What I Learned at Camp: How to Help My Friends Be Extraordinary

Every new writing project is a chance to tell a new story… and to learn something about yourself. We’ve asked writers to share what they learned about their writing during Camp NaNoWriMo. Today, participant L. B. Zumpshon talks about the real purpose of NaNoWriMo:

Dear Writers,

I must confess: I haven’t been a good Camper. While I’ve won NaNoWriMo every time, I’ve never reached the word count I set for myself during Camp. For whatever reason, I take Camp NaNo a lot less serious than its big sibling. And so I ‘fail’.

What’s made things even worse this year is that I had to move away from my amazing real-life NaNoWriMo community. We met up every week if possible throughout the year, never judged each other’s word counts, and talked about lots of obscure, geeky writer-ly stuff. Having these people around inspired me to keep writing. While the NaNo forums provide the same support and pressure during November (and I am still in touch with friends from my former region), it’s been much harder to keep myself motivated to write for the rest of the year…

The best thing about Camp is that you get to set your own goals, and write/edit/create in whatever format you most desire. Yes, there are plenty of rebels during November, but they’re off in their own section of the website, so unless you have some rebels in your local group, everything is very much about the 50K. The fact that I could write a script is something I’m very glad I did but would never have done during November. Likewise, I am currently trying to write at least 500 words a day throughout the year. Camp adds a small incentive to do this during Camping months, but it doesn’t have the nice chunky impact of a 50K word count. And that’s okay.

The real goal of Camp, in my mind, is to keep writing throughout the year, to form a habit that lasts beyond just April, July, and November. As long as you write (or edit) something, get your creative juices flowing, then there’s no such thing as failing at Camp. Just like at a real camp, it’s not important whose kayak is the fastest or who gets the most perfectly melted marshmallow (can you tell I’ve never been to an actual camp?), but that you participate, make some new friends, learn something new about yourself and your writing, and have fun.

So, for anyone who’s finding it hard to motivate themselves to write, and maybe missing the support of real-life writing friends, you’re not alone. Let’s make a pact: I cheer you on, and you send some cheer my way, okay? One word at a time, we’ll help each other do something extraordinary.

Wishing you the word count of your dreams,

L.B. Zumpshon

L.B. Zumpshon is a cognitive neuroscientist in the midst of reinventing herself as a writer and editor. If you’re at all interested in finding out if she succeeds, or want to read her random posts on writing and revision, you can find her at her blog and on Twitter.

Top photo by Flickr user GotCredit.