Camp NaNoWriMo - My experience, success and thoughts
I know this post is way too late, but I thought I would upload it anyway.
If you don't know Nanowrimo, then here a quick description:
Every November people around the world get together to try and write 50 000 words in 30 days. The event is accompanied with competitions, writing challenges, fundraising and an overall supportive and creative community.
Read more on https://www.nanowrimo.org/
Camp Nanowrimo is a version of Nanowrimo, set in April and July each year, that makes the wait for November less long and keeps you in the writing loop.
But there are a few differences for Camp Nanowrimo.
First and probably my favourite difference is that you can choose your own goal, measured in hours, words or pages, either spent editing, writing or outlining.
Second difference is that you are not one single writer in the run against (or with) all the other writers in the community, but you actually have a so called Cabin (the whole month is themed around this whole holiday camp). In this cabin you are teamed up with other writers (either your friends that you organise privately or with strangers that you get randomly mixed with) and you work together to reach the goal with your cabin mates. So even if you don't win the camp on your own, you participate in helping your Cabin to succeed. This whole cabin thing really encourages you to connect to other writers, support them in their journey and maybe even form new friendships.
Read more on https://campnanowrimo.org/
Now to my own Camp Nanowrimo experience.
I've taken part in 3 Nanowrimos now but never a Camp, so this was a whole new experience for me. Also, since I decided to edit an old project and not write new words, it was fairly different to the classic 50k in November.
Personally there are a lot of things I really liked.
The first one is, as mentioned before, the adjustable goal. Especially because I just got back into university in March and really don't think I would've been able to juggle 50k words or editing my full 100k novel. So I sat myself a lower goal to begin with and then moved it to a more ambitious goal once I saw how much I managed to do in the beginning. So I really would recommend this system to anyone who would love to do a month long writing challenge
Despite setting myself a relatively achievable goal, I did not manage to win this time around. BUT it was still a great way for me to finally get my old WIP out and work with it, which is something I had been putting off for months.
In my statistics of this Camp Nanowrimo it is very obvious that I am not very good with working consistently on a project, but rather have really good days and then a looong time that I didn't manage to work on it at all.
To really get the whole experience, I decided to create a cabin with people I didn't know and I really enjoyed meeting new supportive people and helping support others.
Generally the writing community on Twitter for example is great as well, but I think having a more focused group working towards one goal really made it a little bit more personalised.
I will definitely join the Camp in July again, because I'm still not done with the WIP I was editing for April's Camp. Maybe by the end of then I will have it finished, who knows.
If you want to connect for writing support, add me over on the Nanowrimo/Camp Nanowrimo website (my name is lena.fiala) . Also I would love to hear your experiences with this year's Camp Nanowrimo or Nanowrimo in general.
On that note, I hope you are doing well with your novel (either writing or editing).
Take care and write on,
If you don't know Nanowrimo, then here a quick description:
Every November people around the world get together to try and write 50 000 words in 30 days. The event is accompanied with competitions, writing challenges, fundraising and an overall supportive and creative community.
Read more on https://www.nanowrimo.org/
Camp Nanowrimo is a version of Nanowrimo, set in April and July each year, that makes the wait for November less long and keeps you in the writing loop.
But there are a few differences for Camp Nanowrimo.
First and probably my favourite difference is that you can choose your own goal, measured in hours, words or pages, either spent editing, writing or outlining.
Second difference is that you are not one single writer in the run against (or with) all the other writers in the community, but you actually have a so called Cabin (the whole month is themed around this whole holiday camp). In this cabin you are teamed up with other writers (either your friends that you organise privately or with strangers that you get randomly mixed with) and you work together to reach the goal with your cabin mates. So even if you don't win the camp on your own, you participate in helping your Cabin to succeed. This whole cabin thing really encourages you to connect to other writers, support them in their journey and maybe even form new friendships.
Read more on https://campnanowrimo.org/
Now to my own Camp Nanowrimo experience.
I've taken part in 3 Nanowrimos now but never a Camp, so this was a whole new experience for me. Also, since I decided to edit an old project and not write new words, it was fairly different to the classic 50k in November.
Personally there are a lot of things I really liked.
The first one is, as mentioned before, the adjustable goal. Especially because I just got back into university in March and really don't think I would've been able to juggle 50k words or editing my full 100k novel. So I sat myself a lower goal to begin with and then moved it to a more ambitious goal once I saw how much I managed to do in the beginning. So I really would recommend this system to anyone who would love to do a month long writing challenge
Despite setting myself a relatively achievable goal, I did not manage to win this time around. BUT it was still a great way for me to finally get my old WIP out and work with it, which is something I had been putting off for months.
In my statistics of this Camp Nanowrimo it is very obvious that I am not very good with working consistently on a project, but rather have really good days and then a looong time that I didn't manage to work on it at all.To really get the whole experience, I decided to create a cabin with people I didn't know and I really enjoyed meeting new supportive people and helping support others.
Generally the writing community on Twitter for example is great as well, but I think having a more focused group working towards one goal really made it a little bit more personalised.
I will definitely join the Camp in July again, because I'm still not done with the WIP I was editing for April's Camp. Maybe by the end of then I will have it finished, who knows.
If you want to connect for writing support, add me over on the Nanowrimo/Camp Nanowrimo website (my name is lena.fiala) . Also I would love to hear your experiences with this year's Camp Nanowrimo or Nanowrimo in general.
On that note, I hope you are doing well with your novel (either writing or editing).
Take care and write on,
Lena
Follow me and stay in touch:
Twitter: @lena_fiala
Instagram: @lena_fiala_
Business enquiries: lena.fiala99@gmail.com
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