One thing I love about Camp NaNo as opposed the session in November is that you have cabins. The forums on the main site are great, yes, but your comment can easily get overlooked. Not to mention having everyone on the same thread instead of 20 or so people can be a bit overwhelming. You can miss a lot if you miss a day of checking the forums.
I remember when Camp NaNo first became a thing. The cabins only held 6 or 7 people. Give or take, but it was under 10. Now the cabins hold a lot more people – I don’t know if that’s because the number of members grew or if the NaNo staff thought the more the merrier.
Including myself and my sister, my cabin has 20 people. It’s a lot since I’m pretty sure we only had a grand total of 16 or so last session. I’m pretty sure this is the biggest we’ve had.
I love the cabins because it allows me to get to know certain writers. I don’t have to go scrolling down a large forum homing a million people. I can also set my cabin settings to be placed with people my age, who have similar goals than me, or who write in the same genre as me.
I’ve always been the youngest my whole life. I’m the youngest of three, I was the baby in my graduating class (then I went to college a year early, so I was two years younger at least than everyone else), and I was always the youngest at my workplace as well. I don’t know how that always worked out to be, but I’ve never minded.
Needless to say, it’s hard to find people my age. So I usually set that as a cabin preference.
I also love the collective goal you have to reach together. The site combines everyone goals and adds a second chart to the stats page. I have never been in a cabin where we actually have reached our collective goal, but I’ve always done my part so I can’t complain.
The only downside to the cabins is that sometimes you get people who don’t talk at all (one year I was literally the only one making conversation… one person replied on occasion but that was it). Sometimes you get people who don’t write at all (sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t) so it’s hard to bounce ideas and do happy dances with them when you or they make any sort of progress.
Still, I absolutely love the cabins. My cabin this month has been great so far. There are a few quiet people, sure, but that’s the way it goes I suppose. I enjoy the company anyway.
Do you use the cabins a lot? Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around.
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