Preptober, what is it and should I be participating?

If you’re a reader following your favorite author on social media or a writer who’s new to the game, you may be seeing a lot about ‘Preptober’. It seems like everyone and their grandma is out there, filling out their favorite Preptober planners, plotting, or talking about all the big plans they’re making this month. Wandering through various Instagram accounts, you get the feeling that Preptober is a movement. It seems big, important, and to a newbie author, scary and confusing.

My dear readers and writers, you may both be asking yourselves the same question. What is Preptober and what does it have to do with the future of my (favorite) books?

The answer: it could mean a lot, but only if you’re author, or you yourself are participating in Nanowrimo.

I know, I know. What the hell Vera? I’m asking for answers and now I have more questions!

For those of you who don’t know, Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month. Starting in July of 1999 in San Francisco, Nanowrimo began when 20 people got together to write a novel in a month. 22 years later, writers all over the world sit down and commit the month of November to write a 50,000-word novel. Not everyone who signs up is looking to write a novel. Some sign on to finish an existing book, to start one, write a blog, edit 50,000 words, or even to commit to writing daily.

Honestly, what the project is isn’t important. The end goal is to ‘win’ Nanowrimo by writing 50,000 words in 30 days. Though that isn’t my end goal, winning Nano can earn you prizes, discounts and help you complete a project in record time.

Now that I’m done with my wind-up, I’ll finally move on to the pitch, Preptober takes place in October and is used to prep for Nanowrimo. Hence the name Prep/tober. As an author, you can do many things in Preptober to prepare for the ups and downs of Nanowrimo.

Ways you can prep include:

• Brainstorming ideas to help choose the story you want to write during Nano.

• Plotting and outlining your novel

• Finding out how long/ how many words you need to write daily.

• Making a list of any tools/ programs you need to help you write your novel.

• Setting up a writing schedule.

• Meal planning so you have more stress-free time to write.

• Creating a vision board for your book

• Getting a jump start on your writing project ( if your book is more than 50,00 words)

• Handling any big/ pressing tasks to free up time in November. (Early Christmas shopping, party planning, getting your car fixed, finishing big work projects, etc. This can be anything that will take away from your time during nano that you can feasibly finish.)

• Planning your social media schedule and creating content ahead of time.

• Finding a group of authors to do Nano with to help keep you accountable.

These are just a few suggestions, as I’ve already seen people doing all kinds of things to prepare for Nanowrimo. Feel free to print out this post and use my suggestions above as a starting point for your own Preptober planning.

Do you have to participate in Preptober to be successful in Nanowrimo? No, but Nano is stressful especially if it is your first year. Doing anything you can to prepare and free up time for yourself can only help you.

Vera, I'm a pantser, and I don't plot. Can Preptober be helpful for me? As afellow pantser/discovery writer, I will tell you that I still think it would be helpful. I'm still learning how to plot in a way that feels organic to me, as I do see the value in it, even if it is minimal. I will be attempting to plot for Nano, but even if I wasn't, I would still be using Preptober to complete other tasks on the list above.

How am I prepping for Nano? I’ve printed out a Preptober Planner and some plotting pages and I plan to fill them out. I plan on mapping out November (this includes scheduling days off), making a writing schedule, meal planning, and creating social media posts in advance.

I will outline more of my Preptober preps later this month, and I will also be sharing my goals for Nanowrimo. How do you prep? Would you be interested in seeing more about how I’m prepping for Nano? Let me know!

I hope I answered your questions.

Stay creative and caffeinated,

Vera