This might be the latest in the month I’ve ever declared a Camp NaNoWriMo project. I knew I was going to participate, but I couldn’t find the time to sit down and set up my project on the website.

It’s done now and that’s all that matters.

I’m continuing to work on the fourth draft of The Dreams. My writing stamina is still not where I’d like it to be so I’m keeping my goal low. 5,000 words in a month is still going to be a stretch for me. However, if I can manage to write that in July, I think there’s hope that I’ll be ready to write 50,000 in November.

At this point I don’t think I’m ready for Camp. Even with a low goal, victory might still be out of reach. Out of all the Camp NaNoWriMo sessions since the event began, I’ve only won once. Back in July 2020 I managed 10,000 words. I’m not sure I will be able to succeed next month even with my goal only half as big.

Hopefully working on a project I already know so well will make the words come easier. I’d be in trouble right now if I was starting with something new. With my writing muscles in better condition pantsing for a smaller event wouldn’t be such a big deal, but I need guideposts to keep me on track these days.

Maybe I’ll be ready for something new in November. That will depend on how comfortable I am with writing again. I miss being able to sit down and write a ton of words in a single day and feeling capable of doing the same thing again the next day.

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Are you participating in Camp NaNoWriMo next month? What sort of goal have you set?

My Camp NaNoWriMo participation goes way back. I was there for the first ever Camp NaNoWriMo. I wasn’t tracking my word count back then so I can’t be certain, but I think this might have been my worst Camp ever.

What happened?

Well, I went into the month knowing I would be very, very busy. We were in the process of buying a house. We closed on the house on April 21. I had hoped things would calm down a bit once that happened and I’d be able to get back to writing.

That didn’t happen.

When I set my goal for the month, I’d tried to factor in how distracted I would be by major life events. I severely underestimated how much of my brain power would be consumed by this. I’ve moved before, but I’ve never bought a house. Having the opportunity to make the space exactly what we want it to be has opened up a world of possibilities for us.

I can’t remember the last time I let writing fall to the wayside like this. I don’t like it. I’m just glad I won’t have to do move again for a long, long time.

The best thing I can do at this point is not to dwell on it. Everything will settle down once I’m done moving.

There’s still too much going on for me to spend a lot of time reflecting on my Camp failure. I’m just happy I managed to write a couple hundred words while I barely have time to sit down let alone attempt to write. Instead, I’m going to look forward. May is going to be another busy month. June will almost certainly be better. I should be in a much better place for July’s Camp NaNoWriMo session. I’m looking forward to making up for lost time then.

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How did Camp go for you last month? I hope you reached your goals or at least had fun with your project.

Are you planning on participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in July? I’m starting my search for writing buddies early so I can have the biggest support group possible.

It took me much longer than usual to feel ready to think about about Camp NaNoWriMo this time around. Typically, I’m getting geared up for Camp a month ahead of time. This time it is June 29 and I’m just getting around to creating my project over on NaNoWriMo.

My plan is an old plan you’ve heard before if you’ve read posts about my projects for prior Camp NaNo events. I want to write more of draft 3 of The Dreams.

I have some doubts about whether or not this is the best way to set myself up for a winning word count in July. On one hand, this is the project I want to write. On the other hand, I have been struggling with my writing in general lately and The Dreams in particular. Focusing on this project might make it easier to carry bad habits and bad feelings about my writing with me into July. Writing something else could give me a fresh start. However, I need to write what I want to write. Forcing myself to work on something else won’t make rebuilding the habit of writing any easier.

I have a secondary goal for the month of July. I want to rebuild my writing habits. My mental health hasn’t been the greatest lately, but I can tell I’m starting to feel better over the last week or two. I’m ready to build myself back up again. The biggest part of myself that I’ve lost in all this is my writing. It’s time to get it back.

The NaNo community isn’t quite as active during Camp events compared to the main event in November, but I’m going to be out there picking up as much good energy and inspiration as I can next month. Send good vibes and encouragement if you have any to spare!

Last July I won Camp NaNoWriMo for the first time ever. Going into Camp at the beginning of last month, I felt the weight of that victory on my shoulders. I’d finally won once. If I didn’t do it again, I’d be sliding backward.

Looking back over the past month I think I hoped for too much. I’ve lost Camp NaNoWriMo a lot more times than I’ve won.

I set my goal at 10,000 new words on my 3rd draft of The Dreams. I knew it would be a stretch compared to my word counts from recent months, but I really thought I could reach it with a little extra motivation.

