Camp NaNoWriMo’s next session starts in just a few weeks and I’m looking forward to another chance to explore another of my narrative musings. April’s session was very good from a “let’s see if I can pants my way through this” as well as a chance to explore romantic writing as a future path. The good news is that I learned a lot from it. But, at least at this point, it’s a story I won’t be coming back to. While I consider what I did in April to be a full draft, there just isn’t enough interest in it for me to go back and fix all that I know is wrong with it.

This session though, I am going to enjoy – I start work on How to Kill a Cyborg. I’ve been playing with some things things I have been learning and I am really looking forward to my sci-fi police procedural/murder mystery. How ’bout that for a genre?  Here’s the blurb I entered on Camp NaNo synopsis section (I’m still not sure “who done it” and I need to add some more about how the cyborg community reacts to her investigation, but I think the kernel of the story works):

Detective Elizabeth “Frankie” Franklin just wants a vacation.  She’s been working straight through for two years since joining the homicide division and vlogging her cases to help keep the department’s budget in check has just made it all the harder to get away. She’s finally made time for a Mexican cruise with her husband when she gets called in on a case that requires her particular skills in police work and electronics. A leading member of the cyborg community has been strangled, but none of his sensors showed anyone nearby. With tens of thousands of dollars of augmentation added to his body, no one should have been able to get close enough harm him without leaving a record.

In a completely separate event (but going to be related for me) I’m super-excited to be a part of Brandon Sanderson’s online creative writing class being run by Write About Dragons. I’ve been looking at the site recently and I think they’ve got some good things going. Hopefully, it will all come together because I want to synergize the NaNo camp with the class – same book for each event and use some immediate feedback to help focus the story and my own efforts.

And last is the crunch – I’m halfway through my re-read of Betrayed and have decided that there is a pretty big chunk of structure missing at about the midway point. Easy to fix, but it has been so helpful to read it again after some time off and see it afresh. But that means re-writes will be starting…you guessed it…in July,

So lots of writing to be done.

Another month up and another writing challenge down, though this one was not nearly as bad as the last one.

Camp Nanowrimo for April is officially over with 23,000 words drafted on my next novel, Princess Charmed of a goal of 22,000. The book isn’t a complete draft and I’ve got my work cut out for myself fixing it, but I think I’ve got down what I wanted.

The greatest part though were the cabin mates that I had, people out to write, just like me. What a fun and amazing group. Seriously. They were great and now I’m looking forward to linking up with them come July for the next round of Camp NaNo.

So to juodakate, Diana Doerr, and Salathielly – super congrats!

I keep seeing as I read about professional (and successful) writers that one of the most important things that changed the way that they write is the idea of writing every day. (See Cory Doctrow interview or Jerry Seinfeld’s Don’t Break the Chain).

So, with doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month and having to relearn AGAIN how to force myself to write every day, I realized I needed something to help motivate me to keep going once the month is done. (And to motivate me during the month too – I’ve already had too many days that I’ve missed as part of this new novel that has put me a bit behind the 8-ball from a word count standpoint).

So, I went back to a website I had looked at before, but just hadn’t warmed up. 750words.com The goal – write a minimum of 750 words every day – “Private, unfiltered, spontaneous, daily” is their tag line.

Just thinking about it again was enough to put me off. Mostly, I think, due to the fact that it was going to ask me to write everyday, no exceptions. Forced, like NaNo, but without the reward. That didn’t seem very appealing. Another thing to feel guilty about not doing.

But having missed the weekend again and falling behind, I wanted to leverage this idea of writing every day to help me out. I wanted multiple things pushing me on.

I signed up three days ago.

That makes me both happy and scared. Happy because since doing it, I’ve gotten all my words in. I’m on a streak. It takes me less than 20min to get all my words in and I can just crash through like I don’t care. No editing, no corrections. Just writing.

It sucks, but in the best way possible.

Let me explain. I have absolutely no problem stream-of-consciousness-vomiting all over a page. Writing at the speed of thought is not too hard for me. It’s the organizing of the thought before that is the issue, specifically drafting a novel. I have this idea of where I want it to go, so I’m constantly trying to push myself down that path. But that involves more thought.

If I’ve had a chance to really sit down and plan out a chapter, really see it all in my head, the words flow. The problem? I rarely get that kind of time and I need to get the words out regardless.

So a measly 734 words a day for my Camp NaNo goal takes an hour or more. Ouch. But when I’m just putting words down on the page, that takes less than 20 minutes. Hmm… I don’t want to duplicate effort. I don’t want to do 750 words of crap words and then still have to do novel drafting.

So yesterday and today, I tried to draft in 750words.com. Yesterday was brutal. I had no flow at all. But today was completely different. I was working on another scene that I haven’t really thought about at all. And I just started to write in my characters voice. For the briefest of moments, I was scared that it was all going to be a waste. I could feel the words restricting in my head.

And then a single question popped into my mind. “What if?” it postulated. And I was off. Nineteen minutes later I had 822 words, all draft worthy material, and I was starting to claw back from being behind.

What I have always needed for my habits is consistency  And I really hope that 750words.com gives me that needed shot.

Here’s my next big writing event, hopefully, if I don’t get too bogged down in studies for the patent bar.

Camp NaNoWriMo. A less stressful version of the novel writing month that I did (and plan to do again).

The camp is much more laid back than actual NaNoWriMo – word count goals are more flexible and you can do things other than novels – collection of short stories, screenplay, script, etc.

I’m looking at around 22000 words as that’s about what I’d get if I did 700+ words each day, which is just about what I can get with a head’s down session during my lunch break. That would keep me going and help me keep up the skills that I’ve gained and be a meaningful goal, but wouldn’t monopolize my time in the evenings like last November.