Daily Word Count

Camp NaNoWriMo: Did it work?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

For me, Yes .That’s a big YES. I completed my 50,000 words today.

It may seem like a little thing to get a winner’s badge. but it’s what’s behind the badge that’s important. There are 50,000 words of a novel.

So why did this work for me?

Watching the daily word count motivated me to write every day. It’s so easy to miss a day or two, and not get the words written. But just being accountable to my camp members was enough.

The other thing I found is my friends and family gave me time to write, knowing I was under a deadline. The closer I got to 50,000 words, the more they cheered me on. The excitement around here grew each day. That motivated me to keep going, too.

Here’s what my word could looked like on a daily basis.

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You can see I fell behind on days 8, 9, and 10. Those days fell on a weekend, and life took priority. At that moment, I knew I had to get more serious and bump up writing on the priority list.

Would I do NaNoWriMo again? Yup.

I’m going to participate in November. In the mean time, I’ll start keeping track of my word count to help me focus. I’ve got to get this novel to 80,000 words before September. Then I need a month to edit it before sending it to beta readers. After that, November is closing in, and it all begins again.

Anyone else our there in Camp NaNoWriMo? How are you doing? What did you like or not like about the camp? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading…

Camp NaNoWriMo: Is It Working?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Phew, I’m over half-way through Camp NaNoWriMo.

So what have I discovered? I tell you after I share my stats from yesterday with you.

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That bull’s eye is very motivating. Each day I see the arrow move a little bit. I almost wish I’d set the target at 80,000 words. Almost. That would mean I’d have a full novel drafted by the end of the month. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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The graph show I had a little slump from day 7 to day 10. What’s my excuse? Too much time socializing with friends who were visiting for the weekend. So a person have to have a social life too. Right?

I’m on track to finish my 50,00o words by July 29th. I’ve got to keep to that. I can’t give myself until July 31st because we have friends coming to stay for the long weekend, and I’m also selling books at a Farmer’s Market on the Saturday. Counting on having time to reach my goal over the final weekend would be a mistake, so I’ve got do have 50,000 words by July 29th.

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I’ve never written to a schedule before. I find it adds a bit of stress to the day. I wake up thinking “what if I can’t find anything to write about today?” So far that hasn’t happened. I’m trying the trick of ending a day of writing with only the first paragraph of the next scene written.

I find it easier to decide what comes next if I’m in the throws of writing. If I start the morning with no plan, I have more trouble getting going, and hence it takes me longer to reach the daily word count.

Anyone else out there doing Camp NaNoWriMo? If you are, let me know if the comments below. I’d love to hear how you’re doing.

Thanks for reading…