How to win Camp NaNoWriMo

if you prefer to watch rather then read How to win Camp NaNoWriMo

back in July 2019, i participated in my first every camp NaNoWriMo which was amazing, i set myself a goal of 50,000 words on my project which i was able to hit on day 25 in this post i am going to give you 10 tips on how to survive camp NaNoWriMo and win, all of which i did.

1. Pace yourself

while it may sound like a good idea to sit down and write for five hours each day you will drain yourself a lot faster, work out what you are working towards and then work out what the minimum you have to do each day to win nano. my goal was 50k words so the minimum i had to write was 1612.90 words a day (July has 31 camp days) some days you are going to be over that and other under but if you know that you have to write or spend a certain amount of time each day then the days you go over makes up for the days you are under and you won't be draining yourself

2. Set goals

while whatever number you set up on camp is your overall goal think of your weekly goals, my first week of Julys 2019 camp i set a goal of 10k words which i had already passed on day 6. if you know you have a goal and a deadline to get to that goal you are more likely to pass the goal, while the end goal is to win camp seeing that with the days ticking by you don't think about how close you really are so you are more likely to quit.

3. Outline

while i myself am more of a pantser like the famous author Stephen King, i did do a brief outline of my project, and when i mean this i mean i wrote the chapter numbers down and under each chapter wrote what i hoped would happen, as one of mine for chapter 4 was find out Clyde is a wolf, it left it to my imagination on everything with just knowing hey i need to find a way to write Clyde as a wolf, this was the first time i ever did any kind of outline.

4. Get inspired

there are many ways to do this, you could go for a walk, listen to music, go and be with nature it really depends on you. i personally search up on google "writing prompts" and look at pictures or follow links and find one best fitted for my novel i am writing. i find this really helpful and i immediately find inspiration

5. Leave it unfinished

when you know you are going to be finishing writing, for the time being, if it is for a few hours or for the day that doesn't matter, the best thing to do so you don't come back and go well what to do now start the next sentence and don't finish it. for me, i finished writing for the day and knew i wouldn't know where to start again so i finished off with 'i walked into the kitchen and saw' while you wouldn't want to finish a chapter, paragraph or bookending like that it just means you can come back and it will be super easy to get back into it, meaning fewer writers block moments.

6. Sprint

for this, all you need to do is search up NaNoWordSprints on twitter and wait for the people to come on, or you can set your own timer up on your laptop or phone. a word sprint is when you have a timer for a certain amount of time and you just flat out write, then you take a break when you are done before going straight back into it.

7. Accept That Your Manuscript Will Not Be Perfect
dont try and make it perfect, that will only help you not make your word goal, realize that no matter what there is going to be major editing involved so there is no point in worrying about it all being perfect now when that is the least of your concerns, the faster you realize that the more easier it will for the words to flow.

8. Network

sometimes having friends who are also writers help they know the struggle and can help you keep going even on tough days, there is nothing like not knowing what to do or not having anyone there who understand what you are going through.

9. Environment 

no matter if you like a clean desk or a messy one, work where you know you work best, for me i work best in my best with my curtain open. coffee beside me and my laptop on my black pillow on my lap. that is how i write best so make sure you have the space you will be writing in looking just the way you like it.

10. Write

sometimes the best thing to do is just write, even if it is never going to make it into the final copy of your project, every word counts when you start writing the words should just start to flow meaning while it most likely won't make sense it still counts towards your word goal and you may make something that you can use for your book

My experience Camp NaNoWriMo July 2019

for the first time ever i decided to participate in a Camp NaNoWriMo and my first one being July 2019. i set my goal of 50,000 words and knew i had to complete that goal.
{this is in a dairy sort of format with my thoughts, emotions and word counts}

Day One: today was really easy. i landed up writing a full chapter of 2291 words except when i put that across to Camp NaNoWriMo site to work out the number difference it told me i only wrote 2816 words which isn't a big difference but it made me realize that the app i use to write counts these " ' , as words which is weird but its good to actually know it does that. something i would never have known if i didn't do camp. i was definitely excited to try.

Day Two: today was also easy the words just seemed to flow. i used @NaNoWordSprints today to get some words in. i did three sprints a 10 minute, a 20 minute and a 14 minute. i landed up with 1,647‬ words from all three combined. i wrote half a chapter today and landed up with 1,914 words for the day according to the NaNo site which puts me at 4,730 words in two days! i am meant to get 1,612.90 words a day if i want to win NaNo which means i am already over by 1,504.2 words. almost a full days worth of writing.

