I finished Camp NaNoWriMo tonight (hoorah!), so I’m posting this summary of each day. Each night since the first of July I wrote a little entry on how my editing and writing went that day, to give you an inside taste of how I spent my time. I also have a post from last Camp NaNoWriMo, which was in April.
Day One – Sunday
It’s the first of July and Camp NaNoWriMo has had a good start. After editing for more than half an hour today I have the feeling my goal is too small. In April I reached my goal in seven days, and whilst that’s nice and takes the pressure off, I underestimate how much work I can get done once I’m motivated and have actually started.
But also, it’s the weekend right now so I’ve had more time to edit and freedom to. I’ll keep my current goal for this week and see how the editing works out with my job and other commitments. If I end up reaching my goal pretty early I might change my goal.
Time spent editing: 70/900 mins
Day Two – Monday
Did not feel like writing today. I had work and then caught up with some friends, so by the time I got home I wasn’t feeling like doing anything. Still, I’ve managed 60 minutes in sporadic bursts, which is pretty decent considering my lack of motivation.
No, seriously, where’s my motivation gone? Yesterday I was so ready and today I just don’t want to put myself through this.
Time spent editing: 130/900 mins
Day Three – Tuesday
Again, not super motivated, but I managed to do 40 minutes of random bits and pieces. Because I’m so unmotivated my editing/writing is all over the place, so it feels like I’m not really accomplishing anything.
Well, one can hope things improve.
Time spent editing: 170/900 mins
Day Four – Wednesday
This is the happiest I’ve been with Camp; I just finished editing a difficult chapter that I’ve been putting off ever since I wrote it because I knew the whole thing needed rewriting to fit in with my updated novel idea. But once I started it was easy, and it’s now one of my favourite chapters.
Time spent editing: 295/900 mins
Day Five – Thursday
25 minutes, but after yesterday’s success I’m not feeling too bad.
Time spent editing: 320/900 mins
Day Six – Friday
Same as yesterday. Not much is happening but it does feel good to be working on my novel every day.
Time spent editing: 345/900 mins
Day Seven – Saturday
I was able to smash out an hour in one hit. Technically I had all day, but yes, I did leave it until the last minute. Still, I was on a roll and didn’t notice an hour passing. Go me.
Time spent editing: 405/900 mins
Day Eight – Sunday
It’s weird; every time I edit my novel I feel really good and happy with it, but when I just think about it I feel so unmotivated and like I’m making no progress. Not sure why, but in the least I’ve managed to work on my book every day.
Today was a slower day actually editing, but I did write down a lot of ideas into my notebook about things I want to change. I know that’s making the whole process longer and defeats the purpose of editing, but I’d rather write down these ideas now so I can incorporate them into the editing process in the coming weeks.
Time spent editing: 430/900 mins
Day Nine – Monday
Twenty minutes of nothing.
Time spent editing: 450/900 mins
Day Ten – Tuesday
Today was back to being inspired because I don’t have work tomorrow which got me happy which got me doin’ some good work today.
Let me tell you a bit more about what I’ve been doing…
As you know, this Camp is devoted to editing, but some of this editing is actually writing or rewriting. Previously in my novel I went through the chapters and highlighted the scenes I wasn’t happy with, paragraphs that didn’t flow, and plot holes.
When I first started writing this novel, I didn’t have an outline or a plan. I just wrote about character’s I made up and put them in different situations. Because of this, some of these scenes no longer work with the story that it’s become, or the character’s don’t quite fit with their backstory.
This Camp is about making it all fit.
Time spent editing: 490/900 mins
Day Eleven – Wednesday
Today was surprisingly pleasant. I managed to get through half an hour without much progress; it felt like I did more reading than editing. But before bed I got in a solid twenty minutes which I’m quite happy with. Mostly adding descriptions and fine-tuning some dialogue. I’m pleased with how it’s coming along.
Time spent editing: 540/900 mins
Day Twelve – Thursday
Today I only did fifteen minutes, but I’m feeling more positive about the whole thing, which is a plus.
Time spent editing: 555/900 mins
Day Thirteen – Friday
Tonight I half wrote and edited an entire chapter, which I’m super happy with. I have so many paragraphs needing work, with notes around them, so to have a chapter that has no markings is so satisfying. It’s amazing what you can do in forty minutes.
Time spent editing: 595/900 mins
Day Fourteen – Saturday
Why did I leave the hard stuff until last?
Time spent editing: 670/900 mins
Day Fifteen – Sunday
I didn’t work on my novel today, but I don’t have too many more minutes to go, so I don’t think it’ll affect Camp that much.
Time spent editing: 670/900 mins
Day Sixteen – Monday
Today’s work felt really good; it was only 25 minutes, but I got to work on a scene that I had been dreading. Nice to have that started, and it’ll be easy to pick up tomorrow.
Time spent editing: 695/900 mins
Day Seventeen – Tuesday
I’m falling behind a bit, but I’m also close enough to reaching my goal that I’m not too concerned.
Time spent editing: 710/900 mins
Day Eighteen – Wednesday
Tonight’s writing session went so smoothly. I was working on a chapter that had massive gaps that I’ve been avoiding, but I just went right at it and now it’s one of the longer chapters in my novel. I’m really happy with the outcome of today’s writing.
Time spent editing: 790/900 mins
Day Nineteen – Thursday
I knew I only had 110 minutes left, so I wrote for an hour this afternoon and then typed up the home run tonight. It was a lot of work, and tonight was slower going, but it feels so good to be done. I’m done! DoOoOnNnEeEe.
I still have some chapters that need some rewriting done, but Camp has gotten me excited about my novel again and has shown me that editing isn’t always a horrible, slow process. Sometimes it is, but I just have to get stuck into it. Camp has definitely gotten me motivated again, which is a nice feeling.
Time spent editing: 900/900 mins
Camp is over for another year! I like that Camp gets me motivated and encouraged to keep writing, and that having a challenge actually helps me write more.
Sarah xx
the softest words 