Warning: Camp NaNoWriMo Approaches

Notice: While today's post is just about Camp NaNoWriMo in general, a list of resources is coming to the blog to help you achieve your Camp NaNoWriMo word goal. Post will come up on the 25th of May! 

Writers, come forth! Take a seat and listen. Whip out those notebooks, grab a few pens, your trusty laptop, and check your pantry to make sure that your supply of coffee is well stocked.

Why?

It is almost that time. 

It is almost time for us to unleash our inner-insane writer selves to this "Camp" we mumble about under our breath. It's almost time for your mind to rotate on but one gear: "Write... Write... Write..."

Be prepared, for your eyes will start straining from the eerie blue glow of the screen, or, if you're writing on paper, you will see nothing but lines and scribbles crossing through your head.

Be ready. Pinterest will become as a distant pleasure. Your word count will hang over your head, your inner editor sneering at the barely legible sentences you will furiously write. Most of the time, at least for me, it turns out something like this:

This is what happens when you try to reach your word count quickly.

People may ask you what your summer plans are. You'll smile and say, "Camp... ah, NaNoWriMo." They'll nod their heads in response and talk about how they loved summer camps when they were a young child.

Little do they know that this camp is anything but normal.

Instead of swimming in lakes, you'll be swimming in plot holes, plot problems, and scenes that beg to be written.

Counselors do not wake you from your bed in the morning. If you even got any sleep, the cause for rising is from the cries of your cabin mates, preparing for Word Wars, or your characters babbling inside your head.

We put things like this on our doors.

Coffee is always on the menu. The cafeteria is not filled with different assortments of sandwiches or hamburgers, instead you file through the line with a notebook and a pen at hand, snatching up different personalities and goals for the protagonist. (*cough* That's really how cliched stereotypes are made. A whole batch of them gets cooked up, and we writers have nothing else to choose from.)

But we're all here for a purpose. All of the campers alike are here for a single reason: To write their story that needs to be told.

The stories, with absolutely no doubt, will not be perfect in their first draft. It is seemingly impossible. Typos, grammar inconsistencies, and stubborn scenes will litter your manuscript.

It will take hours on hours to edit it all. It will take countless amounts of energy and sleepless nights. It is no easy task to write a novel.

I'm being so horribly depressing, so I will refer back to my point: "We all have a story that needs to be told."

Write that story. There's a reason it came to your mind, whether God gave it to your or it's just your genius brain doing it's job. You can edit  later. You can rewrite later. There will be time to correct those millions of mistakes.

 Just. Write.

- - -

After reading what I wrote above (I applaud you for sticking around this far. *hands over chocolate*), you may either be completely excited, or completely confused.

Don't worry if you are one of the latter; I was there once, too. If you want to know more about this mysterious "Camp NaNoWriMo," (it's only mysterious because it exists on the internet) you can visit their website, or this blog post explains it rather well.

At Camp this year, I'm not ...actually... writing... I'm still going to Camp, but instead I'll be editing. 

... I know. How delightfully fun, right? *sarcasm* But if I ever want to get published, editing is a necessity. So I will edit. Maybe not with copious amounts of smiles and joy, but I will get it done.

I hope to see you at Camp!

- Katie Grace

What are you writing for camp this year? Or are you *gasp* editing? I want to hear allllll about your projects and word counts and goals and such!