It's here! It is truly and finally here!
The most dreaded and anticipated event of the year... Camp NaNoWriMo!
What it is...
For all you newbies out there, Camp NaNoWriMo is a writing boot camp that takes place during the month of November. Basically, you write until your fingers fall off, and your brain goes into neutral... AND THEN YOU WRITE SOME MORE. Sounds like fun, right?
I'm guessing that if our blog has ANY readers at all (I hope that it does), our audience is mainly teen writers... Which is AWESOME. Cause you're reading something written by a teen writer right now.
So here is the link for the NaNoWriMo program for teens: http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/
ATTENTION: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE. If you want to participate in this, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, go sign up RIGHT NOW. The more you put it off, the more you're going to get behind.
Anyway, back to what it is. You enter your preferred username, password, and email, and that gives you access to everything. Then, you will do a word war against yourself for about 10 minutes, which will calculate your word average. After this is complete, you enter how many hours you plan to write each day, which will give you your new word goal! Cha-chingggg. It's magic, my lovelies.
Example: I wrote for ten minutes and got seven-hundred-some words. That's a lot for me. I was on a roll. Then I entered that I would be able to write for two hours a day (already starting to regret it), and it gave me my word count: 119,880 words. 1 1 9 , 8 8 0 s t i n k i n g w o r d s . If I actually do that, I'll have two novels completed by then...
Here are some tips for surviving it without wreaking havoc upon your normal life...
1. School comes first.
I know, I know... it's no fun that way. But still. This is the only way to keep everybody happy. Your parents will be happy, your teachers will be happy, and after the month is over, you will be happy.
2. Keep your space clean.
Your bedroom, your school space, your locker, you name it and you keep it clean. This will make thinking easier.
3. DONT WORRY ABOUT EDITING.
I know... I have OCD too, and those little nit-picky errors grind on my nerves like nothing else. But the goal is to FINISH a novel. Not begin one that will be gathering dust in you computer file a month from now. Editing comes later, what you need to worry about it pumping out words.
4. Use weekends to your advantage.
Instead of making plans all day Saturday, go for half. That way you can still write on the weekends.
5. Read http://goteenwriters.blogspot.com/ 's daily posts.
Not only are these posts dripping with wisdom that you can squeeze into your own writing, they are also extremely encouraging. Tuesday's and Thursday's are the days in which the inspirational quotes or stories are posted. (And, here in a few weeks, they're going to be doing a *sing-songy voice* wooorrrddd warrr. Word wars are an awesome way to get several thousand words under your belt.)
6. Use your support group for encouragement - but don't forget to give some in return.
Well... I have to get back to writing! I have 99,000 words left to write this month, plus some geometry homework...
Happy writing and good luck with NaNoWriMo!
~Patricia Rane
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