NaNoWriMo Advice: Creating a Pitch as a Motivational Touchstone

Dear NaNoers Everywhere,

You rock.

You are a frenzied lot of rock-star creatives who kick butt.  You are inventive beyond belief (and I believe a lot of crazy stuff).  And you are true believers that harness massive forward momentum, because it is yours for the taking.

I am one of you.  Frenzied, crazy, and massive.  No, wait…  I meant “true believer.”  Yeah, that’s much better.

And I have good news for all of you who actually can’t take an entire month off of…

• work,
• kids,
• pets and their associated medical conditions (not including whatever is living in the attic, which may or may not have a “condition”)
• family moves (all 3 involving your help),
• birthdays, holidays, and days your sinuses suck,
• surgery, catastrophe, and “being there” for those you love,
• emergency air conditioner, computer, refrigerator, dishwasher, and phone repair and/or total replacement and/or declaration of death and funeral-by-recycling (is it legal for everything to break at once?)

… in order to devote all day, every day to NaNo.

Everyone gets sidetracked.  The key is finding a touchstone to bring you instantly back to passion, story, and forward momentum.

Create a pitch that becomes a motivational touchstone.

Here’s how it works.  This is NOT a selling pitch.  This time, you are pitching yourself.

#1  List all the reasons you are TOTALLY excited by your idea, plot, characters, twists & turns, whatever you have so far.  Why is it amazingly cool to you?

#2  Think about the geeky aspects of your story (“would only be understood by another writer”), the parts that make your heart pitter pat because You. Get. To. Play. With. Them. 

• Narrative time loops?
• Quotes at the beginning of each chapter?
• Multiple POV including the unusually large mouse in the attic?
• Archetypes, themes, structures, tropes, set pieces?
• Character quirks?
• Rules you’ll break?
• Coolness Factors?

There are always reasons why *this* book captures your heart and imagination, and why readers will (frankly) be lucky to read it.  That’s what we’re looking for.

#3  Create a pitch just for you.  A motivational pitch. 

• This is a book were I get to….
• I can’t wait to play with….
• No one has ever….
• I just love….

#4  In true NaNo form, do not edit what you write.  Just plow it on out there with such excitement and force that it has to be true.

These are the core words that will guide you when your life interrupts.  These words are your power. 

Just like a selling pitch, where you capture the agents’, editor’s, or reader’s attention, these words capture YOUR attention.  These words tap into your book’s potential and link it to your passion.

Pretty cool, eh?

#5  Post it on your computer desktop, on the wall, on the bathroom mirror, on the new refrigerator….  Post it wherever you need the reminder of what’s waiting for you once sit down to write.

BONUS TRICK:  At your computer, post your favorite sentence from the last writing session.  Damn you’re good.  Now keep going.

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This article is part of a series by Pitch U Founder, Diane Holmes.  Next up…

• Better NaNo Focus through Pitching