It turns out I couldn’t stretch my energy and motivation that far.

At the end of the month I’d written 4,049 words. That’s less than half of what I’d wanted to write. I’m a little disappointed in myself. The past 14 months or so have been absolutely awful for so many reasons so I don’t think anyone can expect to maintain the focus and drive to do better than they did before the pandemic. That said, I’m still going to beat myself up over this. I can do better.

There were so many factors in play over the course of the month, I don’t think I could begin to pin down the main reason I failed to reach my goal. There’s just too much to worry about and not enough keeping me in a routine.

Hopefully things will be better for me in July.

Did you participate in Camp NaNoWriMo last month? Were you able to reach your goal?

Can you believe July is over already?

Camp NaNoWriMo was full of surprises this time. I always fail. I always struggle. It doesn’t matter if I try to repeat a full NaNo with a goal of 50k or aim much, much lower. I never make it.

Well…

This month was so different from any other Camp I’ve ever attempted. Even after experiencing it and taking a day to process, I still can’t properly expressed exactly what made this month my first ever Camp NaNoWriMo win. Was it the low goal I set? How did limited social interaction play into my ability to get the writing done?

Honestly, I don’t have the answers. Under more ordinary circumstances, I might be able to reflect and pinpoint some different habits and behaviors that allowed me to succeed. This is not a year of ordinary circumstances. I don’t know what helped me and what hurt me in July. Every month is strange now. There are too many variables.

I’ll just accept the win and be grateful for the writing I managed to do. My writing muscles are in good shape now so I’ll do my best to carry on with writing this draft. It should be finished sometime soon!

There’s one thing I wish I explain is the drop off in my word count for several days in a row at the end of the month. Something happened and multiple low writing days in a row resulted. Even with my daily writing logs I can’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong since those days don’t seem significantly different from other points in the month that didn’t destroy my word count.

I’m really proud of the work I put into the final four days of the month. My comeback this month was so much healthier than the sort of sprints to the finish line I tend to pull off during NaNoWriMo. I definitely pushed myself on a couple days there, but it wasn’t such a push that it felt out of proportion to my output at other points during the month. I worked to make it happen, but in a healthy way. I hope I can start doing this during NaNoWriMo as well.

How did Camp NaNoWriMo go for you? Did you learn anything you can carry over to NaNoWriMo or other writing experiences?

The first half of the month was smooth sailing. Week 3 was a disaster in comparison.

Things weren’t all that bad, honestly. Comparing it to weeks 1 and 2 just makes things seem worse than they are. I had a couple good days and a couple not so good days in the last week. I’m still doing better this month than I’ve done during any other Camp NaNoWriMo event ever.

Going into week 4, I do have a bit of catching up to do. It’ll be a little bit more work, but I think I’m up to the task. My goal is within reach!

I still feel a little bit guilty for having a goal of only 10k, but 2020 seems to be all about lowering our expectations. This month has been pretty stressful. Having a goal I can reach without either setting aside several hours or counting on an intense burst of productivity every day is exactly what I needed. Managing expectations and taking care of myself is my primary goal in every aspect of life these days.

The best thing about this month is that I want to write. Even after a less productive week, I’m feeling motivated to work on this story. I love this story. It’s familiar to me, but still exciting. The excitement pushes me to keep writing. The familiarity makes it easier to get to work on the days I have anxieties weighing me down.

This week I also found my favorite (non) statistic provided on the NaNoWriMo challenge page for my project. I haven’t entered any writing times when I input my daily word counts which results in a blank “when I write” statistic. It’s adorable! How did week 3 of Camp NaNoWriMo go for you? Week 3 is always a bit of a struggle for me so I hope you are able to stick with it into week 4.

I can’t believe we’re two weeks into Camp NaNoWriMo already. This month is going by really fast.

Somehow, for the first time ever, I’m staying on track with my writing for Camp. I’ve attempted to write for every Camp NaNoWriMo session since it started in 2011. I don’t think I’ve ever been this consistent at the end of the second week. Ever.

I’m starting to feel like I might be able to do this.

Seeing myself on the path after two weeks of writing has brought up some questions. What am I doing differently? Why now?

The first thing I’m doing differently is setting a lower goal. I cut my goal from April Camp NaNoWriMo in half. That sounds drastic, but looking at my results it seemed necessary for my sanity. Back in April I didn’t even reach the halfway point of that goal. Based on that, 10,000 words still seemed like a stretch.

