Honestly, I meant to write a week 1 summary last week but last Wednesday was the day I decided to go on a little beer garden tour of Glasgow and blog posts seemed to just slip down my list of priorities. (If you're interested, they were replaced by ordering Chinese food and binge watching Friends).
My goal for Camp NaNoWriMo was to write 30,000 words this month - which ties in with my overall goal of writing 1000 words a day. Yes, I know that leaves me 1000 words short but I was giving myself a day's grace.
Well here we are on day 14 and I have already written 21,715 words. Yup I'm more than 2/3 of the way there already! Go me!
Of course, there have been many, many ups and downs along the way...
The Highs
One of my highs so far is being part of a writing group for Camp. I believe they used to be called 'cabins' but the new website ruined everything. I talk more about the importance of finding support in the community in this blog post, but I cannot stress enough how nice it is to have people with whom you can celebrate the highs and ask questions or get support from when you are experiencing the lows. Thanks Team!
Another high has been battering out the 'Fun and Games' portion of my novel. I'm probably about 6000 words from being done with this beat which means my Camp goal should take me right up to the midpoint of my novel. It feels so friggin good to be nearly done with this section! It's going to need a lot of revision and editing but I've just about made it.
I'm a bit of a data freak and I've stayed ahead of that "path to success" graph the entire fourteen days. Right now, I'm predicted to meet my goal by the 19th of July. That feels pretty awesome.
The Lows
Sometimes I so do not feel like writing. I look at that blank scene on Scrivener and think, "why am I doing this to myself"? Finding motivation every single day is difficult. My philosophy is the same thing I apply to making myself exercise - the key to success is not only doing it when I'm motivated, it's making myself do it when I'm demotivated. And, just like exercise, 9 times out of 10 it really isn't that bad and you feel really good about yourself afterwards.
The self doubt is so real sometimes. I'm not afraid to admit my draft is absolute garbage right now. I have a huge list of things I already know need fixed when I come to revise. The key here is to just accept that is a problem for your future self. Write yourself a note and then move on. No one writes a perfect first draft - and seriously, if they do, I hate them and don't want anything to do with them anyway.
The last one might sound a bit silly but sometimes I lose faith in my idea. Part of joining the writing community online has shown me that people think a lot about their brand. I'm over here writing adult historical fiction because I am obsessed with this story idea and have been for a really long time. My other ideas don't really correspond to that genre. Sometimes I have these waves of losing faith and thinking "this will never be published" or "if this book is ever published I will never have another 'on brand' idea." But then I pull myself out the hole and tell myself, "it's your first book, so yeah you're probably right, it will never be published. Get on with it." Tough love, baby.
On the whole, I'm enjoying the Camp NaNo experience and I feel like I'm developing a good writing habit. Ideally, I would like to "win" NaNo in November but I accept that I will be back at work and living my crazy reality again by that point and it might just not be possible. But winning Camp by the 19th July would be a fantastic consolation...
For more information on Camp NaNoWriMo visit www.nanowrimo.org