Writing in general strikes me as a pretty hard thing to pin down, almost arbitrarily so. For example, sometimes a bit of music is relaxing and helps me concentrate, but at other times it's just distracting. I also seem to work best near dawn and dusk rather than during the middle of the day, (except when I sometimes don't feel in the mood). And I've tried both the "winging it" approach and the "planning thoroughly" approach. Both have their places, but neither seem to be the one true approach.

This is obviously pretty relevant during NaPoWriMo, when working for nice long stretches is (presumably) the ideal, probably more so than during a less hectic month. That's where technique is crucial. For instance, I find it hard not to reread a scene I've just written - it's just so encouraging to see results - but the most common advice I find is to resist doing this. And for another example, some people prefer writing in long sessions while others do it in small chunks throughout a day.

So I'm curious. How do people deal with the change in pace? Practically speaking, we may pick up suggestions from each other to try out. More generally, it's just interesting in its own right to get an idea of the variety of approaches people take.

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I swear by some form of white noise; I like the sound of rain for blocking out other distractions while not itself being a distraction.

I have an instrumental (non-lyrics) classic rock music station on Pandora.

6189094
I absolutely re-read what I've just written. I don't know why people say to not, it seems silly to me.

I mean, you do want to let it sit a good long while before you give it a serious editing pass, but there's no reason not to enjoy what you just did and maybe check for typos while you're at it.

6189094
When I start up I go over whatever I'm building off of in order to find any mistakes or fix some pacing stuff, then I pop on some tunes (typically upbeat stuff or orchestral) and set to typing. I have a very stream-of-consciousness style when I write where I just let the ideas come to me and don't think on them too hard, which is why I always start off with going over what I wrote previously to make sure it all gels.