Camp NaNo Returns: A Note On Why I’m Happy About It

Until I really got involved in NaNo, and had an unemployed, writing fiend ask me repeatedly about NaNo events, I didn’t realize that NaNoWriMo extends so far beyond November. Yes, you guessed correctly: July is another camp month!

No, I’m not going to get into the nitty gritty details and bore you with my plans for this month again. I will say my goal is 15 000 words for my current book project, which I hope to have totally researched, outlined, and ready to go by the commencement of camp.

I won’t go into the networking dream that is camp NaNo either, because I completely dropped the ball in April and met zero new writers. Honestly, I remembered to check my cabin when I created my project and I popped in again for giggles when I validated my word count. There were a number of reasons why I didn’t interact with the cabin mates I didn’t know. One, the week leading up one woman was so badly spamming the cabin feed that I didn’t want to waste my time; two, work was hectic that month; and, three, I was overwhelmed with editing.

But, July is a new month. The editing monkey is off my back, work has sort of leveled out (I always seem to end up working in gong show environments but I’m learning to handle this one), and I have a project ready to roar.

What I want to leave this post off with is this: NaNo provides an extraordinary opportunity to hold yourself accountable to the writing community and yourself. There’s good pressure involved in that every few months you get to set a word goal and strive to hit it, which makes you get your butt in a chair and actually write. Plus, there’s SO much support -all year round. I can’t stress that enough. It’s the reason I continue to spread the word about my NaNo adventures AND continue to participate. Everyone involved wants you to succeed and blow the doors off your goals.

Finally, it’s fun.

If you want a taste of what NaNoWriMo has to offer in November, create a small project and see how you do in July here. I don’t think you’ll be sorry.

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