While browsing the NaNoWriMo forums during October, I came across something referred to as 'The Reward System'. I later discovered there are two different motivational methods referred to as 'The Reward System' and I'll cover the other one in a moment; this one's about over-writing in the early stages of NaNoWriMo so that you have to write fewer and fewer words each day as the month progresses.
Generally speaking, NaNoWriMo participants are more motivated in the first week of the month and thus inclined to write more anyway. The benefit is that as your motivation declines, so does your daily goal, leaving you with one, single, solitary, lonely, and quite wonderful word to write on your final day. The agreed upon goals for a 30 day challenge are as follows:
Day 1: 3346 (It’s day one! Hell yeah, go for it!)
Day 2: 3216
Day 3: 3101
Day 4: 2986
Day 5: 2872
Day 6: 2757
Day 7: 2642
Day 8: 2527 (This is the hard part. Week one is out of the way, but you’ve still got some painful quotas left. Just do it!)
Day 9: 2412
Day 10: 2298
Day 11: 2183
Day 12: 2068
Day 13: 1953 (Almost there…)
Day 14: 1838 (Almost there……)
Day 15: 1724 (Halfway point! After this, you’ll be writing less every day than everyone else!)
Day 16: 1609
Day 17: 1494
Day 18: 1379
Day 19: 1264
Day 20: 1150
Day 21: 1035 (Less than a thousand words a day after this!)
Day 22: 920
Day 23: 805
Day 24: 690
Day 25: 576 (That’s a single good Word War! Feel free to laugh at the people with over three times this quota today!)
Day 26: 461
Day 27: 346
Day 28: 231
Day 29: 116
Day 30: 1 (Aww yeah! One word left! Make it a good one!)
(This is from Nicole Cook's blog, Daily Dish Recipes, with thanks.)
My problem is that with a holiday booked for the end of the month, I wanted to finish early (specifically, I'm aiming to hit 50k on the 21st November). Fortunately, a kind soul on the forums posted the goals for completing in 21 days, and that's where the frontloading target you've seen on previous blog posts originated.
However, perhaps you are only now starting NaNoWriMo (yes, there's still time!) and you'd like to use this system. Perhaps you also want to finish early, or you're aiming for a higher target. Well, here's a handy formula that will allow you to calculate your own daily goals.
(( t x 2) / d ) - 1 = g
g / ( d - 1 ) = w
t = word target
d = number of writing days
g = writing goal for day 1
w = amount of words to decrease your goal by for each writing day
I am no mathematician, (I'm a writer!) so I cannot guarantee this is correct mathematical notation, or that it is even right (although I've checked it with a couple of permutations, and it seems to work). I also can't take ANY credit for this at all. I didn't invent the reward system and the formula is stolen from bart6500 on Yahoo! Answers. Also, be warned that due to rounding, you would probably need to 'adjust' (i.e. increase or decrease by the odd word) on a few of the daily goals so that you have your one word left on your final day.
The other reward system involves chocolate. Or sweets. Or luxurious baths. Or time playing your favourite game. It is far less complicated than the above, requires no formula, requires no maths at all. (Hurrah!) What it does require is a willing arbiter, or diamond-like willpower that was fashioned under intense heat and pressure, possibly in the heart of Mordor.
Step one, find your arbiter. Step two, prepare your reward (if it's TV time, or X-Box time and you have those, you're all set). Step three, decide on your daily word count goal. Step four, write. You only get your reward when you've hit your goal for the day. Simples! Of course, if you're feeling really sadistic, you could always combine both reward systems.
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