Camp NaNo is ten days in. I’ve set the goal of three new Deaf Tales to go towards my goal of ten fairytales (or well-known stories) retold with Deaf culture. I also set a goal of at least twenty thousand words. Currently, I am at eight thousand and feel like I am ahead and “winning”.
Last month, I failed.
To be honest, I didn’t complete the #InstaWrimo challenge in preparation for Camp NaNoWrimo. I’m not terribly upset about it, except that I feel like it means something that I didn’t finish even a simple challenge. My mind constantly races, thinking “Will I never finish editing one of the novels? Will I ever publish?”
I know that I can’t think that way. One challenge does not make a writer.
According to the Camp NaNo quiz, I am a “relaxed camper”. I don’t even like camping. But considering that I wanted to have another set goal to write daily (not necessarily the word counts, but just to write daily), I signed up to do the Camp NaNo. The quiz said “It’s a chance to refresh. It’s a carefree road trip with no itinerary — the words just flow. Your Camp NaNo experience is more about the writing than the word count goal. You’re just happy to make your imagination a priority! After all, it’s about the journey, not the destination.” I love that.
The Journey, not the Destination
With my writing, I really enjoy the journey of the book, so much so that sometimes I draw out the book to where it doesn’t need to go. Yes, I end the books, but I have trouble editing as I enjoyed the journey. But maybe I should be thinking about it as a journey and not a destination.
Writing Goals
The writing group I’m apart of talked last night about our writing goals. That one thing NaNoWriMo helps with is setting a goal. You know you have 30 days to write. And we do. We all write the thirty days and (most) make the goals. But then we stop. We don’t edit, we don’t continue with the next step.
But we want to keep the momentum going, so we made a plan. The next month (May), we’ll spend the group time editing what we just wrote. The month after, beta reading between the group. Then it’s July and we have another “camp,” so we start the process over again. Then comes November and even more writing.
At least, that’s the plan.
And it’s a good plan, one that I am striving to work towards. Because, let’s face it, without accountability, I’ll not stay on task of writing, editing, and eventually, publishing.
So for now, I’ll keep writing. Then I’ll edit. And I will publish.
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