Milestones and rewards

Look, it doesn't all have to be bad. For every mile of stick, there can be a little bit of carrot.

I want you to work out a series of Nano milestones - word count targets that you are going to aspire to reach, on schedule. The idea is that these are bigger than the daily grind, but more manageable than the full 50K. As long as you are hitting these milestones on schedule, you are doing okay. You also get a treat for doing so (see below).

Typically, these will be every ten thousand words, but depending on experience, you might vary them. If you're feeling particularly nervous, you might want to schedule the first one at 5K, to give yourself a manageable target for the first three days (1667 x 3 = 5001 words. We won't fight about that one extra word). It is important to work out what day you are meant to hit that total on, as well. SO if you are doing the standard 1667 words per day, with a milestone every 10K, these are your milestones and the date you need to reach them on:

10K - Day 6
20K - Day 12
30K - Day 18
40K - Day 24
50K - Day 30

It is important to remember real word commitments when scheduling milestones - if you are going to be away from the keyboard, unavoidably, in the first few days of November, you need to reflect that in your word counts and due dates.

As an experienced Nano-er, I'm only placing three milestones - one at 15K, one at 30K and one at 50K. And I should be reaching them on or before Day 9, Day 18 and Day 30, at 1667 per day.

Here's the nice part - If you hit your milestones on schedule, you get a reward. This is something prearranged and isn't anything too flash - no new cars or $500 shoes. Just a little treat to acknowledge your achievement - a book or a CD or similar. Unless you are so madly rich that $500 shoes count as a tiny treat.

I'll treat myself to a book at 15K, a CD at 30K and a DVD at 50K. I'm not specifying what book or CD, because most of the pleasure lies in choosing. The DVD will be Hurly Burly - I remember seeing it in the cinema, years ago, and was really impressed by the dialogue and acting, and I'd like to see it again.

Nights off are NOT a reward. You can't work for ten days, hitting your word count, and then give yourself a night off - you'll simply put yourself behind. The only way to earn a reward is by front loading - getting ahead of the writing schedule, e.g. writing 10 days of words in 9 days. ANd even then, I recommend you only do this when you are trying to cover for a real world commitment you can't wriggle out of. The risk with giving yourself a day off as a reward sis, bluntly, they taste too good. Take a day off from the keyboard, and it will be very difficult to make yourself come back.

Please emal me what your milestones are and what day you expect to hit them on. Specifying rewards are optional.