NaNoWriMo might only happen in November, but that shouldn’t stop you from working on your novel throughout the year. Today, writer, editor, and Municipal Liaison for the Europe :: England :: Cornwall region Anne Rainbow shares her tips for writing and editing your novel with precision: 

1. Plan ahead.

I’m an ML for Cornwall, UK, and take part in NaNo every year. If you are a NaNo addict like me, it’s important that you plan how you will spend the months between one NaNo and the next.

My year is split into four phases. In November, I write a new NaNo novel. It’s an indulgence, allowing myself thirty days of writing to create something completely new. In December and January, I relax! I reacquaint myself with family and friends, and catch up on the day job. This creates distance between me and the passion I felt while writing during November, which is very important for the stages ahead.

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, Danielle Paige, author of Dorothy Must Die, shares her thoughts on finding good readers… and being one:

The scene: You’re at a party with a friend and she asks you to do a teeth check before going over to meet the potential love of her life, or maybe to take a once-in-a-lifetime selfie with Taylor Swift. You see a giant piece of spinach between her two front teeth. Do you:

• a. tell her, or 
• b. hope Photoshop will handle it. 

Clearly, the answer is to tell her. Reading a writer’s manuscript is the teeth-check moment but on a much bigger scale. You may very well be the writer’s last defense before sending his or her work out to agents and editors.

So before you pull out your red pen or start filling those multicolored note bubbles in Word, here are a few thoughts on being a good reader…

The 2015 “Now What?” Months are here! Throughout January and February, we’ll be bringing you editing, revision, and publishing advice from all corners of the publishing world. Today, Cal Armistead, author of Being Henry David, shares how you can find great readers:

So you finished the first draft of your novel during NaNoWrimo; now you have your glorious, gorgeous lump of clay. Hooray for the lump of clay! Before you started, there was nothing. Now, there is something. No, it’s not ready yet for the world to see, but you have the raw materials to mold it into something spectacular.

The first thing to do, is edit. Make it the best you know you can do. Then, you need somebody to read it. This is critical. Even big-deal authors need feedback, to offer outside-of-one’s-own-brain perspective.

How do you find these readers? The best readers are often other writers. Many libraries or bookstores offer critique groups. Or, take a writing class and see if anyone would be interested in exchanging manuscripts. (Your feedback is valuable to them as well.)