One of my favourite things about March is the fact that there is only one more month until April and the first session of Camp NaNoWriMo. Sign-ups have just opened and, while I am certainly not affiliated with NaNoWriMo at all, wanted to would write a series of posts on preparing for Camp NaNoWriMo because I absolutely love this and I’m always eager to drag more people into the craziness that is Camp NaNoWriMo. Whether you’re new to the wonderful world of NaNoWriMo events, or you’ve participated before, I hope these posts will help you get all set for a fantastic month of writing in April. Today’s post covers the basics: What is Camp NaNoWriMo, how does it work, and why you should get involved.
What Is Camp NaNoWriMo?
Camp NaNoWriMo is an off-shoot of NaNoWriMo, which is a free writing event where writers around the world come together to challenge themselves to write a fifty thousand word novel during the month of November. Camp NaNoWriMo is very similar, except that you set your own word goal, or choose a different type of goal entirely, such as tracking hours, pages, or lines written. You’re also not limited to just writing a novel, but can choose from a variety of options, such as scripts, poems, non-fiction and short stories. Or you can choose to edit a project instead. It’s super customisable. If fifty thousand words is too intimidating, Camp NaNoWriMo might be more your style.
How Does It Work?
Camp NaNoWriMo begins on the first of April (and also July. Two sessions a year, yay!). You have one whole month in which to write or edit as quickly as possible to hit your goal by April 30th (or July 31st). You write or edit in the program of your choice, NOT on the Camp NaNoWriMo website. Every day you can log your progress, and see how well you’re going via a handy dandy little graph, which provides all sorts of stats, from how many words you’ve written to your daily average, and more.
When you reach your goal, provided it’s before the end of the month, you will be able to ‘validate’ your win. If you are logging words, you will need to copy and paste your words into a word counter on the site (the text is not saved so no one is going to steal your novel, don’t worry!) If you’re logging hours or pages, you just have to click a button to confirm, yes, the number is correct and bam, you’re a Camp NaNoWriMo winner!
As part of participating in Camp NaNoWriMo, you have the option to join a virtual cabin with 19 other writers, or to create a private cabin with your friends. It’s like your own private writers group. You can see how well your cabin mates are doing, and there is a chat box/message board so you can chat to each other, send inspiration and motivation, and procrastinate together. Or, if that’s not really your style, you also have the option to go it alone and not join a cabin at all.
Why Should You Give It A Go?
There are loads of reasons why you should give Camp NaNoWriMo a go. Firstly, it gives you a deadline, which is super motivating. There is nothing like putting a limit on your time to force you to get something done. You also get to be part of a worldwide event, working alongside writers from everywhere. Places like Twitter are filled with people working on their novels and that’s really motivating and inspiring as well.
Camp NaNoWriMo also gives you the chance to track your writing for a month, which holds you accountable for working on your project every day. The graph doesn’t lie. It’s also a great opportunity to make new friends, either with your cabin mates, or with other writers you can easily find on social media. I met some of my best friends through NaNoWriMo. There’s nothing like meeting like-minded people. It’s also highly customisable, so you can tailor the event to suit your needs.
It encourages you to write more, provides a friendly environment to work in, and some companions for the journey, and finally, it’s just fun! I hope this post has persuaded you to maybe give Camp NaNoWriMo a try. After all, it’s free, and it’s geared towards helping you write more, and those are always good things. If this has convinced you to give it a go, then you should definitely come back in a couple of days when I’ll walk you through setting up your project on the Camp NaNoWriMo in preparation for April. I hope to see you there!
