It’s November already. If you’re a writer, you’ve been feeling the anticipatory tingles in your fingers since September. Now, it’s time to get writing, right?…RIGHT?…
There’s no need to worry yourself over the tight daily deadlines of the challenge and that high daily word count. The internet is a place rife with people who have succeeded in Nanowrimo despite busy work schedules, traveling across timezones, and responsibilities abound.
Whether you’ve started on November 1 or have been held back by fear, your internal critic, or the chaos of the modern world, here are 5 Nanowrimo Vloggers who will inspire your fingers and that wonderful imagination of yours to start writing.
Kristina Horner
She has done the Nanowrimo challenge 12 times and, throughout the 2010s, made an annual vlog of her journey toward that lofty fifty thousand word mark. Though the factors of her writing process or the contents of her books are not disclosed, what makes her videos stand out are the various activities she does alongside writing upwards of 1667 words a day. Each vlog begins with Kristina slightly fatigued after a Halloween bash, but watch as the days stack up. Whether traveling to France, battling the pesky flu, or riding up the lateral coast of California, she manages to put the words in her mind on the word document. If not for the writing advice, you’ll get inspired for her active lifestyle.
Brandon Sanderson
If you’ve followed Bookstr for a while, then you know we dig Brandon Sanderson’s work. The fantasy author of numerous ongoing series, including The Mistborn Saga, The Stormlight Archive, and Skyward has partaken in the challenge numerous times in his youth. It was the catalyst for his magnum opus book The Way of Kings. In November of 2020, Brandon Sanderson posted on his YouTube channel a short vlog delving into his five tips on how to achieve the fifty thousand word goal. If advice from a bestselling fantasy author wasn’t enough to peak your interest, Brandon Sanderson’s YouTube channel also contains video lectures from his Sci-Fi and Fantasy Writing course that he teaches every year at Brigham Young University. Just think: first class lectures from a bestselling author for free! What are you waiting for?
Kate Cavanaugh
She stands out among the numerous Writer-YouTubers for her prolificacy, down-to-earth style of vlogs, and interest in the techniques of famous writers. Rather than simply describing her perfect writing life, she shows it, posting multiple videos a week. If you’re someone craving a constant stream of inspiration, Kate Cavanaugh is the best choice YouTube vlogger for you, add the fact that she is participating in this year’s Nanowrimo and will be posting updates on her progress throughout the month.
Abbie Emmons
She’s fulfilled the nanowrimo writer’s prophecy: win the challenge, revise, edit, and publish. And she has the back of any writer struggling to make headway toward that objective. With a serene cinematic style in all her videos, one gets the sense of inspiration building inside them. Her videos delve into everything writer-related, from Nanowrimo, story structure, outlining, and characters. She’s even documented her audiobook recording process. For those of you with dreams of making writing a livelihood, Abbie Emmons is the perfect role model.
Tyler Mowery
Though he discusses film exclusively in his videos, his advice is absolutely crucial for writing anything of substantial depth. Every aspiring writer should watch his famous “I Wrote A Screenplay In 48 Hours,” in which he documented every step of his process. It’s not the only bit of internet gold he has produced; his channel consists of countless videos on writing productivity and breakdowns of popular movies over the decades, which home in on specific storytelling aspects that have led to their popularity. If you want to improve your writing production and quality of work, Tyler Mowery is the coach you’ve been waiting for.