Camp NaNoWriMo

Next week I will start two challenges.

I have already written about the AtoZ Challenge , which begins on Tuesday, 1 April, 2014. So that’s one, OBVS.

The other challenge is Camp NaNoWriMo , which also begins on 1 April.

I kind of got roped into it by my writing partner, Rachel .

She didn’t have to twist my arm very hard, to be fair.

What is Camp NaNoWriMo?

NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month.

Camp NaNoWriMo is the “off season” of the NaNoWriMo program that runs every November, during which writers are urged to write a 50k-word novel within a month. The summer version is much more lax – writers may set their own word count goals, and may work on any project they wish, regardless of genre.

Additionally, while the November event strictly states that projects must not be a piece begun prior to the 1 November start-date, the summer event indicates that anything goes.

Honestly, I cheated during November, signing up on the forum as a NaNo Rebel , because I did not begin a fresh project. Rather, I carried on with a piece I had begun during NaNoWriMo the year prior.

Whatever. No one gave me shit for it, but even if they had, I wouldn’t care. The point of the challenge is not in any way related to how I am doing in comparison to other writers.

The point is to push myself to write, and that is what I did.

What am I working on?

Regardless of the fact that I succeeded in furthering my novel, I failed to reach my word count goal last November – I fell shy at about 36k words, I think. Since then I have added more, but still have not hit the 50k mark. I’m close, though – so close! Since I am “allowed” to bring anything to the table, my current work-in-progress is what shall receive my best efforts.

My novel called The Greene, although originally it was entitled Greene Market and the story I first had in mind fit that title better. However, it has moved an entirely different direction than I anticipated, and actually its current title doesn’t exactly fit, either. Since I have already struggled in properly naming my characters , naming the story is a battle for a different month.

Perhaps by the next camp session in June?

What genre is my novel?

The Greene is fantasy, complete with a badass dragon and a feisty mermaid and a freaky crop of wild, man-eating unicorns. There are witches, a wizard, ogres, and talking animals {a cat and an ape, specifically}. There are hybrid creatures called wingeds which are birdlike pixies.

It is a hero’s journey and a battle between good and evil, nature and science, magic and technology.

I have almost reached the midpoint and I am very excited about the direction it’s heading, even if it wasn’t what I had in mind when I first sat down to write it.

It is told in third person from duel points of view.

The first main character is Emandine, a lovely older woman who is caring for her mysteriously mute niece, Dotanna, out in the Red Deserts. A series of events pushes them to hit the road in search of The Wizard for answers.

The second main character is Medaskal, a somewhat retired mercenary-cum-marketer running a stall in the underground Greene Market. He has a couple unexpected visitors, and soon thereafter he, too, goes in search of The Wizard – not for answers, but for murder.

Hay problema?

SAVE THE CAT! by Blake Snyder — Although the subtitle reads “The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need”, don’t be fooled — this is a great writing guide for novelists and screenwriters alike. TRUST.

Yes, there is a problem.

Just then when I said I reached the midpoint? Yeah, about that… I knew something was missing so I went back over my notes from my favorite writing guide, Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! And I realized I was missing an extremely important inciting incident – a “no turning back” – a crossing of the threshold – a point of no return.

Whatever you want to call it.

Doesn’t matter what you call it, because it wasn’t there.

So now I have to rewrite my entire first act. Chapters 1 and 2 are probably okay, but the rest of Act 1 {Chapters 3 through 5} definitely needs an overhaul.

Which means Chapters 6 through 10 will have to be rewritten as well.

But one crisis at a time, you guys.

I will be delving further into this whole mess throughout the month of April.

What is my Camp NaNoWriMo goal?

I am hoping to add 36k words during the month of April, which comes to 1200 words per day. Before this past November, that self-assigned goal would seem lofty {even as compared to NaNoWriMo’s goal of 1667 words per day}.

However, I now know I can hit this number easily, once I get my butt planted in the chair.

The hard part for me isn’t the writing so much as the GETTING TO the writing.

Taking into account that I will be doing a massive amount of rewriting, I am not going to beat myself up if I don’t meet my goal. I hope to end the month of April with at least 80k words. I feel like this is entirely doable. But I will also accept all further motion and progress as a definite WIN.

But why TWO challenges?

While this is a fair question, it isn’t strictly accurate that I am participating in two separate challenges.

Yes, the AtoZ Challenge is happening concurrent with Camp NaNoWriMo.

But they are not mutually exclusive. I see the blogging challenge {AtoZ} as a way to enhance and report on my writing challenge {Camp NaNo}. I will be working on my novel, and then blogging about it, in an alphabetically-themed process. When possible I might even include excerpts or examples from my own work on my blog. I chose my theme for the AtoZ Challenge to go hand-in-hand with my novel.

And really, if you want to get down to it, since I like to set goals periodically and report on them weekly via A Round of Words in 80 Days {#ROW80}, you could go so far as to say I’m participating in THREE challenges throughout April {Round 2 runs April 7 through June 25}.

Furthermore, I still plan to write a paragraph-or-two detailing my writing issues for the Insecure Writers Support Group {#IWSG} on the first Wednesday of the month, which brings me up to FOUR challenges.

The number is irrelevant.

I can participate in, and report to, as many challenges as I like, and so long as they overlap, it doesn’t matter. The only challenge I’m really, truly engaged in is the challenge within myself:

Just show up.

Sit down.

Plant your ass.

Do the work.

Write the words.

Don’t stop starting.

These phrases, along with all the challenges, are just various ways of reminding myself that I am a writer, and that writers write. There is a big difference between knowing it and KNOWING it. Sometimes I need a little bit of help. That’s what all this fuss is about.

Me, helping myself.

• Are you participating in any blogging or writing challenges?


• Do you ever engage in multiple challenges simultaneously?


• Which challenge makes you feel most productive and self-satisfied?

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