# October checklist — getting ready for a novel-writing month

A month is thirty days and fifty thousand words is about 1,700 a day. You don't need a full outline. You need enough that day 12 doesn't stall. Tick what you have; ignore what you don't need.

- [ ] One sentence that says what the book is (not the plot — the promise)
- [ ] The first scene, and the feeling I want the reader to leave it with
- [ ] Five to twelve things that must happen, in rough order
- [ ] Three characters with a name and a want (the rest can be "the neighbour" for now)
- [ ] The ending I'm aiming at — allowed to change, but written down
- [ ] A place to write that opens in one gesture, on every device I actually use
- [ ] Where a stray idea goes when it arrives at 11 pm (and how it gets back into the book)
- [ ] My real daily number (1,700 is the average; mine is ______)
- [ ] Two days a week where zero is fine
- [ ] Someone to send a word count to