on Writerly Me:

NaNoWriMo is such a wonderful time of year!

However, as with all good things, it has to come to an end eventually… Right?

Well, perhaps not. You see, too often writers put all of their energy into NaNoWriMo, only to lose momentum once November ends. It can be even harder to continue writing if you “failed” NaNoWriMo’s ambitious 50k word count.

I myself have struggled with this (and still do some years!) After my first year taking part in NaNoWriMo, I stalled out by the time December came around and didn’t write anything else for the next two months.

Yep, you heard me right. Nada. Zip. Nothing! I didn’t even look at the story I had just spent 30 days writing for weeks afterwards and it ruined the great writing habits I had built up during November.

That’s the biggest danger this time of year. You create these habits, writing every week if not every day, only to lose them in the buzz of Christmas and New Year’s. As with any habit, keeping up with it is key to making it stick, and writing is no different!

So how can you keep your momentum going after NaNoWriMo and develop the habits you need to write successfully?