NaNoWriMo is still a month away. But official emails from the organization are starting to pop up in my inbox, which means it’s on my brain. One of the things that recently got updated on their website is the prep page. And it’s made me think about my own NaNoWriMo prep—both in past years and in the future.

In the past I’ve been what the website calls a Pantser. That is, minimal prep work if I did any at all. The other type of prepper is the Planner, the person who plans everything before they ever sit down to write. This year, I think I’d like to be more like the planner. I’d like to have characters, and a general plot, and some forward motion so that I can actually win the NaNoWriMo challenge—something I’ve never managed before. This means that this month isn’t going to be idle waiting for November to start. It means that I have work to do now. I have planning to do now.

This November also happens to coincide with a really exciting change in my life. Today is the first day of my new work schedule, the first day of my new, permanent three-day weekends. I’m still working full-time, but I’ve gone down to four days a week instead of five. This means three-day weekends for the foreseeable future, and a whole extra day to write in every week. I’m hoping the extra day, in addition to the the planning I’ve already started, will help with my word counts this November.

I’ve also been thinking about accountability—how to hold myself accountable to the goals I set. (Also known as self discipline, a level in Adulting I have yet to quite master.) Those thoughts are likely to take up an entire blog post of their own in the coming days as I figure out what November has in store for me.