Warning: Camp NaNoWriMo Approaches

Tuesday, June 23, 2015
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.

Image result for camp nanowrimo 2015
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!


31 comments :

  1. lol. You just answered my question with this post. I suppose I'll be editing as well... :D I wrote a 31k novella for April camp nano and hope to finish the first draft soon...how do I count the words as I am editing? I'm super excited about this. ;) I actually *like* editing. Call me crazy. The only thing, it is super time consuming. :P I finished all editing by paper. Now, to load it onto the computer. *sighs* ;) Anyways, thanks for answering my question! ;)
    ~Sarah Margaret♥

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    1. Well, the Camp NaNoWriMo site said that an hour of editing equals 1,000 words. You could go by that, or count the words you rewrite/add through your edits.
      *gasp* You like editing? I can't say I've met someone who does. I suppose there is something satisfying about making your work better... But still!
      Thanks for commenting. :)

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    2. Okay, thanks!
      LOL! It is a rather strange thing, I like perfecting thing-then again I often say, "Good enough." ;) I like it very much, I just wish it didn't take so much time! :P

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    3. Yeah. It makes sense. I actually don't mind critiquing other people's work, but it's really hard to go over the disaster of my own. :p

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  2. I'm probably doing Camp NaNo, or at least I'm writing during July and being my antisocial self by not signing up on the site. But this is a really accurate description of general writer feelings :D Loved your description of the Camp NaNo cafeteria! I find that my palette is more accurately lots and lots of chocolate and the blood of characters.

    Revisions may be daunting, but I find them much more rewarding than just writing a draft. Because I don't know, first drafts definitely suck a lot. With each round of revisions, it sucks less and less, so that's definitely an upside. (Is that a word? And I call myself a writer.)

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    1. Chocolate and blood. Lovely. xD

      Yeah. I totally get what you mean. I wish it just didn't take so much time. :p (Upside is definitely a word.) (Actually, I really don't know. But I'm the master of creating weird words so we'll just say that it's a word. xD)

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  3. Yup, I'm doing it. I tried it for the first time in . . . May, was it? But that was a total flop because I didn't have the time because of school and graduation and a whole load of other stuff. So now I'm back for a rematch!
    I'm writing a second draft of my NaNoWriMo 2014 novel, The Star's Shadow, or, Shadows and Light, as it used to be called. I'm adding in a whole new POV and I'm shifting my world building so that it is subtly allegorical. And I'm rewriting my rough draft in addition to adding all the new stuff. I have no idea how many words I'll actually get out but I'm hoping for at least 50,000.

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    1. It was April. But close enough. xD *hands you a sword and armor* Defeat your word goal! You can do it -- conquer it! ;)
      Oh man. That sounds like a lot of work. I've had to rewrite my novel once before, and it's no easy task. I wish you luck! The allegorical part sounds super cool. :D
      (And your title is pretty awesome.)

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    2. Oh, haha, proves how little attention I was actually able to give it. XD *accepts armor and sword* I shall! And thanks! I'll want to hear about yours, too.

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    3. Hey, at least you tried! That's better than never starting. xD

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  4. Yep, I am doing Camp in July! =D One of my goals for this year was to participate in all three NaNo's. =D I'll be finishing off a story I started in May, its the sequel to a book I wrote in January. XD I'm super excited to be writing this. Could you send me your profile link? I'd love to hook up with you on Camp. =)
    -Mikayla-

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    1. Awesome! Will you be doing the YWP in November or the "official" NaNoWriMo?
      Here's my profile: http://campnanowrimo.org/campers/katie-grace
      Good luck with Camp! I can't wait to hear how it goes. :)

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    2. The Offical. I don't think I'm young enough to participate in YWP, but I've never really looked at their site.
      Thanks! =D

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    3. Actually, I believe you can be 18 or younger to enter. :D

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    4. Yup, Sarah's right. Since you have to be thirteen to participate in the "official" NaNoWriMo, the YWP allows any age under eighteen to partake in it.

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  5. I'm doing Camp for the first ever time. My goal is to finish my outer space dystopian. But I'm a slow writer, so...we'll see how it goes.

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    1. You'll love it. It's so much fun.
      You're in a cabin, right? (I think Jaye told me that she was going to be in a cabin with you...) If you aren't in a cabin, I'd love to invite you to ours, because Camp NaNoWriMo is a thousand times better with cabinmates. It's a lot more encouraging when you're all behind on your word count together. xD

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  6. Thanks for this encouraging post, Katie! I know that the only thing I have to focus on during Camp NaNo is just writing without worrying about perfection, but that can be really hard sometimes. I need all the encouragement that I can get, so I'm very glad for this post. I'm doing such a hodge podge of things during Camp, so really I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I have to draft my Five Magic Spindles novella, edit my sci-fi novel, maybe work on fanfiction, and maybe even along side that start researching for my historical fiction novel. I won't count my research as words if I decide to do that, but I'll have to figure out a system to keep track of the words I write for all that other stuff I'm doing. This is going to be confusing. BUT I have the bestest cabin members, so... *winks*

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    1. I'll be sure to give you lots of encouragement (and word wars) when it starts. :D (And before then. :p)
      Yeah. If I plan to edit, I still have to finish the story that I'm going to edit... *whistles innocently* Yikes. *freaks out* There's so little time!
      We'll be confused together. *high fives* xD
      Oh, you have the bestest cabin members, too? Hmm. Sounds a bit familiar... *winks back*

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  7. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do for camp... I set up a cabin so all my friends could be together but idk how much time I'll have for writing. I'm still doing schoolwork and working on editing a novel.

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    1. Yeah... You could do Camp for editing the novel. I know plenty of people who are editing, so you won't be alone. :)

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    2. I did that last camp. I'm actually at the point where I need my dad to read over my novel and then hopefully I shall be sending it out to a few beta readers. I have a buncha school writing assignments I shall be working on next month so idk if I'll feel like any other writing projects otherwise I'd work on a short story or something. I hope you enjoy editing lol Is this for last camps novel?

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    3. Ah. *nods* Makes sense.
      Yup! It's for last camp's novel. Hopefully the changes I make will be good! :D

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  8. THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THIS!!!!! I'm now off to debate whether I should sign up or not..
    xoxo
    Grace Anne
    http://totallygraced.blogspot.com

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    1. Signing up is always the way to go. It's free!

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  9. I'm finishing up my poor sci-fi that's had to take backburner due to publishers showing interest in my steampunk fantasy. This baby is finally getting his rewrite finished! 20K-ish to go!

    storitorigrace.blogspot.com

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    1. Yay! Go you! :D
      So excited to have you in our cabin this year. :)

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  10. I'm writing a fantasy I recently started working on...best of luck to you!!

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  11. I'll be editing this July independently of Camp Nano, but I wish you the best of success on your project! :D

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    1. Same to you! Editing can be tough - I hope you get through it okay. :)

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