FSFS November 2016

NaNoWriMo's Camp NaNo

by NeedingBeachDuf 🐠⛵🏝️

You may have seen a weird looking word floating around WDC since the end of September. It even shows up in some WDC user names: NaNoWriMo. What in the world?

This article touches on NaNoWriMo and addresses a lesser known component of the challenge: Camp Nano.

First a bit about NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month, by the way. It is free to participate in this challenge to complete a phenomenal task of writing at least a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. Find out more here: NaNoWriMo  

I don't know about you, but November is a bit busy for me. My birthday is the 16th, which is only a slight bump in the road of life, but Thanksgiving around our place is a huge event. There are between 30 and 75 people each year and that takes a good deal of effort over a week that invariably impacts my NaNoWriMo efforts. If I'm behind on my word count at all by mid month, I'm likely to abandon the challenge knowing I'll never catch up. )O:

If you desire to participate in NaNoWriMo but November, like for me, is just not good for you, there is good news. Both the months of April and July host Camp Nano events.

Camp Nano does not have as much fanfare and prep like Mrs. Battiwyn's October NaNo Prep Challenge  , but it is based on the same premise. Aside from occurring in different months, one other major difference is a virtual writer's retreat. You can be added to a cabin at random or based on a variety of criteria such as age, genre, and/or word count goals. Or better yet, you and up to eleven of your writing friend's can create a public or private cabin. These cabins create a supportive writer's community where participants can converse with other cabin mates via a message board chat like function or via Nano email. Find out more here: Camp Nano  

So, now you have three months to choose from to see if you have what it takes to crank out 50,000 words (or more) in a month. Whether you're a pantser or a planner, it comes out to just under 1,700 words a day to become a 50,000 word NaNoWriMo winner.


NeedingBeachDuf 🐠⛵🏝️ has won NaNoWriMo and Camp Nano on two occasions. This November, she'll be sailing from the Bahamas to Texas, so they'll be no NANO for her. She's shooting to be prepared for April.





Images courtesy of National Novel Writing Month.