Day Three: Today was took a bit longer than the other days i got in 1948 words according to the site my camp finally remembered that camp was on which is good i don't like writing alone. i am now extremely tired but i am doing amazing and i am so proud of myself. i can't wait to see how many words i can get by day 7.

Day Four: I'm bored of not having any real writer friends who do youtube so we can support each other etc. i got 2121 all while sprinting because i really wasn't in the mood to write, for some reason i was quite depressed today so i couldn't find any motivation to write, i have set a goal of 10k by Day Seven.

Day Five: today i got the least amount of words so far with a total of 1134 nano words while i am not proud of myself for getting this number i know it is better than getting nothing at all. i am on a roll with writing and i am so far really enjoying the experience. i am already working on chapter six which means in five days i have written four chapters.

Day Six: i wrote 1245 words today, my words each day seem to go down and up but i have not gotten under 1,000 words so far which i am proud of. i filmed my week one update since it is getting filmed every 6th day and uploaded every 7th.

Day Seven: i was over my word count goal with a total of 12192 for the first week. i wrote 1014 words today according to the site all of which i had validated. i am feeling very proud of myself for reaching this number Week one update

Day Eight: today i filmed a 12-hour write-a-ton which i worked on five different projects but out of the five different projects i was able to write 5157 of the words on my camp project, today was the first day of week two and i am so happy that i started it off with a bang, if i can write any words tomorrow is the major question right now because my mind is mash potatoes. but my goal this week is to write 11k words

Day Nine: today I only wrote 128 words, which is the lowest yet but i think it's okay because of doing so much writing yesterday

Day Ten: today i was able to get 1199 words out and onto the paper, a lot better then the day before but i am definitely behind in the words i should be writing, while i am reaching my goal thank god, if i don't get a move on i will have to add more chapters, maybe instead of hammering a chapter out a day i spread it out three days to get the word in? i have no idea.

Day Eleven: today was way better than the last two days at 1865 words. finally getting somewhere haha

Day Twelve: going downwards again, only was able to write 602 words, i am losing motivation to write, which is never a good thing.

Day Thirteen: managed to get out 1342, at the moment i am just on my way yo hitting my daily goals each day but it is not easy.

Day Fourteen: i hit my word goal of 11k. i wrote 1233 words today putting me at 11528 words for the week. week two update is out.

Day Fifteen: setting myself a goal of 12k words for this week. which will put me at 35,718 words which means in the last 10 days i will only have to write 14,282 words which is really easy. i also wrote 2623 words today which means i am 47 words away from the half waypoint. i know i can do this and it makes me so happy

Day Sixteen: only was able to get in 689 words because i had to go to the doctors

Day Seventeen: 917 words gotten in today, i couldn't concentrate very well and i started to lose motivation to write

Day Eighteen: i got 3018 words in which is awesome, getting close to the end of my story which i am excited about, only one more chapter after this one to go but i still have a lot of words to go which is stressful

Day Nineteen: i easily got 1760 words today, landed up writing 500 of that in ten minutes which was impressive

Day Twenty: landed up with 1342 words today, i wrote the engagement sense which made me cry since i got into a fight with my crush so wasn't in the mood to write any kind of an engagement bit

Day Twenty-one: let's just say i am proud that i got 14641 words this week and 4292 of those words today, i have just over 11k words left to add though rewrites because i wrote the last chapter today, camp NaNoWriMo week three update | July 2019

Day Twenty-two: this weeks goal is 7k words, i wrote 1100 words which is impressive since i am now having to add words via re-reading the script,

Day Twenty-three: today i wrote putting me up for a total of 827 words for the day which puts me at a grand total of 40,289 i think the 9,711 i am missing will be easy to get since we still have 7 days to get it

Day Twenty-four: today i wrote 5515 words, i don't know if i will win this week but i know i will win

Day Twenty-five: today i wrote 4235 words making me at a grand total of 50,036 words. I WON I won Camp NaNoWriMo week for update | July 2019

15,000 words in a week challenge

on June 1st, 2019 i asked my Instagram story a question. they had to decide if i did a 12-hour writing sprint or if i had to write 15k words in a seven day period. they, of course, decided i had to write 15,000 words in a week so i did. i set out to work out how many words i had to write in a day to pass the challenge the number, of course, was unrealistic at 2142.857143 so i had to round up to 2143 words a day. i had three projects the words could go towards. project transfer. my wattpad book The Heartless Alpha or this very blog.

