Camp NaNoWriMo, 2020

It’s been hard to create this year, though I’m sure that’s true for a lot of folks. As an act of potentially foolhardy motivation, I’ll be attempting Camp NaNoWriMo. I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo on and off since 2012, and funnily the only time I’ve hit the 50k goal was that first year. I’ve participated eleven times, including both November NaNoWriMos and Camp NaNoWriMos, with an accumulative 181,623 words written. It’s honestly more than I would’ve expected given how many times I’ve flubbed the challenge.

I think NaNoWriMo is great for motivation, even if you (like me) flub the challenge a bunch. Anything that gets everyone together and excited about hunkering down and writing a book is a positive force in my eyes.

This year I’ll be trying to get the first 50k of a sci-fi novel done. I’ve been outlining it these past few weeks, and hope that’ll help me blast through the daily word goals.

Are your participating this year? Jump into the comments below and let me know what you’re working on and what your Camp NaNoWriMo goals are. (Or let me know via Twitter!)

Camp NaNoWriMo and the Mighty Newsletter

Camp NaNoWriMo turned out to be a success. I’d pledged to write 20,500 words, and I hit that goal plus 55 extra words.

The project was the sequel to The Horned Scarab, tentatively titled The Underbelly War. I had already written 10,000 words of the rough draft, and wanted to use Camp NaNo to spur me on to finishing it. I’d guesstimated that the story would only need 30,000 words to tell, but I’d been wrong. Looking at the rough draft and all the dangling plot threads, I’d think it needs another 20,000 words before it’s a complete (albeit rough) story.

I don’t know when it’ll get those extra words. As I’ve said on here and on my twitter, The Underbelly War is unlikely to see the light of day. The Horned Scarab just didn’t make enough to justify the expense of self-publishing a sequel. So for now, I’ve written 30,000 words of it—including some rough endings—and made a ton of notes for whenever (if) I return to it.

In its place I’ve been working on submissions for shorter works, but I’m going to devote the majority of my writing time to finishing a full length novel. Once done, I plan on shopping it around to be traditionally published. Wish me luck.

The Mighty Newsletter

In other news, I’ve made a newsletter. You can subscribe here or on the sidebar of my blog. It’ll be a sorta monthly email letting you know when new stuff I’ve made comes out, as well as book recommendations, and sometimes even a mini-blog only for subscribers. I plan on including other goodies in it, short stories, poems, and even giveaways. SUBSCRIBE and you’ll get it all sent right into your inbox!