Camp NaNoWriMo

Coming to a close in a few days is the first Camp NaNoWriMo of 2014. Don’t fret, it comes back in July for another chance to make writers cry. But I suppose you’re not really fretting if you’re sitting there, reading this, going, “Sarah, what on earth is Camp NaNoWriMo?”

Camp NaNoWrMo, which I will just call Camp from now on, is sort of the laid back sibling of NaNoWriMo.

“Wait! What’s that!?!”

NaNoWriMo? It’s a challenge that takes place every November to write a novel (50,000 words) in just 30 days. Its open to anyone with a story to tell. Or even a collection of stories if you like. The rules are pretty loose and open to interpretation. Just sit down and write 50,000 words in 30 days. That’s about 1,667 words a day, which is a far less daunting way to break it down. There are a lot of different breakdowns and if you have the time and dedication to write 50K in one day you can totally do that. Actually if you do that, I will worship you. You will officially be entered in my Big Book of Deities. 

Camp is the child of the amazing Office of Letters and Light (OLL). After batting the idea of a round for a while, OLL finally presented Camp NaNoWriMo to the world in 2011, the challenge running first in July and August that year. The following year the months were changed to June and August and have since been April and July, providing writers with a bit of a break to breathe between challenges.

Camp has a much more relaxed feel than NaNoWriMo as the writer is allowed to chose the word count they hope to reach during the month. A minimum of 10,000 words all the way up to a MILLION words. All of which is pretty impressive to me. I mean, I’m the girl who’s writer badge is torn and tattered, stuffed somewhere near the back of the drawer with my swimsuits, scarves, gloves, and some odds and ends from cosplays of years past. I drag it out from time to time to show it off and then cast it back in the drawer for safe keeping. Reality tends to get in the way of using my writer badge too often, much like my Hufflepuff robes. I end up having to force situations where it gets used. Which is why I sign up for both Camps and the official NaNoWriMo.

“Okay, how’s this whole thing work?”

Good question! First things first you sign up over at the website here. Then the fun begins. You fill in your Camper Info and Novel Info, and decide how many words you want to write this month. This year I was took on a bit more than I should have setting my goal at 50K. I thought it’d be a breeze. Just a straight up 50,000 words in the course of thirty days between three different projects, plus a historical fiction writing class. It should have been a breeze! Reality has been a bit brutal and I’m sitting pretty far behind at 22,284 words. But I’ve got a little over a week left so my horse isn’t completely out of this race.

While you’re signing up and putting in all your information, you’re going to be asked if you want to be in a Cabin. Cabins can be a lot of fun. They’re small groups of 4-6 other campers that are chosen based on criteria you chose. You can even make your own cabin if you want to write with some of your friends. This gives you a space to get to know other campers and encourage each other to meet your goals, share research, and maybe even a nice sounding board. I’m not great with socializing so I tend to opt out of this option, which is totally cool too. But there isn’t another forum system setup for socializing so if that’s something you crave I strongly suggest getting a Cabin.

Camp offers a ton of help and resources while you’re trudging through your plot. These come in periodic pep talks and a great Writing Resource Page you can be linked to from the home page. The latter was a new addition this year and I confess to not having searched every link. But the ones I have read have been pretty helpful. You get to break your novel down step by step through the resources.

One of the most motivational things for me that the site offers is the word counter and statistics for your project. (I’m tech-challenged but I’ll try to show you my stats as of tonight below this paragraph.) It tells me the average words per day I’d need from day one to day 30 to reach my goal. It tells me the average number of words I write in a day, how many words I’ve logged that day, reminds me of my target, what I have left to write, how much time I have wasted, how much time I have left, when I’ll finish if I keep on the way I’m going, and most importantly how much I’ll have to write per day to finish on time. For me that’s close to 3K a day. Which, to be honest I’ve seen it a lot worse. I can handle 3K a day… I hope. In any case having this all laid out for me really helps to set a fire under my butt.

“Okay, Sarah, we get it. But what’s the point?”

The point is to make writing and story creation accessible and feasible to everyone. You hear people say all the time that they want to write a book. But it seems like such a huge, impossible undertaking so it never gets done. They put it off until they have time. But Camp and NaNoWriMo pop up every couple of months and remind you that there is no time like the present and eventually you’re going to run out of tomorrows to put things off til. OLL doesn’t just cater to novel writers either. They have programs for teachers to use to encourage their students in middle and high school to write their stories. OLL is funded in large by donations from their writers, which speaks volumes for how important an experience the writers find these programs.

The point of these things is that anyone can be a writer. Anyone can write. Everyone has a character in their head talking. The difference between normal people and writers is that writers eventually get fed up and turn to that character and ask them to slow down, speak clearly, and not to forget any details. Writers eventually break down and listen. OLL creates time, space, and most importantly an excuse for writers, no matter their method and style, to do this.

On April 30th we close Camp down for a couple months and return to reality. But come July I hope to see you around the campfire with that annoying character that never shuts up in tow. If you think this might be your kind of thing, pop over to Letters and Light and find a program that does suit your needs.