Back in April, I tried Camp Nanowrimo. I figured, why not? I tried Nanowrimo this past November, as I have in a few previous Novembers.  I think 2012 was the first time. I knocked out a few scenes, maybe 4000 words, but that was it. I quickly learned I am not a “pantser” — someone who writes by the seat of their pants with no plan.

I’ve tried Nanowrimo a couple of times since, mostly just to frustrate myself, and remind myself that the Nanowrimo style just isn’t for me.

And I just realized some of you may not know what I’m talking about. Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to pace yourself, write every day, and churn out a 50,000-word first draft of your novel. Come up short on the daily world goal? Just make up for it the next day. Miss today? Double up the next day. It sounds simple. Deceivingly simple. I would get off to a strong start for a few days, then miss a day. Knockout another day, then miss a few more. From there, it would snow ball.

Camp Nanowrimo happens in April, and you can design your own challenge. Basically, choosing your own word counts. They also have “cabins,” where you get matched up with other writers to encourage and assist. I never got to that part.

I did set a modest goal of 10,000 words, but rather than write one piece, I would set mini goals. Four blog posts, journaling, a short short fiction, and maybe even start a short story. My main problem with the Nanowrimo format is I am a lousy typist. I prefer to write free hand, and then dictate into Scrivener. Then I get all analytical with myself, thinking I’m using the same words twice, wasting time I could be using to write more free hand. Dictating is much faster than me trying to type, and I tend to self-edit less while trying to get a first draft. Still, I feel like I’m repeating my work rather than moving on. Then I get frustrated and stop.

I didn’t do too bad in April. I got 2 of the 4 blog posts posted. I did start the short short fiction. I journaled a lot, which may have eaten up a good portion of the word count, but I don’t know because I never dictated the journals to get a word count. In the end, it was no big deal, since I only updated my word count twice.

And I left something out.

I started talking to myself as I write free hand.  And it tends to get dictated.

I forgot about the book review. Continue reading →