Was Camp NaNo (April Session) a Success??

 

YES!!!!

I set my goal for this month to only 10,000 words. I knew that I would be in my last 8 weeks of college in April and I did not want to over-extend myself.

I wrote 10,015 of the novel! 

I plan to write more (although a smaller amount; this is my last month of undergrad school!) this month. My goal will be way higher in the July Camp NaNo. I also intend to have the novel finished by the time November's NaNo comes around so I can begin another of my projects I have sitting around. 

My Goals for 2014 {and January in General}

 

(Photo Credit)

I have a lot planned for 2014 when it comes to writing. 

First off, I started writing a personal memoir of sorts. I have a working title, but am choosing to keep it under wraps for right now. I am presently just referring to it as WIP #2. I have a lot of emotions tied to this one and at times it is tough to write. I wanted this one to be published within the next two months. It's looking like a long shot right now. 

Second, I worked hard on the novel I had begun a couple of years ago. It went through several name changes. It was Far Away at one point, then Never Forget, and is currently called The Cardoni War. It will probably remain as that for good. I scrapped everything I had written and began fresh for NaNo in November. I am proud to say that I am a NaNo 2013 winner. Now begins the process of finishing it and editing it. I had wanted to get this one published in the spring, around March or April.

Third, back in December, I had two different stories come to me. One was by way of a dream and this particular story is way out of my comfort zone. I wrote down what I remembered of the dream and will go back to it whenever I feel the story calling to me again. The second "story" was really just a character telling me, "Hey, I'm here and I have a story and you are going to be the one to tell it." But, pretty much all he has told me his name. These are two stories I will be working on.

Fourth, on New Years Eve, a couple popped into my head and shared a love scene with me. I think they are wanting their story told as well. This may very well be my NaNo 2014 idea.

Fifth, I still have a partial story I began back in 2002. I need to edit that one and complete it.

So, I do have a lot of plans on the writing front this year.

 

Goals for January

1) Finish writing WIP #2

2) Edit WIP #1 (The Cardoni War) and write 20,000 more words.

3) Create Scrivener files for all other ideas to keep them organized. 

 

Writing Goal for December

Since, I did not finish my novel in NaNoWriMo, I have set up a new goal for me. I have given myself until February 1, 2013 to complete the 50,000 words originally required. That works out to about 756 words a day.

I really love the novel I am working on. I love my characters and even changed my original story line to accommodate them (more on that after the novel is done). But, I think the pressure of writing 1700+ words a day was ruining the love I had for them. I am hoping with a shorter daily requirement for myself, I can stay true to them and complete them.

I use a phone app called NanoProgress. It can track multiple projects, which I like. It shows current word count, final goal word count, how many words a day are needed and the percentage of completion. It's really good to keep track even after NaNo is over.

I also need to be compiling ideas for books since one of the ideas swimming in my head will be next year's attempt.

For the record, this year's novel is called Never Forget. I will get a summary up later on.

NaNoWriMo was a Failure

This year was my first attempt at NaNoWriMo. And it was a failure. For those who do not know what NaNoWriMo is, it's a challenge every November to write a 50,000 word novel. I got to a little over 7,000 words for my first attempt. I am a very busy person even though I do not work. I do go to college full time for psychology. I do take care of 7 kids full time. So, maybe 7,000 is a success for me.

However, I will use this year's experience to help me next year. This year, I made several mistakes. And I will use these mistakes for next year.

Mistake #1: No Outline
     In fact, I had no clue what I was going to write. I pulled this year's novel out of my list of ideas. I had a basic concept, but nothing of substance. I didn't have a list of characters. I pretty much started from scratch on November 1st.

Mistake #2: No Research
     I had no research done. I had a real life setting in my mind that went with the back story. But, I had done no research to incorporate as much factual information in my novel as possible. I was forever stopping to do the research while writing the novel.

Mistake #3: Time Management
     Writing 1700 words a day isn't really that hard. There were times I was doing that plus some in a day. My problem was finding the time each day to write.

So, with these three basic mistakes in mind, I have already began planning how to succeed at NaNoWriMo next year!