It’s nearly the end of July, and also the end of Camp NaNoWriMo for another year. As the end draws closer and closer, it’s the perfect time to look back at the month with all its ups and downs. For me, there are many things that make Camp NaNoWriMo special. While every Camp is a different experience, something things never change. Here are 3 things I love most about Camp NaNoWriMo.

The Cabins: A lot of people complain about the cabin system, and to be honest, it doesn’t always work that well. But the cabins are amazing, personal places to talk and to get to know new friends, as well as chat with old ones. With a cabin, I always have people ready to listen to me when I’m down in the dumps about my novel, or to celebrate a milestone with me.

The Challenge: Camp NaNoWriMo is all about challenging yourself. Unlike regular NaNoWriMo, where the goal is fixed, Camp lets you choose your own goal. It’s perfect for a personal challenge. I love the challenge of trying to write an entire novel in a month or of hitting a particular word goal. Camp NaNoWriMo helps me dedicate my time more fully to writing.

The Conclusion: While this may sound like I don’t like Camp NaNoWriMo, I think there are few feelings better than getting to the end of the month and having a rest after thirty days of non-stop writing. The beginning is all excitement, but the end is sheer relief, and a rest never feels so good unless you’ve had to work hard for it.

We’re in the last couple of days of Camp now. Some people have already won, while others are still working away, trying to reach their goal. If you’ve finished already, then congratulations! Eat plenty of celebratory chocolate or other treat, catch up on some sleep, rest those poor, tired hands, and feel proud of your achievement. If you’re still working, keep up the great work! You should be proud of yourself too. I’m cheering for you. I know you can make it.

What do you love most about Camp NaNoWriMo? Looking forward to a well-earned rest at the end? Have you finished writing, or are you still racing toward the finish line?

This piece has a constant, driving beat in the background, which to me feels like constant, inevitable motion. It feels like the perfect piece for a scene where everything is changing around the characters, or for a slightly more active scene. I could also see this scene being very suitable for a transition where the main character is learning some important skill, or finally mastering something.

Have you heard Simply Three before? What are you listening to at the moment? Link me to your current favourite song!

Over the past couple of weeks, a few extremely nice bloggers have nominated me for a couple of blogging awards. I am very grateful for these nominations, and these bloggers have really encouraged me to keep working on my blog. I’d like to thank The Teenaged Nerd for nominating me for the Liebster Award, dragonsashes and Tara Therese for the Inspiring Blogger Award, and Helena for the Sunshine Award. You guys are the best.

For the Liebster Award and the Sunshine Award, I am supposed to answer many questions and list even more facts about myself. However I am ever the rebel, and I will be answering a few questions from each of these lists, which I hope will suffice. So without further ado, here are my answers to ten questions about me.

Five Questions from the Liebster Award-The Teenaged Nerd

1. When did you first start writing?  I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I used to write little books on scraps of paper and staple them together, illustrating them with terrible drawings. I started writing novels at age 13-14, and I never looked back.

2. Why did you start your blog? I’ve been blogging for a few years on one blog or another, and I had always wanted to have a writing blog. But I never had the confidence to actually start one until one of my friends convinced me that I had something important enough to say on a blog like that. I started my blog back in March, and I’ve really enjoyed posting on it since then. It’s only little at the moment, but it’s all mine!

3. How often do you write? I try to write every day, which works very well during the NaNoWriMo months, but doesn’t always work during the rest of the year. However, I do try to form a habit of writing every single day during the rest of the year as well.

4. What's your favourite book? That is the single most difficult question in the world to answer. I love so many books that it’s impossible to pick a favourite. How could you ask a writer/reader that question? I love all the books!

5. Who's your favourite author? That’s a difficult question as well, so I’m just going to name a couple of writers whose books I have been enjoying recently. Maggie Stiefvater’s books are amazing, and I highly recommend her. Also Marissa Meyer. I recently discovered her Lunar Chronicles and suffice to say, she is a favourite with me now.

Five Questions from the Sunshine Award-Helena

1. What career appeals to you the most? This is an easy question. The career that appeals to me the most is that of a writer. If I could write all day, do nothing else, and make a living from that, then I would be perfectly happy. The other career that appeals to me is that of a book editor, which is what I’m actually currently studying towards being. Thankfully editing and writing go very nicely together.

