Camp NaNoWriMo And The Brick Wall

Okay, for those of you who don't know already, Camp NaNoWriMo in July is kind of a beta test run. As in, you participate and the people who run this gig - Office Of Letters And Light - look for bugs and what not in the site. (They've already fixed the stats page - which was, apparently, glitching up. I don't know. I didn't see it, but thanks for taking care of that problem OLL!)

Anyway, here's the deal.

July has become extremely busy for me. I'm still participating in the beta Camp NaNoWriMo, but I'm not holding many illusions in my head. There's a pretty good chance I won't finish this month.

The thing is... there's another Camp NaNoWriMo next month! As in, another chance to try my hand a writing 50,000 words in a month. I'm pretty happy about this and I am nearly bouncing in my seat with excitement for the new features coming to Camp NaNoWriMo. Cabins, anyone?

Okay, so, I don't actually know what cabins are, yet, but they look like possible fun.

Hopefully you'll all be joining me next month. 

Now, moving on.

Ever have one of those days where you stumble into a realization that feels more like a brick wall than a thought? And then, for quite a while afterward, you just sit there thinking about said 'wall' and wonder how you failed to notice it before? 

Today was one of those days in my writing world. Except, I think I might have known the brick wall was there and I was, quite possibly, just refusing to look at it.

You see, earlier today, I was watching this video I'm Goin To Summa Camp! Word! and I realized something. 

I have never had a traditional NaNoWriMo experience. 

This is sad, mostly because I have participated in NaNoWriMo three times (four if we're counting this month) and I have never done it properly. The point of NaNoWriMo is to write a lot and fast with "literary abandon". I write a lot... kind of slowly and with a lot of editing in the mix, which is not supposed to be happening. To accentuate my point even further, during this month, I've been working on a rewrite! Which I have a deadline for and it is supposed to be in perfect form... yeah, not a great choice.

So, shout out to LaurenLiterally, because you have inspired me to try something new.

Next month, I'm handing myself over to a real NaNoWriMo experience.