You’re behind with National Novel Writing Month, aren’t you? Don’t worry; I’m not calling you out. It’s bound to happen to everyone during the challenge, unless you’re some sort of magical unicorn. And in that case, I applaud you, dear magical NaNoWriMo-ing unicorn. I envy you!

But, chances are you’re more like the rest of us common folk… behind and worried about how you’re going to catch up. We common folk need to stick together when that happens, which is why I’m going to share with you my favorite strategies for catching up when I fall behind during NaNoWriMo.

“Anything is Possible if You Put Your Mind to It”

Ah, yes, the old saying no one really likes to hear: if you try hard enough, you’ll eventually achieve it. I can hear the protests now: “But I’m 10,000 words behind!” “I haven’t even started yet and it’s two weeks in!”

I won’t invalidate those statements; I’ve been there. Everyone feels the oppressive weight of catching up bearing down on them during this lovely month of literary abandon. I can, however, teach you how to make it possible to achieve your goals during NaNoWriMo, 50,000 words or otherwise. Really, all it takes is a little “putting your mind to it,” so to speak.

But first things first; let’s look at how we can catch up.

Strategy 1: Workload Redistribution

Redistributing my daily workload is the go-to strategy I use to catch up during NaNoWriMo. It prevents me from slaving over writing 10,000+ words in a night to get back on track and burning out.

The basic idea is this: Figure out how many words you need to write by November 30th, decide how many writing days you have to do it, and redistribute your remaining word count across those days. 

The Method

To help you track all the numbers and equations you’ll need, I’ve created a FREE downloadable worksheet for newsletter subscribers that can be printed as many times as needed. It’s not required for this strategy, but it helps.

Step One: Count how many writing days you have left in the month. 

I say “writing days” because life prevents us from writing every day and it behooves us to take a day off to rest. I don’t write on Sundays, but maybe you have other constraints that prevent you from daily writing the rest of November (for those in the US, Thanksgiving and Black Friday could be some of those days).

As an example, let’s say you are a week late to starting National Novel Writing Month, and you don’t plan on writing on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. This means you have 21 “writing days” available the rest of the month to focus on writing your novel.

Step Two: Calculate how many words you must write by November 30th. 

This number varies depending on your situation. Subtract the words you’ve written from 50,000 to get your answer.

In the case of our example, we kept it easy. You will need to write the full 50,000 words to “win” NaNoWriMo in 21 days.

🚨 Now, don’t panic! 🚨

I realize that sounds like a tall order, but trust me; it’s a lot easier to do than you think.

Step Three: Divide the words you have left to write by your writing days.

Instead of pulling multiple high-word count sessions, this will help you redistribute your workload across your remaining days.

If we look back to our example, that means you would not have to spend one day writing almost 12,000 words. Instead, we divide 50,000 words by 21 days to get a new daily word count of 2,381 words instead of the recommended 1,666. While this won’t close the gap immediately, in the long run, it is more sustainable to catch up. 

Okay, well this strategy is all well and good, but what if you are so far behind there is no feasible way for you to catch up by the end of the month?

Strategy 2: Move the Cheese

On occasion, we may fall so far behind during NaNo that we can’t catch up without putting our health and sanity in jeopardy. 

“But, what about being able to do whatever you put your mind to?” 

Well, you can… you just need to move the cheese a little bit. 

If you are unable to finish 50,000 words by the month’s end, you can instead set a new goal you feel good pursuing. In other words, “moving the cheese.” It is totally acceptable to adjust your personal goal for November to something that you’re proud of instead of killing yourself over finishing 50,000 words. 

For this strategy, you’ll evaluate how many words you can write per day, how many days you have left to finish, and set a goal that will stretch you just a little, but still feels like an accomplishment.

The Method

Step One: Decide how many days you are able to write the rest of the month.

Life often gets in the way or throws us an emergency, and we have to adapt to achieve our goals. We need to be flexible and realistic about the time it takes to handle these curve balls, and designate writing days accordingly. 

As an example, we will say it is November 20th and you have only written 20,000 words, and due to family and travel obligations, you only have 6 days you can write.

Step Two: Evaluate how many words you are able to write per day without pushing into burnout. 

Sometimes it is best to look at what we can do and give ourselves new stretch goals based on it. In my case, I’m in a season where I’m only able to write 200 or so words per day. Until my writing muscle strengthens, more than that is too stressful. Since the holidays are generally a stressful time for everyone, we will use this same word count in our example to help out with step three.

Step Three: Multiply the words you can write per day by how many writing days you have left.

This will tell you how many words you can comfortably write by the deadline if you continue at your current pace.

For our example, we would multiply 200 words by 6 days to get 1,200 words.

Step Four: Add the words you can write by the end of the month to the words you’ve written.

Adding these numbers will help you determine what goal you can reach by the end of the month. Keep in mind this goal should help you feel empowered to finish strong, so don’t compare it to the 50,000 NaNoWriMo requires. The point of the challenge is to write, so any writing can be a personal triumph. 

Going back to the numbers from our example, the new goal would be 20,000 words plus 1,200 words, or 21,200 words by the end of the month.

Step Five: Decide whether you could increase that final number to make a challenging, yet feasible goal.

Setting a stretch goal is optional, but I like to include it because I feel part of NaNoWriMo’s point is to grow your abilities. Though, I acknowledge sometimes life circumstances may not allow you to push the limits as much as you would like. 

But for the sake of example, let’s say you have the ability to push your limits. Take a look at your new goal of 21,200 words and decide how much further you can press yourself without causing too much strain. Maybe that goal is a very ambitious 25,000 total words. Or maybe it’s 22,000 words. You decide what your capacity is during those last 6 days you can write. Choosing a new goal can help take the sting out of not clocking 50,000 words, especially if the word count you hit is a new personal best.

Conclusion

So there you have it! Two methods you can use to help you reach your goals by the end of NaNoWriMo. 

As with everything, I highly recommend you try this out to see if it works for you. If it doesn’t, that’s totally okay! Sometimes securing that win for National Novel Writing Month is about finding a combination of strategies that work best for your brain! If you’re interested in further strategies that can help you catch up during NaNoWriMo, you can check out my book, Booked to the Gills: How To Crush Thirty-Day Writing Challenges for Busy People. I go over a handful of other strategies I’ve used during NaNoWriMo to help me stay on track or make up for lost time.

What strategies have you found effective for catching up during NaNoWriMo? Let me know in the comments below!