Camp NaNoWriMo, Your Way

Camp NaNoWriMo is approaching fast. It’s fun, and highly motivating, writing alongside other writers from around the world to hit a goal in 30 days. While NaNoWriMo, held in November and awesomely amazing, is quite restrictive about what you can write and how much, Camp NaNoWriMo is much more flexible. You really can write your way. You don’t even have to be writing a novel! Today I want to share a few of the ways you can customize your Camp NaNo experience so that it fits your writing needs.

Flexible Word Count Goals

One of the most important features of Camp NaNo is that you don’t actually have to write 50k words if you don’t want to. Instead, you can choose your own goal, anywhere between 10k thousand to 1mil if you so choose. You might be too busy for the full NaNo amount, but you can set your own word count goal and make sure you only have to write what you like. The other great thing is that for the first couple of weeks of Camp NaNo, you can adjust your word count goal up or down. So if you’re having a great month and think you could achieve more, you can bump your goal up, but if things are going terribly, you can take it down to a more manageable target.

Personalised Support Network

Unlike NaNo, which has a huge selection of forums where all writers can hang out together, Camp NaNo divides you up into cabins, which are like mini forums of up to twelve people. But you’re also able to customize these so that you get the most out of your cabin.

Flying Solo: If you like solitude while writing and prefer not to get caught up in socialisation, even with other writers, then you can opt out of the cabin system altogether, through your cabin settings.

Criteria Critter: Don’t have any writing friends to share a cabin with? In your cabin settings you can choose to be sorted into a cabin with people in the same age range as you, or writing in a similar genre. And if you don’t like your cabin, you can leave and be resorted with some new buddies.

Writing Socialite: Got a bunch of friends doing Camp NaNo with you? You can set up a private cabin with them through your cabin settings. One person makes the private cabin, then invites friends once it’s been set up. If you’ve already got a great writing support group, this is an excellent way to go.

Extended Project Types

While NaNo only allows you to write a novel, Camp NaNo is far more liberal with the types of projects you can work on. In fact, there are almost no limitations. Whether you want to write a screenplay, poems, short stories, a novel, or even a non-fiction project, Camp NaNo has options for all these in your writing project settings. As an added bonus, I believe the script option allows you to set your goal in pages rather than words. Even if, like me, you’re knee deep in edits, you can still join in. Camp NaNo recently added a ‘revisions’ option to cover us. Don’t fit into any of these categories? Choose ‘other’ and go for it. Camp NaNo has you covered.

Camp NaNoWriMo was designed work for you as a writer, no matter where you are in your writing journey. And they’re improving all the time. With all the new options for personalising Camp NaNo for your needs, it’s easier than ever to join in. Who’s with me?

Are you taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo this July? What kind of project will you be working on? Did you realise Camp NaNo was so customizable? Anyone going into Camp for revisions, like me?