Another thing I’m doing differently is getting to a place where I’m truly cut off from distractions. This is working out partly because of social distancing and other restrictions in place because of the pandemic. No one is asking me to go out and do fun, distracting things this month. Another thing keeping me away from distractions is the unbearable heat and humidity. The weather isn’t awful every day, but I’m spending enough days hiding in a cool space that I’m a lot less likely to be playing games or drawing on my desktop when I should be writing. Apparently, there are some benefits to having a laptop that can’t do much more than run Scrivener.

The final thing that’s different this month is that I just want to write. I’m at a place with this third draft where I’m itching to finish it. I can see the end in the distance and I need to get there. It might be the best motivation ever.

Going into week 3 I’m feeling very optimistic. I think I can do this. I’m motivated. Distractions are limited. There’s a very real chance this will be my first ever Camp NaNoWriMo win. This is my 20th attempt at Camp NaNo. I think I deserve a win.

How was your second week of Camp NaNoWriMo? Is this month of writing easier or harder than usual for you?

Did I just have a good first week of Camp NaNo? Is that legal?

Things went pretty well for me this week. That almost never happens. When it comes to Camp, I struggle every day for a month. What’s different this time?

First of all, we did nothing for the 4th of July this year. We stayed home and relaxed. That gave me more time to write and I didn’t have to spend time recharging from being around groups of people. However, the excessive at-home fireworks this year has been an annoyance. I’m used to some fireworks going off around 9 pm on weekends around the 4th, but this year it has been every night and often closer to midnight than sunset.

It’s also been hotter than usual around here. Normally we get a blisteringly hot day or two and then it’s back to regular summer heat. Not this time. It’s been uncomfortably hot almost every day so far this month. That’s kept me from going out to walk around town for inspiration (procrastination). As long as I’m in a cool room, writing doesn’t cause me to overheat.

The library isn’t open. This sounds like it’s a bad thing. Overall, it’s terrible. However, I like to lie to myself and say I’ll write better at the library. I drag my laptop there and spend a few hours browsing the shelves and people watching. It’s fun, but not good for my word count. Since I can’t do that, I’ve had to stay home and actually write.

There’s still a lot of uncertainty in the the world. These aren’t easy or fun times for anyone, but compared to April, I feel like I have a better handle on things now. I have a clearer picture of the situation and I have some experience with keeping myself and my loved ones safe. I don’t feel as helpless and that has freed up some space in my mind for creative work again.

Even with all these variables working in my favor, I’ve kept my Camp goal low. I want to push myself to write, but making myself stretch too far to reach it will only discourage me. I’d rather aim for something just a little bit beyond what I can typically achieve. Maybe this month will be my first ever Camp NaNoWriMo win? I could really use a win right now.

How was your first week of Camp NaNoWriMo? Have you kept your goal low or are you aiming higher?

Have I ever announced a NaNo project this late?

This year has made it so hard to keep track of dates. Camp NaNoWriMo is just around the corner and I’m just now setting up my project. We start writing next Wednesday! I’m usually getting ready weeks before this point.

I’m in the process of creating my project on the NaNoWriMo site while writing this blog post. Hooray for multitasking!

No one will be surprised to hear I’m continuing my rewrite of The Dreams for Camp. I’m getting close to the end. Maybe I’ll get enough of a push during Camp NaNoWriMo to finally finish it. I’m setting a goal of 10,000 words because I never win Camp events and I want to give myself a fighting chance. It would still be a stretch for me because this year has completely killed my productivity.

Like last time Camp is happening on the main NaNoWriMo site. I thought this was a great move back in April. It streamlined things and the change from cabins to groups wasn’t drastic, but the seeing notifications about friends winning badges was a nice addition. Chatter in cabins always died off after the first few days in my experience. Even if people weren’t chatting, seeing the badges pop up told me I wasn’t the only one still writing. It also provided an opportunity to start up conversation again with a congratulations.

It looks like groups started for last Camp session are still around. This is great news. If you were already in my group I don’t need to add you again. We can just keep going.

If you’re doing Camp NaNoWriMo next month, you should add me as a buddy. There’s still space in my group too so if you’re interested in joining, let me know your NaNoWriMo username so I can sent you an invitation.

Now that I realize it’s nearly July I’m rapidly becoming excited for another month of frantic writing. I just can’t believe it crept up on me like this.