April Camp NaNoWriMo

Is it summer already? Not quite. But, that's okay if you're a writer. To my mind, any month is a great time to write. And joining thousands of other writers during a month-long sprint makes a solitary job not so lonely anymore.

Welcome Camp NaNoWriMo!

 

This year camp begins in April. I've been assigned my cabin and I've met my cabin mates. They all seem a decent sort, although two of them are shy and don't chat much. Or maybe they're too busy writing instead of finding ways to procrastinate!

I like to participate in these writing events. It pushes me to write more everyday and I meet many great people, too. It's a bond we share that non-writers just don't understand.

Okay, so the details for those who might not be familiar with NaNoWriMo...

What is Camp NaNoWriMo?

I think it's best explained from their website...

Based on November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Camp NaNoWriMo provides the online support, tracking tools, and hard deadline to help you write the rough draft of your novel in a month… other than November!

Camp NaNoWriMo was established in 2011 as a project of the Office of Letters and Light, the parent 501(c)(3) nonprofit to National Novel Writing Month and the Young Writers Program. 2013 Camp sessions will take place in April and July.

What: Writing a novel from scratch in one month’s time.

Who: You! (And about 20,000 other novelists around the world.) Let’s write some perhaps-awful, but definitely lengthy, prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster. Writing begins at 12:00 AM on April 1, and again on July 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by 11:59 PM on the last day of the month. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

Here's another detail I was unaware of this time around at camp...

We can choose our own word count! That's right! You're not obligated to reach 50,000 words to finish a novel. This is great news for short story writer's! I've picked 40k this month. But, I've seen others set their goals from 20k to 60k. From what I understand any goal from 10,000 to 999,999 is acceptable.

So mark your calendars if you missed April's camp (I know I'm late getting this post out, my apologies) and make sure you sign up for July! I'll bring extra chocolate for the smores and we can entertain each other at the campfire telling our fantastic tales.