Success!

It took me a little while yesterday, but I finally did find my motivation.  In the end, I wrote three blog posts for my own blogs, a handful of posts for a client, and worked on my novel for a solid hour and a half.

Ideas for Camp NaNoWriMo

After blogging about Camp NaNoWriMo over the weekend, I found myself thinking about how the flexibility of Camp could be used to the benefit of other goals than just writing.  Traditionally, NaNoWriMo is supposed to be a goal to write an entire 50,000-word novel in one month -- and you're not supposed to work on something you've already started, either.  You can research and outline before the month starts, but you're not supposed to start writing at all until the month starts at midnight.

I have to admit, I've only done it that way a few times, even during November (when the system isn't as flexible with your options for word count goals, type of project, etc.).  In 2011, when I wrote my first Ruby Ransome novel, I was already about 25k into the novel -- I just used NaNo to get the rest out of my head and into reality.  I've also used Camp NaNo to revise, long before they offered that as an option in your project description.

Camp NaNoWriMo in review

This year's first Camp NaNoWriMo (there's another session in July) was a bit rough, but I probably should have expected that, considering I hadn't touched my novel since November 30th -- after writing the last 10,000 words on the last day of NaNo '13.

Happy Easter!

What most people consider a holiday, I am planning to use as catch-up time.

This weekend is a quiet one, at least compared to the last few weeks -- this week especially, when you consider my mad rush to finish taxes Monday night and Tuesday morning, plus book club and an unusual amount of babysitting sprinkled in on the side around my after-school schedule with the kids I nanny for.  This afternoon and evening I had six whole hours to myself at home (shocking!) which I used to get laundry and some other chores done, along with a little work.

Tomorrow, though, I should have virtually the entire day.  An entire day.  It feels like so long since I've had such a thing, that I almost feel overwhelmed just thinking about it.

NaNoWriMo: Plotting vs. pantsing

For the last couple of years, NaNoWriMo has been using the terms plotting and pantsing to describe the two major ways that people write: with or without an outline.

I personally used to be a pantser when it came to fiction, through and through.  When I wrote as a teenager, it was all in my head: the overall arc of the story, upcoming scenes, etc.  Sometimes I'd have an idea of what I wanted to happen several scenes in advance, sometimes I'd already have an idea of the ending, and sometimes I would come up with everything as I went along.  I never outlined, though, not once.

Camp NaNoWriMo begins!

I love that I get to enjoy the writing high of doing NaNoWriMo three times a year now, instead of just once.

This is my third summer doing Camp NaNo (although you can't really call it summer yet...).  I always miss the greater community that you find during November, with the forums and all the scheduled write-ins, but I also really like the greater flexibility of camp -- being able to set your own word count goal and (this year) what you plan on writing -- as well as the ability to request your wrimo friends as cabinmates.  I do wish they had given us a way to track things like editing as well, but I've managed in the past by tracking pages and converting that into words

Camp NaNoWriMo pick-me-up

I've really been struggling lately -- with most everything.  I haven't been working on my novel(s), haven't been keeping up with my blogs, haven't been doing ANY of the things on my list of goals for the year.  I haven't even been riding my horses all that much, thanks in part to being very sick in February with a bad cold and a cough that wouldn't go away.

With all of this non-motivation going on, at this point I'm really looking forward to anything that will encourage me to get my tail moving.  One thing I'm counting on is an upcoming writer's critique group -- I need to get another chapter of my first Ruby Ransome novel revised and ready for the group to read, which should get me moving on revisions again (I hope).  The first session of Camp NaNoWriMo is also in April, and I hope to use that to get me moving on several other things, as well.