fun to achieve:

Emerald - 10,000 words

Sapphire - 25,000 words (this is the one I’ve gone for and you’ll see why in a moment)

Ruby - 50,000 words

Amethyst - 100,000 words

Diamond - Your own goal

So, it’s a pretty basic idea. I didn’t think much of it… except Sarrah Cannon was giving away a free resource. The Preptober planner:

Why I’ve fallen in love with this planner:

Well, other than being a teacher and stationery wh**e, I love this planner because at the very beginning, once you’ve selected your gemstone, Sarrah has sorted out the maths for you to come up with your daily word count goal.

But she included within this pack… self-care and a realistic approach to NaNoWriMo.

Let me explain…

Within the pack is a basic monthly calendar page. NOVEMBER. And on the left hand side are steps to figuring out your daily word count goal. In theory, if my goal is 25,000 words by the end of the month, I’d have to write 833 words per day. This isn’t too bad (I thought), except I haven’t taken into consideration any busy days. This is why I fell in love with Sarrah’s planner.

Within the steps, she tells you to mark off the days that you know you realistically won’t be able to write on due to life. And she tells you to include a few ‘buffer’ days in case you get sick or life gets in the way (damn you, life). Once I had done this, I realised I had 21 days of writing. This equates to 1,191 words a day.

Sweet. I have an accurate daily word count goal.

(By the way, Sarrah explains this much better than I do in her video: Preptober).

The next part of the mathematical equation is to figure out how many ‘sprints’ I’d need to do a day and how many words per sprint etc. Watch Sarah’s YouTube video - honestly it’s better than me writing it all out.

Anyway, the reason why I’m talking about this is because I’m super excited. Using Sarrah’s resource has made NaNoWriMo/The Rough Draft Challenge seem achievable, like the impossible has been made possible (little nod to: Tuesday Muse-Day #1).

So, there we have it, my lovelies. Are you doing NaNoWriMo this month? Are you going for 50,000 words or are you completing a different word count goal? Or are you working on a completely different project that isn’t writing related?

Let me know in the comments x