Use this Free Resource to Write Your Novel: Camp NaNoWriMo

If you’ve been involved in the writing and publishing community for a little while, there’s a 99-percent chance you’ve heard of the renowned and well-loved National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) organization and annual event. For a quick refresher, NaNoWriMo is an international event that invites all writers—professional, amateur, published and unpublished—to participate in a month-long writing session to complete 50,000 words of a novel. Word counts are posted online, writers can add “friends” to see how they’re doing on their prospective manuscripts, and encouragement abounds as each participant attempts to write 1,667 words a day to complete that coveted 50,000 words by November 30^th. As much press and involvement as NaNoWriMo has received, a lot of authors don’t necessarily know about their “sister” event—Camp NaNoWriMo. Midnight Publishing’s staff recently discovered this resource for jumpstarting work on a manuscript and had to share it with our readers here at the blog as we think it could be a really effective way to assist in your writing endeavors. Let’s explore the basics:

What is Camp NaNoWriMo?

Camp NaNoWriMo is a “virtual writers’ retreat,” that, in the website’s words, is “designed for maximum flexibility and creativity.” Camp sessions are held in April and July, with word count goals ranging from 30 to 1,000,000. Also, the goal can be to complete any facet related to a creative writing project; a new draft of a novel you’re already working on, short stories, poems, and scripts are all welcomed.

How Does One Join?

To join Camp NaNoWriMo, you’re going to need to sign in with your regular NaNoWriMo account information (make an account for that website here), at which point you can add in your current project info.

How Long Is It?

Camp NaNoWriMo runs for one month in April, and one month in July.

Cabins and How to Join One

The cabin system is the most exciting detail about Camp NaNoWriMo, as your cabinmates are the writers you’ll be having the most contact with during the month. Once you’ve uploaded your project info, then you’ll be able to go to your cabin settings page, where you can choose from one of these options: not to join a cabin this year, being surprised with random cabinmates, joining a private cabin with your friends, or creating your own private cabin for the session.

Other Fun Facts

• Find a variety of inspirational material here, ranging from archives on editing and flash fiction to expert advice from Camp NaNoWriMo counselors in the past (all of whom are award-winning published authors).
• Camp NaNoWriMo holds several events like Twitter “tweet chats” with camp counselors, as well as several scheduled write-ins for participants to join throughout the month. It’s all listed here.
• Purchase merchandise and support Camp NaNoWriMo while showing off your cool coffee mugs, T-shirts, and notepads. Both NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo are nonprofits that run off donations and are great causes to support.

Having trouble completing a manuscript and want some direction and help to organize the storyline? Midnight Publishing is the perfect place for you! We are an Arizona-based editing, ghostwriting, and marketing company that specializes in editing manuscripts, mapping out book ideas for clients and providing tailored marketing and publishing advice based on your needs. Contact us for a free sample edit or to discuss your writing project, and we’ll happily show you what we can do!