Camp NaNoWriMo Round Up

After 29 days, I am pleased to announce that I finished my (somewhat arbitrary) NaNo goal of completing 50,000 words of editing. The Camp NaNo website allows you to track your word count on a daily basis. Thanks to my friend, Renee, I learnt how to use Snipping Tool, a computer programme thing that allows you to take small screenshots, so I can show you my progress:

As you can see, I made pretty steady progress throughout the month, although I did have a day off here and there. There are still two days to go, so I may go on to exceed my goal. The novel I am editing will probably be 65-70k by the time I’m finishing, so I’m only about three-quarters of the way through the process.

This was my first experience with NaNoWriMo, and it’s been a good one. I like the flexibility of Camp, and I like the way everyone is split into cabins. Although, having spoken to other writers, the cabin experience seems mixed. If you’re thinking of doing Camp, I would advise you to try and find a group of writers first, who are interested in joining your cabin, rather than joining a random cabin.

Having said that, I already have a motivational critique group outside of Nano, and whilst Camp was a nice add-on, I’d probably have done the editing anyway. It just happened to come along at the right time.

Would I do Camp NaNo again? Yes, providing I had a project in the right place. Given that the goals are so flexible, it’s something I could see myself doing more regularly. I don’t know about November NaNoWriMo – where everyone aims to write a 50k novel in a month – because it wouldn’t necessarily fit in with my personal writing timeline. We shall see.

Anyway, well done to all my friends who beat their NaNo goals … and there’s still two days left if you haven’t!