Day One

day one was very easy, i was able to write a grand total of 2212 putting me over my word count for the day by 69 words. 1320 of my word count was on my wattpad book. i decided not to write for my blog at this stage so the remaining 892 words were on my novel. i found it quite easy to do this because i had all the inspiration in the world that i needed at this point.

Day Two

day two was very similar to the day before. i had managed to write 2208 words all of which were on my novel. giving me an extra 65 words on top of the 69 from the day before. i was very happy with the turnout and knew if i kept up the way i was going i would be done in no time.

Day Three

day three was when everything went downhill i had only managed to write 274 words on my novel making the few words i had made up for look really bad in comparison. even with the 134 words i had leftover it only put me up to 408 words which meant i was still 1735 words behind. i put the lag of work down to the fact i had to go in for an appointment and i wasn't very motivated when i finally did get home.

Day Four

day four kept me on the very big standstill. i was able to write 713 words. i don't know what was really stopping me other than a mental block. this put me behind by 3165 words. not sure how i was meant to fix this small block i decided to put it off and hope that the last three days would go well

Day Five

day five was a very good day in one aspect while i was able to write 4380 words, 1491 words on my blog with my post, Author interview with myself and the 2889 words leftover were on my wattpad book. while that was very good. keeping in mind i was over by 2237 words it still left me under what i should be by 276 words.

Day Six

day six was a very long day. we had to drive an hour away for multiple appointments and shopping i had only managed to write 960 words which added to what i was already behind wasn't promising what so ever i was now behind by 1459 words putting my total so far at 10747 words. knowing i had to write 4253 words the next day i was sure i would be failing unless i had another good day like day five

Day Seven

waking up day six i was a nervous wreck. i had the worst sleep of my life and a huge goal in front of me that i wasn't sure how to fix. i joined my writing sprint group for a 25-minute word sprint which gave with 939 words in a very short amount of time. very happy with the results i went and started writing this blog post which put me up by 763 words. i took it away and was left with 2565 words left to write. determined to pass this challenge and not fail i went back to my novel and did a draft plan of what i needed to write and then started writing again landing up with an extra 1751 words unhappy with the outcome since i was 800 words behind i took to wattpad and wrote 849 words I decided to tally it all up and was amazed that i had written 1751 words putting me at a grand total of 4305 words for the day. i had finally passed my goal of 15k words in a week and i was even over by 49 words. i know for a fact i will definitely try this again. 

writing process tag | NaNoWriMo edition

NaNoWriMo is always a fun time, 50k words in a month makes it a fun challenge and one that actually gets me writing to my full potential. because in July i wrote project hybrid mate i decided to write the next book in the series during this NaNoWriMo and that is project choice so here is a special NaNoWriMo edition of my writing process tag.

1.) what am i working on

i am working on project choice. project choice is the prequel story to my NaNoWriMo project in July. project choice follows Dee from the moment he met Ruby, it shows every aspect of him making the decision to be with Evelin instead of ruby and then realizing Ruby isn't who he thought she was at the beginning of their relationship, jam-packed with fights, real emotion and more.

2.) how does my work differ from others of its genre

i think my work differs more from other books in its genre because it mixes paranormal elements and romance together while including mixes of creatures that wouldn't normally go together in the same person/ story, it is also in first person present tense which you don't see normally outside of wattpad and written in such a way that it makes sense and teleports you into the main characters life and mindset.

3.) why do i write what i do

i write what i do because i enjoy it, i have played around with a few genres and nothing has stood out to me/I haven't thought my work was very good until i found myself writing paranormal romance. when i write in this category i feel everything in the real world disappear and i just fall in love with my story. i also have been fascinated with paranormal stuff since i was young and this is a way i can express my knowledge and change it to the way i feel like it would be if it was real.

4.) how does my writing process work

because this is apart of a three-story series i have had to plan so my first action was to plan out what needs to happen. next, i go through the first book project hybrid mate and find all the bits that i wrote in rubies POV that needs to be rewritten in Dees POV and put it in a separate document for when i need it. i then start writing. once i have finished my first draft which will be over NaNoWriMo 50k it should actually be around 56k like project hybrid mate i will let it sit for a few months, around three to five before i will start editing, adding deleting and making it 1000% times better, i will do around five edits myself and then i will send it away to my editor, i then re-read their edits and change what i need to.

about my books | December 2019

I am always going on about project such and such so today i go over all the projects that i am working on or about to work on, what stage i am in all of them and a little bit about each project so you are up to date on my writing journey. (none of these are wattpad books, these are ones i want to publish)
If you would rather hear me talk about it click here.

