Camp NaNoWriMo: The Home Stretch

Only a few days left in the month. It’s been great to get words out on the page with Featherfolk, and I’ve had fun and giggles with a flash fiction piece for a contest as well.

While I came out of the gate with a burst and stayed ahead of schedule most of the month, I’m stalling out. I’m agonizing over a pivotal scene. It’s so important that I get it right.

I think I need to give myself permission to tell it wrong. At least in this draft.

Here we go: “Julia, you can mess up. It’s okay. Just write something.”

Perhaps I should put a sticker with those words on my computer…

Because it’s time to gear up for the home stretch. I’ve promised myself some sweet Camp swag if I meet my goal.

I’m going to think of this last bit as a literal stretch. Yes, I’m running out of steam and my apartment is a sty and I’m moving in a month, and my baby just woke up again, but I can reach this goal!

Happy Yarning.

Let the Frenzy Commence

Remember what I said last week about NaNoWriMo-induced frenzies?
I decided last-minute to pack up my metaphorical gear and head out to camp.

Camp NaNoWriMo, that is!

My goal for April Camp is a modest 10,000 words. Minus Sundays, that means just under 400 words a day.

I’m all cozied up with writing buddies in a cabin, and we’re typing away.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Happy Yarning!

A Plug for NaNoWriMo

The first time I heard about National Novel Writing Month, I thought my friend was insane. 50,000 words in 30 days?! I made a half-hearted attempt the next year, just because a few of my friends were going for it. Needless to say, I didn’t get far.

A few years later in November 2011 I gave it another shot. There’d been a story rattling around in my brain called Genie and the Trinketeers, and I wanted to write it. I didn’t believe I could do it in one month, and guess what? I ended the month at around 23,000 words.

November 2013 rolled around. I’d graduated college, my husband had found a well-paying job, and I was unemployed. This time I bet on myself. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it. I thought I should do it, at least once in my life. And I won.

My prizes: a 50,000-word partial first draft of the sequel to Raven and the Trinketeers, 50% off Scrivener (I’m never going back to OpenOffice), and the knowledge that I could push myself to write. Every day. All day, if I had to.

That’s why I’m doing it again. Today marks the start of Camp NaNoWriMo, and I’m probably typing furiously away as you read this. I don’t think NaNoWriMo is for everyone, but for me it seems to be the most efficient way to get a story out of my head and into a file where I can do something with it.

Here’s to a new first draft!

Gulp.

Happy Yarning.