Monday, March 17, 2014

Camp NaNoWriMo Starts in Two Weeks!

If you've read this blog at all, you know I'm a huge fan of all things National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). But maybe you've checked out NaNoWriMo and thought that 50,000 words in a month was a bit intimidating. Well then let me introduce you to Camp NaNoWriMo, a twice-yearly event that has all the fun of NaNoWriMo, but lets you customize the monthly challenge to fit your goals. I just signed up for April's event, and if you've ever thought about participating in NaNoWriMo, this is a great way to dip your toe in before you take the full plunge in November.

With Camp NaNoWriMo, you get to set the word count that you'd like to hit over the course of the month (anywhere from 10,000 words on up can be your goal), and you can work on any type of project you want. The main thing is that you're aiming to write every single day for the month, and whether it's 10k or 50k, you'll have a nice chunk of whatever your project is done by the end of that thirty days.

Last year, I participated in both Camp NaNoWriMo events. In April I got a huge jump on my podcasting book Making Ear Candy: The Audio Confectioner's Guide to Podcasting. I finished the draft shortly afterward and the books was released in August. My July Camp NaNoWriMo project was a Kindle Worlds story called Centurion, which is currently available on the Kindle store.

This April, I will be finishing the first draft of my latest novel, Lovecraft's Pupil. I got most of the first draft done in November, but I need to wrap it up.

What I love the most about Camp NaNoWrimo is the community aspect of it. You are placed in "cabins" with other writers, and you form a support group for each other during the month. I cannot tell you how big a difference this makes for me, knowing there are others who are toiling away alongside me as I work through the month.

I'll be posting more about this year's Camp NaNoWriMo in April, but if you want to read more about last year's experiences, click here, here, or here.

You can sign up for camp at www.campnanowrimo.org. If you want to add me to your cabin, my profile name is Secret Identity.


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