I’m a July 2013 Camp Nanowrimo Winner

· by · in

Yes, I’ve just validated my word count (74, 506 words), and, because I set my goal at 70,000 words for this event, I’m a winner. Wahoo!

Don’t know what Camp Nanowrimo is? It’s a writers’ event (same organisation as NaNoWriMo in November), that encourages writers to write a whole novel (well, first draft anyway!) in a month. Camp is different to NaNoWriMo though, as in November your goal is always 50,000 words, whereas at Nano Camp you can choose your own goal from 10,000 words to 999,999 words.

This month, I’ve been busy with Camp Nanoing, every day. On July 1st, I started writing FRAGMENTED, the second UNTAMED novel.  This novel, I planned to write for the whole month…

However, on July 22, I finished its first draft! Yet, at 65,000 words long, I hadn’t met my target word count! Shock! Horror! So, after a little deliberation, I decided that instead of finishing my Camp Nano writing there, I’d continue by making a start on the third UNTAMED novel, entitled BROKEN, and that I’d add the two word counts together.  I’ve decided that I’m going to, hopefully, get the first drafts of all four UNTAMED novels done, before I go back to do any major editing. This is because, at the moment, I’m so engrossed in the story, and I’m kind of stuck in the MC’s head, that I think it makes sense to keep writing her story.

And, it wasn’t long at all before I’d hit my word count goal of 70,000.

Validating your word count through the camp nano site is necessary to become a winner, so I validated it today (it’s the second day of validating), and I ‘won’!

I’m now just below 75,000 words, according to the website, (Camp Nano’s word count validator gave a slightly different word count than Open Office did), and hope to get at least another 10,000 words done before the Camp ends. Of course, I’m no way near finishing BROKEN, because it’s going to end up being around the same length as the other two UNTAMED novels that I’ve already written.

I love participating in Camp Nanowrimo (my cabin mates are awesome!), and NaNoWriMo itself! So far, I’ve won every time… If you want to check out my Camp Nanowrimo page for more info on both FRAGMENTED and BROKEN, as well as excerpts, and see my lovely ‘Winner Badge’ for yourself, then I’d be delighted.

Now, I must get back to writing, as I’ve left my protagonist in a bit of a tricky situation!