Camp NaNoWriMo has just begun, a fact which I am super excited about. This will be my thirteenth Camp, and I just love everything about it from the way it encourages me to dedicate myself to my writing, to the awesome community atmosphere. Over the course of my Camp NaNo adventures, I’ve discovered a few tips that I’ve found really helpful and help me get through the month alive, enthusiastic, and victorious. Today I want to share four of them in the hope that they will help you too.
Write A Little Extra Whenever You Can
The stats page on the Camp NaNoWriMo website breaks up your overall goal into a neat average rate of words (hours, pages etc) that you need to write a day in order to hit your target by the end of the month. Which is really handy for making sure that you’re on track and not falling behind pace by mistake, But since when has writing ever been smooth sailing all the time? Some days the words pour out no problem, and other times it’s like wrestling a bear. And sometimes you’re simply not able to write and miss three days entirely, and what happens to that nice daily average then?
My advice to you is, whenever you can, write a few words over your daily amount. Even if you can only manage 20 words here and there, those all add up surprisingly quickly. Then, if you have a bad writing day, or outside forces prevent you from working on your book at all, you either won’t fall behind, or you’ll have much less to catch up. And, when you’re three weeks deep into Camp NaNoWriMo, this can do wonders for keeping you from giving up in despair.
Celebrate The Little Milestones
Camp NaNoWriMo is designed to push you towards hitting that target total you set at the beginning of the month. And trust me, the feeling you get when you hit your goal is absolutely amazing. But it can be a long, hard slog to get there, and some days it can feel like just too much trouble to keep trying. A lot of people drop off within the first week or two because a whole month of this is a very long time.
My advice is to celebrate all the little milestones too. Give yourself a sense of achievement and a reward for all the work you’re putting in. Post on Twitter when you hit your daily word count goal. Reward yourself when you hit significant milestones, such as 5,000 words. Allow yourself to watch a movie or read a book when you finish your words early in the day. Celebrating regularly keeps you feeling positive about your book, motivates you to keep going, and honestly, it’s just something nice to do for yourself after all your hard work.
Interact With The Community, Without Becoming Distracted
As I mentioned at the top of this post, one of my favourite things about Camp NaNoWriMi is the amazing community. Everyone’s so energised and positive. Join in with them. If you’re in a cabin, hopefully you’ll have some talkative cabin mates to hang out with. (If not, it’s never too late to leave and find some better cabin mates.) The NaNoWriMo forums have a section for writers participating in Camp NaNoWriMo. And of course there are great communities on social media, such as on Twitter. Camp NaNoWriMo, being a virtual writing retreat, can sometimes feel a bit isolating, so take the time to reach out to other writers regularly to share news, progress, snippets of books, discuss how things are going, and to become energised again.
However, a word of warning. The writing community during Camp NaNoWriMo is amazing, but it can also be a huge distraction if you’re not careful. Camp NaNoWriMo is, after all, about working on your writing project. Go, hang out with the other cool writers, talk books and writers block and word counts. Have fun. But then, come back and pour that energy into getting some words onto the page, or some pages edited. Writing and community need to work together.
Take Time Out To Stay Inspired
Finally, make sure you keep that creative well filled. As many people have said before, Camp NaNoWriMo is a marathon, not a sprint, and over the course of the month, you may find yourself feeling like you’re running out of steam. Take time to step away and recharge, even for a few minutes, whether that’s by reading a book, going for a walk, browsing Pinterest, or getting a change of scene, whatever works for you. I have a whole post of suggestions if you need some help. But if you can, try and make sure that you keep those creative batteries recharged so that you can stay enthusiastic, motivated, and excited.
These are some of my personal favourite tips, and the ones that have worked best for me in my own Camp NaNoWriMo adventures. Hopefully you find some of them helpful as we set out into this exciting month. I would love to hear from you. If you’ve done Camp NaNoWriMo before, what is one thing that really helped you? If you haven’t, which of these suggestions do you think might help you? And tell me, what are you working on this month? Let’s chat in the comments!