Project Hope

what stage is the book in: Writing
is this a part of a series: No.
a little bit about it: project hope follows a young girl who inherits her fathers powers after he dies to calm down wildlife, you follow her through her journey of finding out what she truly is and the battles she has to face to expand her powers and make the humans understand that the supernatural world is nothing to be scared of.

Project Love

what stage is the book in: Writing
is this a part of a series: No.
a little bit about it: project love follows a rebel young adult who is in and out of jail and mental hospitals. you follow her along from getting out of the institute and her life-changing for the better after her roommate takes her out for a day, you experience the mixed feelings and the drama she faces coming to terms with these new feelings.

Project Sisters

what stage is the book in: Writing
is this a part of a series: Maybe, i am waiting to see how it ends before i decide.
a little bit about it: project sisters follows a set of twins who are being hunted down for being half-witch half-werewolf. the sisters are the last of their kind. the novel follows them fighting off the hunters and becoming free after years of being chased around the world as well as Madeline taking her rightful place in the ranks. the novel is a mix of each of their point of views going chapter one being on sister and chapter two the other sister and so on.

Project Hybrid

what stage is the book in: Three-month wait before editing
is this a part of a series: Yes, this is technically the last book in the series set after Project curse and project choice in Rubys point of view.
a little bit about it: project hybrid follows ruby finding her mate who is a half-vampire half-werewolf hybrid and coming to accept him for who he is, reconnecting with old friends and finding out the truth about her parent's murder and her life. the novel is full of plot twists and action.

Project Curse

what stage is the book in: Planning
is this a part of a series: Yes this is the prequel to Project hybrid, in Toshas point of view.
a little bit about it: project curse follows Tosha turning into a banshee and eventually recovering from her extream grief, accepting Lou and more.

Project Choice

what stage is the book in: Planning (starting in November)
is this a part of a series: Yes this is the prequel to Project hybrid and the sequel to Project curse in Dees point of view.
a little bit about it: project choice follows Dee from the moment he met Ruby, it shows every aspect of him making the decision to be with Evelin instead of ruby and then realizing Ruby isn't who he thought she was at the beginning of their relationship, jam-packed with fights, real emotion and more.

Project Age gap

what stage is the book in: Beta reading
is this a part of a series: No.
a little bit about it: project age gap is loosely based off a past relationship i have been in. it follows a teenage girl in Australia who falls in love at first sight with an older man from New Zealand. the novella shows the hardship the couple has to go through to be together at last and him waiting for her to be of age so they can be together forever.

Project Gang

what stage is the book in: Planning
is this a part of a series: Yes, this is a novella series.
a little bit about it: project gang follows a supernatural teenage girl whose family is threatened by one of the largest supernatural gangs in America, the girl is then forced to join a gang in order to protect her family. the novellas will follow her journey through the crazy world of supernatural gangs all the while protecting her family and accidentally falling in love.

Project Wolf (may change)

what stage is the book in: Planning
is this a part of a series: Yes, this is a novella series.
a little bit about it: Project wolf is about a female university student studying in England falling in love with a werewolf who just so happens to be her mate. the books follow the challenges they have to face to keep her alive because the supernatural world is no longer safe for humans to be involved in.

author interview with myself

this blog post is a little bit different. i am going to be doing an author interview with myself. i have self-published one book in the past which i later took down. i am in the editing stages of a book as well as writing another book. {if i have the word project when referring to a book name it means i have not come up with a name for the book as of yet.} 

1. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?


i had always had a love for writing but never did anything about it other than writing short stories for enjoyment. it wasn't until around 2015 that i started to write for other peoples enjoyment. that is when i first joined wattpad and have been writing on there ever since. i love rereading my books from when i first started to now to see how far i have come as a writer. i self-published cut a new adventure back in 2018 but took it down in 2019 because i wasn't happy with it. my wattpad 


 
2. How long does it take you to write a book?

it really depends on the book. some of my wattpad books took me two months to finish one even took me two years because i had major writer's block. my project age gap book which is in the editing stages and i am still trying to think of a name took me around seven months to write for just over 26,000 words. i have been writing project transfer for around two weeks and i already have 5,000 words.

