I tried something different for Camp NaNo this session. I decided to log in hours instead of words. It has been, to say the least, interesting. Here’s my Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap Up.
Starting Strong
Instead of writing 50,000 words this month, like I normally do for all Camp sessions, I decided to edit Crossroads. Of course, at this point we all know how that turned out. I ended up re-doing everything and did a total rewrite. So, in a way, I probably could have logged in words instead of hours.
However, because I was planning on editing I decided to count my hours. I set my goal for 31 hours so as long as I worked on the novel for at least one hour a day, I’d be happy. It’d get me into a routine at least. This worked beautifully the first week of Camp. I consistently worked on my novel for one hour every day.
A Little Lag
Then week two came along. Everyone calls week two the slump. It never really has been for me, but this time? Oh, yeah. It’s not even that I was really in a slump, per se. I just kept putting off working on the novel. I had so many other things to do that I kept telling myself, “I’ll get to it after this.” Before I knew it, the end of the week was near and guess what? I had logged in zero hours.
Luckily, I sat down on a Saturday and worked on my novel for five hours straight. I had a few epiphanies while doing so as well. This didn’t completely catch me up though. I was still three hours behind after this. I figured, if I worked two hours a day, I’d be able to easily catch up.
Crunch Time
Not only was I behind, but I was going on vacation the last full week of July. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to work on my novel while on vacation. I mean, I guess I could have, but I wanted the break anyway.
So, the week before, I scrambled to get some hours in. Now, I have just a couple more hours left to go with just a few more days left in the month.
I’m pretty sure I can do it.
Become A Patron
Good luck getting those last few hours in.
I set my goals low for camp – and I think I’ll get it! Part of what’s been hard is I made my goal be words-based, but my editing usually reduces word count. I should have made my goal be hours so that my writing goals and editing goals ended up working in sync.
I did hours and it was harder than I thought. I had done hours before and vowed not to do it again… so I did it again, lol. I got there though.
I hope you got there as well!
I think so? I know I got there in spirit – my real goal was to write 3 short stories and edit a novella. I got that done, but I didn’t write/add the number of words I had as a goal. So I think I got there in spirit if not in law!
Any progress is progress! 🙂