My very first blog post had this title, but it’s been a long day, my creativity is spent, and that’s exactly what I’m feeling right now.
I’ve heard so much about NaNoWriMo, for years now, even before I jumped into this whole thing. I just never thought it would be possible for me. First of all, being in school full-time, I would never have time in November. Plus, before a couple months ago, I’d never tried a monthly word goal. So, 60,000 words in a month?? Impossible.
Now I am signed up for CampNaNoWriMo, with one day left before it starts.
Cue panic mode? Check.
At the time I didn’t know that you could aim for anything less than the 60k, but you can. So, I am aiming for the much more manageable 20,000. After all, this will only be my second monthly word goal ever, and I do have an actual life too. 🙂
I’ve only been signed up for a few days, but am already finding all kinds of lovely people. Once again, the writing community is amazing! I’m all snuggly in a cabin with a few awesome bloggers, and have taken a break the past few days to rest my creative juices.
To get ready, I’ve outlined the next 20 chapters or so on notecards, as a general guide for where to go. This is new for me, since I really don’t plan before I write, outside of major concepts and arcs. But, I know that with no direction, and pressure to write everyday, I would find myself coming up blank too often. Here’s the first half of my notecards ready:
The organization and planning help to lessen the panic, but also make me feel a little stuck and forced. I’m not used to so much planning! Campers, how are you getting ready? Are you meticulously planning every detail out ahead of time, or are you ready to fly by the seat of your pants? If you’re not a camper, then you really should look into it. It’s not as scary as it seems, I promise.
With one day left, I’m feeling nervous, but I’m looking forward to this. I’ll tag all posts under both To Build A Story and CampNano, and I will keep you updated on my progress and my journey as I go through this 🙂
Good luck!
Coffee. Write. Repeat. 
It’s my first ever campnano too! (and I’ve never managed the full Nano – sounds terrifying!). I’m impressed with all your planning. I’m supposed to be doing some of that today. I’m going to be working on the first draft of my novel at camp and adding 15,000 words on top of the 30,000 I’ve already written. I’ve only got a rough idea of what I’m going to be writing though so I need to get organised. Good luck with your target!
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Is it cheating if you write the book before November and edit during November, after uni finishes? It probably is, but that’s what I’m doing!
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I did NaNoWriMo last year, after two aborted attempts, and it led to the creation of my almost-complete first novel as well as my somewhat ridiculous but enjoyable (to write, if not to read!) blog. What I learned: sit at the desk and believe; the words will come.
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Don’t worry! Camp is honestly lovely and you meet the nicest people (psst… If you don’t have any friends out there, come join our cabin!).
I’d suggest setting a lower goal, such as 30,000 or even 40,000—going for 50,000 is a lot, especially for your first time, and especially if you don’t want Nightfire to be 70,000 words long.
Good luck! I know you’ll do great!
– Sabrina
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Great minds think alike. Today I’m also posting about joining July’s Camp NaNo. If you hang out in those forums, my username is Yawatta Writes. Good luck! This will be my 4th time doing NaNo, and I can honestly say it’s a fun, but stressful, challenge.
For me, the first week I’m very excited and motivated. Second week I get the blues and want to quit. Third week I’m back on track with the last week, catching up on my word count.
Word of advice–definitely protect your writing time 🙂 Some people like to test your patience LOL.
Keep smiling,
Yawatta
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Looks like you’re rising to the challenge just fine. You’ll do great.
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To be honest I never felt like doing NanoWriMo. I’ve had friends do it in the past, but it just never appealed to me. I don’t know, maybe in the future? Different things work for different people, and I think you should go for whatever works for you. I impose a certain word goal on myself daily, and if I’m really inspired then I write more than that daily word goal. I also write incredibly slow. I have not met a person yet that writes as slow as me XD Perhaps that’s because I edit as I go, but that’s what I enjoy, playing around with the words after they’ve been written. When I first started writing I wrote fast, but it was not very good. I was churning out several thousand words a day several years ago. So it’s not that I can’t write fast, I can write fast, but it’s just not very good XD I hope that in time I can become faster while maintaining my current writing style.
I think planning is a great idea. I should do more of that because I generally just have the beginning of the story and the end, and I just write. As you can imagine the pacing is horrible in my stories because of my lack of planning XD
Good luck, I’m sure you’ll do great 😀
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Day one is almost over for me and I’ve been successful today which is awesome! It’s my second time; first time last year my goal was fifty thousand words and only managed eight thousand. This year I have set a twenty five thousand word goal. Let’s do awesome together! =)
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I’m doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month, too. I was really nervous the first time I ever tried too, but now this will be my 4th time participating in a NaNo event if that tells you anything. The support on the NaNo site is great and the environment is lots of fun! You really do meet the coolest people. The best thing I’ve found is to get ahead early, so if you get stuck or lose steam later in the month, you have some leeway. Good luck!
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