Mission Completed: Camp NaNoWriMo

Last month, I decided to take part in Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time.  It was an exhausting endeavour but it was made easier by my "cabin" of fellow writers who, despite being complete strangers, encouraged each other to meet their targets.

With a mighty last minute push, I managed to meet my personal target of 30,000 words.  Quite the accomplishment with the usual work and family life juggling that usually makes my monthly word count a third or less than that.

For me, Camp NaNoWriMo was completely worth it and would have been useful even if I hadn't made my goal at the very last moment (too late, it turned out, to even remember to validate my winner status).  While I didn't meet my secondary goal of finishing one or more of my current romance works-in-progress, I made some major strides in several of them and I edited what I have completed so far of another project so I can (almost) jump back into that when I'm ready.

I would recommend Camp NaNoWriMo to every writer because you can set your own goals and, more importantly, focus on your writing.  Too many distractions in too many months (and days) can lead to you forgetting what you love about writing (or simply just how much you love it) and the camp brings that back to the forefront.

See you at the next Camp in July!

Doing the Camp NaNoWriMo Writing Challenge

This month, I embark on my second NaNoWriMo enterprise.  NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month, which is actually in November every year.  The original event is held with the goal of reaching fifty thousand words, or completing the equivalent of an entire novel.

I successfully completed the 2012 NaNoWriMo challenge but did not actually complete the book I was writing.  It was about zombies.

In April and July, the NaNo group offers a "camp" where you can join to write a self-determined amount of words.  This year, for the first time, I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo with the goal of finishing (or at least getting substantially on the way towards finishing) several of my works in progress, which are all romances.  My goal is thirty thousand words towards this worthy, if somewhat amorphous, accomplishment.  I kid myself that my publishers are eagerly awaiting these works but really, in the world of writing, you are your first (and often only) motivator.  So I am writing these romances for myself.  And sometimes I go a little too easy on myself, which is why I need the kick in the pants that NaNo offers.

Unique to the Camp NaNo experience is the opportunity to join a "cabin" with other writers.  You can talk to them and encourage them on their way.

I'm excited to be into my second week of Camp and so far I am on target.  Fingers crossed for a successful finish.

Saying No to NaNoWriMo

Excuses.

I've got a lot of them.

But at no other time of the year do they become as important as November, when it feels as though the entire world is getting their crap together and participating in NaNoWriMo.

This year, I am not doing NaNoWriMo.  And, of course, I have many reasons not to, not least of which is that I was successful in "winning" at NaNoWriMo last year.  Really.  I even have the badge to prove it.

So here are my excuses, in no particular order (feel free to use any of these when you need a handy, all-purpose excuse):

• I'm too busy with work
• I'm too busy with school (I'm currently doing my Masters on a part-time basis)
• the weather is lousy (I live in Canada, which is not part of the excuse but more of an explanation of the weather)
• I can't pick just one writing project to concentrate on
• I've already started writing all the projects I want to for now (NaNoWriMo requires all the writing to be done from scratch, outlining is okay but not prior writing)
• the stories I'm writing (and publishing) are shorter than the 50,000 word target needed to "win" at NaNoWriMo
• I already keep track of how much I write and I write a decent amount
• I'm too tired/ lazy/ bored/ hungry

You get the picture.  Nature may abhor a vacuum but I can fill it with as many excuses as you could possibly want.

Bottom line: I just didn't want to do it this year.  Granted, I did make a belated attempt to start on November 5th but when I realized that it was already November 5th, for Pete's sake, I correctly gave up.  One of my tips from last year's successful NaNoWriMo attempt was to start off strong, a piece of advice that actually arose from my failure to do this the last time.

I'm still working on my novel started during last year's NaNoWriMo.  This year, during November, I am hoping to edit another novel manuscript that I shelved many months ago.  As you may notice, I don't suffer from a lack of productivity.  I just don't do very well with self-edits, queries and the rest of the process.  I'm working on it.  I promise.

So this year, I'm sitting out NaNoWriMo while the rest of you creative your Great Canadian Novels.  Don't worry, I'll be back next year.

Winning at Writing

Last month, I took part in the National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, a writing challenge that encourages everyone with a book in them to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

And I won!

As it turns out, November was an incredibly busy month for me.  I was involved in several volunteer projects, which included attending meetings, leading to two whole days of zero writing. Some days, hitting the computer seemed like the hardest thing in the world.

I got off to a good start in the challenge by keeping pace with the 1,667 words I needed to write on a daily basis.  However, on Day 11, I hit a roadblock.  I wrote nothing for the next few days, then wrote a little, then again nothing for a while.

The thing about this challenge is that a month isn't enough time to procrastinate--at least, not to procrastinate well.

I realized that the worst move I could make was to fall behind in the first days of NaNoWriMo.  In the last few weeks, I had to write my butt off, putting in at least 2,000 words every day, whether I wanted to or not.  Without this last minute push, I would have never finished on time.

Tip: Have a viable story idea in your back pocket.  When I first ran out of writing juice, it was because my idea had run its course.  I didn't know where else to take my heroine.  That was the point at which having a story outline or even a few plot points jotted down would have come in really handy.

So, in reality, the days I spent not writing were spent trying to work out where I was going.  It was time well spent, but it was time I could have put aside in October, before I was faced with a crunch deadline.

In all, NaNoWriMo was a great experience.  I got to spend more time with my writing than ever before and I was happy producing so many pages, even if after 50,000 words, my novel is nowhere near finished.  Plus, winning was a real rush!

But, next year, I will definitely outline my novel in advance.

Nan-NoWriMo!

A big hello to everyone out there in the blogosphere (this is the first time I have ever used that word and I think I already hate it)!

If you don't hear from me much in November, it's because I'm taking part in the National Novel Writing Month challenge, or NaNoWriMo for short.  Yes, this is my first time.  Be gentle.  And, if you're a user, check out my NaNo profile.

Happy NaNoWri-Month!

(Oh, and I'm calling my writing month Nan-NoWriMo, because I'm that much of a nerd!)