A somewhat abbreviated version of National Novel Writing Month, which takes place every November, Camp NaNo is a severely underrated event every April and July. Writing 50,000 words in one month isn’t a viable task for most people, especially for young writers in the middle of their school year. It also doesn’t account for the wide variety of writing styles, habits, and genres. That’s why I encourage you to take advantage of Camp NaNo.
Flexibility
NaNoWriMo has one goal for every writer that participates: complete a 50,000-word draft of a novel. If you don’t write quickly or you’re not a novelist, you’re out of luck. Camp NaNo doesn’t have these restrictions. You get to set your own goal(s).
That might mean aiming for 500 words a day, for a total of 15,000 words over the course of the month. Or that might mean aiming to write 100 pages (if you write scripts, for instance) or 2,000 lines (if you write poetry). You might even decide that you just want to set aside an hour a day to write (regardless of how much you might produce in that time), making your goal about 30 hours of writing for the month.
The point is, you get to set a goal that is based on who you are as a writer. Some people do use this to write a 50,000-word novel, but you don’t have to restrict yourself in that way. Set a goal for yourself that is reasonable but more than you might accomplish in an average month. Aim to challenge yourself without burning yourself out.
Accountability
Despite this flexibility, Camp NaNo still accomplishes the original goal of NaNoWriMo, encouraging you to keep writing until you meet your goal. If you take it seriously, you will find yourself making noticeable progress in your piece(s). Having a goal forces you to prioritize and make time for your writing, and knowing that over 70,000 other people are also setting and trying to achieve their goals gives you the confidence and community to push through.
If you want to participate in Camp NaNo: July, it’s not too late. You can set your goal(s), accounting for the week that has passed, or you can set a personal goal to accomplish by the first week of August. Ultimately, the goal is (as always) to keep writing.
My goal for Camp NaNo: July is to finish the first draft of my next book! What’s yours?