2. What is your favourite flavour of ice cream? The chocolate fudgy kind. I love fudge and I absolutely adore chocolate, and mixing the two in ice cream is pure genius. The cookies and cream kind of ice cream is pretty awesome too.

3. Are you a 'shopaholic'? Er, no. Not at all. The only kind of shopping I actually enjoy doing is at the back-to-school sales where I buy discount notebooks and pens for my writing. The rest of the time I don’t usually even like window shopping.

4. What is your favourite movie? I have so many favourite movies that it’s very difficult to choose just one. Instead I’ll just leave a link to a post where I listed tenof my favourite movies. Ten has got to be better than just one, right?

5. What is your favourite hobby? Writing comes top of the list obviously (this being a writing blog and me being a writer). As well as that, I love reading, blogging, and drinking copious amounts of tea. Which is totally a hobby.

All these blog awards say in the rules that I must tag other bloggers with these awards. But again, I’m going to break the rules and not tag a whole lot of bloggers. However, I want to nominate dragonsashes, The Teenaged Nerd, and Tara Therese for the Sunshine Award. You guys always brighten my day. And I’d like to nominate Helena for the Inspiring Blogger Award. Your blog posts always make me stop and think. Please go and check out their blogs if you haven't already.

And now for the announcement. You may have noticed the brand new social media button in my sidebar. I am very excited to announce that, as of today, Gossiping with Dragons is now not only on Google+, but on Facebook as well. Follow the link to like the page and get blog updates, links to other interesting blog posts, and other inspiring things. I’d love to see you there!

 Once again it's time for a writing excerpt. As well as writing my novel this camp, I've also been working on a few random scenes for character development and relaxation. It's been very interesting to see how my character reaction in situations outside of their book. Today's two excerpts come from two different random scenes. I hope you enjoy them!

*

 This excerpt comes from a scene where the mutant team is having a day off and going to the beach.

“Are we nearly there?” Nicola whined.

“Nearly.” Megan sounded pretty testy by now. Nicola had been asking the same question over and over for the past hour. She was worse than any child to travel with. “You know, asking that question over and over again doesn’t actually make us get there any faster.”

“I know. But I want to know how soon we’re going to be there. Do you know how long it’s been since I was at the beach? I haven’t been since I grew a tail and gave up surfing.” Nicola’s mutant power was the grow a tail and gills when she touched water, a bit like a mermaid. Which made her favourite pastime of surfing a bit impossible.

“Well, we’re going to be another ten minutes,” Jonathon said. He was a genius, but at the moment he seemed more like an excited kid than a guy with a massively clever brain.

Sara grinned round at everyone. “I love the beach. I want to make a sandcastle,” she said.

“Isn’t that a bit babyish?” Eric, a mutant with icy powers, asked. “People our age don’t make sandcastles, do they? Or did I miss something?”

“I always make a sandcastle when I go to the beach,” Sara said. “You don’t have to make one. I’m not going to force you to. But if anyone wants to join in, then they’re most welcome to.” She gripped her sand shovel tighter. “Are we nearly there Megan?”

*

This excerpt comes from a scene where four of the mutants are trapped in an elevator.

“You’re the one who wants to do something,” Eric pointed out. “I’d rather go to sleep until they’ve got this thing all fixed up, but I highly doubt that that’s going to happen with you here.”

“You’re one to talk Snow boy. I swear it’s getting colder in here just because you’re in here.” Nicola scooted away from him a little. “Can you stop that?”

“At least I’m keeping the air in here comfortable. It could get really hot with four of us in here for a while. You should be thanking me for my services,” Eric said. “I should charge you all for this.”

“You could hire yourself out as the human air conditioner,” Nicola said. “That could be your second career. I bet you could make a killing doing that. Until you forgot that not everyone likes Antarctic conditions and froze someone’s eyebrows off.”

“I don’t think you can freeze someone’s eyebrows off,” Sara said. “I think you can only burn them off. I wonder what you’d look like with no eyebrows Nicola.”

