Seriously, I’m asking.

I was responding to an email from a friend last night (sorry, by the way, that it always takes me forever to write emails, pal), and they mentioned they were doing Preptober prep in the lead up to NaNo in November and, you know what, it got me thinking. What do people do when they’re prepping? What does a Preptober look like?

I’ve done NaNo for the last few years, largely because I enjoy the drama and the pressure of trying to write 50,000 words in a month (lol why am I like this) and I think I’m going to do NaNo again this year (though I’ll be continuing the novel I started this month rather than starting something from scratch), but I haven’t, like… properly prepared in the way that it seems like people do come October.

I think that some of this stems from the fact that (this current novel notwithstanding and this one was a complete accident) I don’t outline my novels — I’ll take some notes, jot down a few scenes, but I’m rarely sitting there with a list like “okay, and then this scene….”

(some novels, like the travel novel, involved pretty detailed mapping out of the whole trip because it was 50 days and many countries and very involved, but I didn’t map out the plot. I don’t know why I’m drawing a line here, but it feels like there’s a distinction)

So I’m genuinely wondering, when you do your Preptober, what kinds of things are you prepping? What has been helpful for you? What kind of prepping are you doing this year that maybe you haven’t done in the past (or, to flip it, what prep aren’t you doing this year that you used to do)? I think I’m technically prepping (maybe?) by writing, you know, half the novel in October, but I’m curious what it is that I’m missing out on.

Whether you’re prepping or not, though, I hope you’re having a lovely Monday (or Tuesday, depending on where you are in the world).

x Elle