July Camp NaNoWriMo 2021

Mariajauthor/ June 28, 2021/ Author Journey/ 2 comments

You might already know how much I enjoy NaNoWrimo events! June is nearly over so that means July Camp NaNoWriMo is starting on Thursday, 1st July. I’ve hit my goals for my 4th historical fiction novel and I’m ready to take part! So, this week on the blog, I thought I’d tell you a bit about my project.

About NaNoWriMo

If you’re not familiar with the term, NaNoWriMo stands for ‘National Novel Writing Month’ and it’s an online writing challenge. Participants from all over the world take part in Nano. The main event takes place in (yep, you’ve guessed it) November, with writers starting a new project at the start of the month and trying to write 50k words by the 30th November.

It’s a great chance to join with other writers from your region, too. I’ve loved using it to experiment with different genres (more about writing different genres in this blog post). In fact, my fantasy novel Lottie’s Locket, published November last year, started out as a NaNoWriMo project back in 2018. Head here to check out Lottie’s Locket and my other published books!

Camp NaNoWriMo is a more flexible version of the November event, happening in April and July. Rather than starting a new project, writers can work on existing projects and choose whichever goal they wish, including editing as well as writing. Writers can also change their goal until about the 3rd week in the month.

In April I went for 15k word goal to rewrite a Camp NaNoWrimo project from 2020. It was originally more of a paranormal mystery, but I thought I’d try to rewrite it as a murder mystery instead. I didn’t quite finish it, hitting 12k odd – but I was happy with my progress, considering we moved house in April!

My July project

This time, I’ve decided to edit a project I wrote in July Camp NaNoWriMo 2019. I have been writing a new story idea in my notebook that I considered working on, but actually it’s still in quite early stages and I’m enjoying the freedom of scribbling away at that without any pressure. Besides, it’s been two years since I last touched this story, so it’s about time I went back to it.

This story is tentatively titled ‘Brushing past the Brontes’. It’s a MG historical fantasy novel (similar style and audience to Lottie’s Locket) featuring the Brontes. Here’s a flavour of it below:

A 9-year-old called Gracie, while on holiday with her family in Haworth, Yorkshire (famous for where the Bronte sisters lived) uncovers an old box buried under a tree. Not long after, Gracie thinks she might have met Charlotte Bronte on the moors, aged 10. Has Gracie seen a ghost, or was it her imagination? Will she ever see the famous author again? Maybe, as she grows up and reaches adulthood, Gracie may once again glimpse the girl she saw on the moors.

You can find out more about me writing this project here. I really enjoyed this story and hit my goal of 50k (in fact it was 52,700 words). So now it’s onto the editing! I tend to track pages rather than words – but since NaNoWriMo revamped their website, words is currently the only goal you can track. So I have a very low looking target of 106 words – but it’s actually 106 pages!

I’ll probably do a blog post in August to tell you how I got on, but I’ll be posting updates on social media if you’re interested in my progress. How about you? Are you planning on doing Camp Nano? If you’ve never done it before, I recommend it as an ‘easy way in’, as you can set a goal as a few hundred words, so it feels far less intimidating than the main event with everyone trying to get 50k.

Thanks for dropping by my blog! You can also check out other blog posts, my published books, or find out about me as an author. There’s also a new feature to my website, my Indie Bookshelf, where I list all the indie books I’ve been reading.

Why not subscribe to my newsletter? You’ll get a free preview to Lottie’s Locket when you subscribe. I also include a free preview of my first historical fiction novel, The Boy from the Snow, with every edition.

Finally, feel free to drop a comment or get in touch with me on social media! I’d love to connect with you.

Till next time,

Maria 🙂