Anyone who has spent time around me or followed my blog or Twitter or any other social media knows that I am a huge fan and advocate of NaNoWriMo. The "writing season" is my favorite part of the year. It used to be that I only had that level of excitement leading up to NaNo and then during the month (so October and November). So, my excitement level went through the roof four years ago when the wonderful folks behind NaNoWriMo started Camp NaNoWriMo to bring that insanity and energy and thrill to two more months of the year.
The first session of Camp NaNoWriMo will start on April 1st, and much like NaNo will take place over 30 days. Unlike the November version, Camp offers so many more options. People can write scripts/screenplays, a collection of short stories, a picture book, whatever. You can set the word count goal to whatever you'd like, and that is awesome. I have used a couple of past Camp sessions to work on editing and re-writes for novels, which have basically been successful. Even though there is versatility on the word count settings, I prefer to stick with the standard 50,000 words in 30 days. I know that is doable, even with a full-time job and free time to hang out with friends and such.
This year I am going with two different plans for Camp. For the April session it is imperative that I finish everything for Project Death: Revelation. It is the book I have on deadline for myself and I have people waiting for its release. I would absolutely love to have it released in June, but at the latest it will be out in July, a year after the first book.
Then, for the July session of Camp, I am going for a re-write of the book I wrote for my second ever NaNoWriMo, all the way back in 2007. I enjoyed the basic story and the narrator is a very loud and persistent young woman. I've decided to stop trying to push her into a corner. So, I will be focusing my attention on rewriting and polishing Bounty: A Hunter's Tale, which is about a supernatural bounty hunter/assassin and how she handles a betrayal by her bosses. It is a story that has action, violence, and of course, romance. Hopefully I will have everything set up in this book to continue the series, because I have the plans for seven books.
Obviously I have some writing and publishing deadlines for myself, and it is incredibly helpful to have these writing challenges like Camp and NaNo. They help to drive my sometimes competitive spirit and keep me focused better than the non-NaNo months.
I look forward to seeing what the Camp sessions will bring, and how much progress I can make on these novels. You can be certain that I will be giving updates on my writing progress through April and July.