How's your Camp NaNoWriMo going? Got any excerpts to share with me? Are you looking forward to the last week of Camp? I can't believe we've come so far already.

Characters are central to a good story. With so many great books out there, there are loads of truly amazing characters with all kinds of skills and good qualities. This week, The Broke and the Bookish’s Top Ten Tuesday subject is the top ten characters I’d choose to have with me on a deserted island. My list is made up of a wide variety of characters, and honestly I would be very interested to see how this group got on together.

1. Raven-H.I.V.E

I’d pick Raven for her awesome fighting skills. She’s is basically a ninja when it comes to stealth, and makes a perfect bodyguard, assassin, or soldier. She would definitely be great at defending us if there was anything dangerous lurking on the deserted island. You can never be too careful with these deserted places after all. They’re rarely as empty as they seem.

2. Leo Valdez-Heroes of Olympus 

If I were on a deserted island, there is only one person I’d want to do the inventing for me. As a demigod son of Hephaestus, Leo has the best set of skills for building me an escape raft that might actually be able to get us off the island. Plus he comes equipped with a cool magic tool belt that’ll give him any tools he needs. And when it gets cold, he can even light us a fire with his ability to set himself on fire.

 

3. Percy Jackson-Percy Jackson

Once Leo has built me an escape raft, I’d definitely need someone who can navigate us to safety, and who could also help us power the boat if Leo couldn’t build an engine. Percy’s like a human GPS on water thanks to being the demigod son of Poseidon, and he has the added bonus of being able to communicate with water animals, so if we needed an extra push, he might be able to summon a couple of hippocampi to give us a boost. He could also put Leo out if he spontaneously burst into flames.

 

4. Cammie-Gallagher Girls

Every group needs a scout to go on ahead and check for danger. With her ability to hide in plain sight, as well as her carefully honed spy skills, Cammie would make the perfect scout. After all, she’s not called the Chameleon for nothing. Plus, if you ever need someone killed with a piece of uncooked spaghetti, she probably knows how to do that too, which could be helpful if we get washed up with only a packet of pasta to defend ourselves with.

5. Two Gulps and You're Gone-Dragon Whisperer

Two Gulps probably wouldn’t help our team much, except in aerial scouting maybe, and the fact he could eat anyone who got past Raven. But I’d have him on my deserted island for the simple fact that Two Gulps is a dragon and dragons are cool. Who wouldn’t want to have a friendly dragon on their team?

6. Aragorn-The Lord of the Rings

If there was one character I would trust to keep us alive on this deserted island, it would be Aragorn. As a Ranger he’s used to travelling and living rough, and he’s also good at fighting. Plus, if there happens to be a crazy quest to complete on this deserted island, like throwing a small object into a volcano, then he would definitely be the best person to lead the group.

7. Artemis Fowl-Artemis Fowl

Sometimes you just need a genius to come up with some brilliant idea as to how to get off the island. And who better than Artemis Fowl who is not only a genius, but also a criminal, and happens to have a very devoted bodyguard who would probably search the globe to find him? He’s also quite likely to have a couple of very nifty devices on him that might help us. And if all else fails, he could call on the fairies for some help.

8. Mr Darcy-Pride and Prejudice

Mr Darcy would in no way be helpful to our little band of survivors. He probably wouldn’t enjoy the experience, and I highly doubt that his etiquette and dancing skills would be useful on a deserted island. But if I was given the chance to be stranded on a deserted island with any character of my choosing, of course I would pick him. He’s Mr Darcy!

9. Cress-Lunar Chronicles

Cress would be an excellent person to have on an island because she’s used to living in a place she can’t escape from, so she’d probably be able to keep the rest of us from going insane if the island was only small. And if we did happen to have any technology with us, she would be able to reprogram it to do something else more useful.

10. Briar-The Crystal Tree 

Briar is one of the characters that I would most like to spend time with, whether it was on a deserted island or not, because she’s actually a character from one of my own novels. Not only would I be excited to meet her in the flesh, she’d be very useful to the group too. She could heal any of us with her magic if we got sick or injured, which would be useful if we ate anything nasty, or got in a fight. 

If you could be stuck on a deserted island with any character you like, who would it be, and why?