Only a little over two days left to Camp NaNoWriMo, and so far, I’ve written almost 9,000 words of my novel, SEVEN DUDES, and I plan on writing another 1,000 or so this weekend. That will make my grand total for the month of July at 10,000 words.
Is it a far cry from my original goal of 35,000 words?
Yes, it is.
Am I disappointed about this?
Not at all.
You see, it took me five months from February through June to write a little over 14,000 words. Five months! So the fact that I wrote 10,000 words in just one month is something worth celebrating.
And boy, am I celebrating.
On Monday, Marcus and I fly to Iceland.
That’s right. ICELAND!
I’ve heard for years that Iceland is a magical place. Just to name a few of its unique qualities, it’s home to adorable puffins and Icelandic ponies, beautiful waterfalls galore, the original geyser (geysir), thousands of thermal pools, Hakarl (rotten shark meat), elves, and amazing glaciers.
Now, we’ve been planning this trip since December of last year, so it’s not really a reward for completing Camp NaNoWriMo, but since this trip just happens to fall right after that accomplishment, I like to think of it as my most awesome writing reward so far. It’s more than a reward though; it’s truly a dream come true.
In the end, even though I wrote a few weeks ago that NaNoWriMo doesn’t work for me, I’m actually considering doing Camp NaNoWriMo again next year. It was great to see posts of progress and encouragement, laments about not writing enough, frustrations, and other bits of news from my fellow cabin mates on our online cabin bulletin board. About six of us were active posters and it made for a fun and supportive community.
Thanks, Sablize, Talys, Meg (Storyteller5), Emily, 32847, and HeatherMarie. You all helped me get to 10,000 words in one month. My gratitude goes out to you. Write on, everyone!
Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a middle-grade novel centered on the question, can enemies become friends? She is currently writing another novel that is a re-imagining of the Snow White fairy tale set in 1980s Seattle.
Cabin in the Woods by Katherine Hardy