Camp Nanowrimo Update

So we’re one week into camp nanowrimo. Hopefully the writing is going well for you, but if it isn’t then know that there is still time for you to catch up. I’m going to give you a day by day run down of how my week has gone so far and then give you some tips on how to keep writing now that the excitement from week one is winding down.

 

Day 1

Emma:

Word count –  1842

Emotional status – excited

Today was a good writing day for me. It was a Saturday meaning I was able to get through the daily expected goal of 1667 as well as getting through a lot of homework. I planned out the scene I wrote today in my head for a few nights before writing it. I’m planning to do that more tonight so that my writing tomorrow is just as easy. It was a bit difficult to get back into writing after not writing for so long (I guess it’s mostly my fault) but I found my rhythm soon enough.

 

Day 2

Emma:

Word count – 0

Total – 1842

Emotional state – ready

Hahah I got no writing done today… woops. I had some homework to do plus a family event.

 

Day 3

Emma:

Word count – 2962

Total – 4804

Emotional State – impressed

I managed to get 1000 words written before I left the house this morning – Yay! The words flowed really easily and I was having a lot of fun.

I did more writing in the afternoon, I may be slightly neglecting my school work but it’s nanowrimo so who cares. I am really liking the story I am in, and honestly I could have written more but I got distracted with world building. I’ve named my last new characters (of the ones I plan to add) which is exciting.

 

Day 4

Emma:

Word count – 2760

Total – 7564

Emotional State – satisfied

I woke up really early this morning (4am) and although I procrastinated for an hour or so that still left me an hour and a half to write. I managed to get roughly 1.4k done then in that time which is pretty good. If I can keep waking up early in the morning and get my writing a bit faster I might be able to write the whole word count before I have to leave for school. Except I have the holidays soon so that doesn’t really matter, but it would be great so I could keep writing after camp.

In the afternoon I wasn’t planning on doing much writing but then I realised I was still behind where I wanted to be. I did some procrastination and school work and a lot of scrolling through tumblr before I logged back onto skype and chatted to Ella (the same Ella that coblogs with me) and we did some sprints together which pushed my word count up by more than 1k. I’m so grateful for having her to do sprints with and if you’re struggling to sit down and write then I would 100% recommend getting a writing buddy to keep you accountable.

I have caught up to where I need to be after being behind (grr day two me for not writing) so hopefully now I can continue to get more and more ahead. Although I aim officially aiming for the usual nanowrimo goal of 50k I am kind of hoping to get more than that, 60k would be awesome.

 

Day 5

Emma:

Word count – 2005

Total – 9569

Emotional state – ahhhh

I managed to write like 200 words before leaving the house this morning – not much I know. However I wrote on the train and once I got to school leaving me with 1.4k. The words are flowing, all is going well. I did hit a bit of a hard patch for a little while while writing today but I think it was just because the part I was writing was very much so a bridging but that didn’t really add to the plot or develop any characters. I stopped writing that section half way through and just skipped over to the next action which was only a few minutes later in my book’s time because the stuff I was writing probably wasn’t at all necessary.

It’s been a bit of a struggle. I don’t really know what’s going on. I’ve written a bit more, stuff has gone well.

 

Day 6

Emma:

Word count – 1895

Total – 11464

Emotional state – *cringes*

I participated in the camp nanowrimo virtual write in early this morning (my time) and struggled with my novel. Things weren’t going where I wanted and I struggled to figure out where I did want the story to go. It was difficult. I only got like 400 words done in half an hour (I was only able to be there for half the word sprint).

I had a free period at school and considering that the holidays starts soon I used it to do a bit of writing. I wrote for around half an hour and that free writing for a long period of time allowed me to figure out what I wanted to do. I got through 900 words.

Today was painful to say the least. It was a struggle. But I got through it, and now I just have to get through the next day and the next.

 

Day 7

Emma:

Word count – 342

Total – 11806

Emotional State – tired

I only wrote for 15 minutes today. I was quite busy and quite tired. It’s alright though because I’m still ahead of target.

 

(read on for more tips)

Some Tips

Try to get ahead whenever you can

You never know when you’re going to get busy or hit writer’s block. When the words are flowing try to spend as much time writing as you can.

 

See your scenes

A strategy that I have been using this month to make my writing more vivid (and to make it flow more easily) is to imagine the scenes in my head before I write them. This is the best way of ensuring that the scene makes sense, plus looking at it as if it’s a movie means you have images in your head that are easier to write.

 

Take time for yourself

I know you want to get to your goal, but if you need to take a break then do. Writing is pushing yourself and sometimes it will be challenging (so don’t confuse feeling challenged with feeling burnt out) but if you keep pushing when you’re burnt out your writing will be low quality and you won’t have fun.