 
1. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?


when i am writing it depends on the day. i try and write every day and m goal for the day is 200 words. some days you sit down and can get 30 words and others you can get 1,500 words it really depends on how the ideas flow on the day. i am easily distracted so i find it easy to get the 200 words but once they are done then i find it difficult to go on but other days i find it so easy. but as long as i have a coffee by my side i don't take a break until the coffee is done. i normally start writing mid-afternoon and will be done within half an hour on a bad day but i have spent hours before writing and totally lost track of time. i really need to make a schedule though.


 
2. What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

this is a tough one. one might argue it is that i normal turn spell check off, grammar is not my strong suit and i write really fast so letters go in the wrong spots and my keyboard sticks so sometimes it won't add a letter. i notice a lot of my the's turn to he's so i prefer to only turn self check on once i have completed a chapter so i can fix the mistakes up with writer's block/ to work out where to go next.
 
3. How do books get published?

i can't talk much about traditionally published work because none of my books at this stage are published that way. (though i hope project age gap will be) but with self-publishing, i have only ever had one experience so i can only talk about that. i self-published through a website called lulu.com. its a website to buy books as well as self publish both paperbacks, hardback, and ebooks. you upload your writing document and put how many chapters you want on your book. you upload your cover add the blurb on the back and all that sort of stuff. it was a very easy thing to do but is a tad time-consuming.

 
4. Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?

most of my book ideas. wattpad, novel and future books included. are thought of in the shower or when i am talking to myself when cleaning etc. while most people find it weird to talk to yourself it is a big part of how i have come up with so many book ideas in the past. once i have the idea i will write out who the characters are there personality, looks, and what i want to happen in the book. if i am basing a location or need information for something i do research both online and in a library.

 
5. When did you write your first book and how old were you?

if we are counting wattpad as my first written book, which i am since short stories for school and just my eyes isn't really the first book it was back around 2015 and i was twelve years old at the time.

 
6. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

when i am not writing i am either working on my projects for the business i run or on my youtube channel. i will also be doing school work but that will be finished as of the first of July 2019

 
7. What does your family think of your writing?

my grandma and grandad don't really talk about it that much. i don't even know if my dad and his family pay any attention to those things in my life but my mum is really supportive. she always listens to bits of my books that i was really excited about and she even beta reads my books for me.

 
8. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

i think the only really surprising thing for me is actually writing it in a way that is understandable. i knew from the get-go things like publishing wasn't easy since my mother herself is a writer and is writing a trilogy at the moment. she sent her first books around different publishers and wasn't accepted to any so she was self-published. and just like myself she took her first book down and is now editing it and writing the other two. i write in first person present tense for my novels and my wattpad books are written in POV present text so it can be really hard to find ways to write says, replies, etc. 

 
9. How many books have you written? Which is your favourite?

i have written three novels only two of which will ever (hopefully) see a bookshelf and i have written 23 wattpad novels. it is really hard to say which is my favourite out of all of them. out of my three novels, i would argue that i love project age gap the most when reading it but love project transfer while writing it. when it comes to wattpad it would probably be my bad boy serious that i wrote. and out of that book, one would be my favourite out of it. while i am loving writing the heartless alpha i couldn't say it is my favourite.

 
10. Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

while i do not want to give writing advice out i will tell you one way how i get over writer's block. if you would prefer to listen click the link how i get over writer's block. when i am trying to get over writer's block one way i do so is by re-reading my book and editing it at the same time so that i can remember everything i have written already and be able to have some of my editing done.

 
11. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

i hear from my readers on wattpad some of the time, most of the time it is them commenting on how they hate one of my characters (normally the villains) personality. or telling me i need to update again because they love the book too much.

 
12. Do you like to create books for adults?

while none of my books are just for adults, i write for young adults. the only reasoning being is some of my books have things like sexual activity, swearing and some even have things like abuse. all things that you would find in a book for a young adult but not a children's book

 
13. What do you think makes a good story?

i think what makes a good story is being able to relate to what is happening or has happened to a character / seeing yourself as one of the characters, which is why it is so important to be descriptive. the book also needs to be able to be written in a way that makes people leave whatever they are going through and be transported into the story.

 
14. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

         as a child, i always wanted to be a teacher and a lawyer.

Introduction to this blog

Hi, welcome to my blog Phoebe M.C. 

I will post about my writing journey, information about my books and hopefully, interviews with other authors and loads more. 

I have a youtube playlist on my channel for my Author information and a Facebook page linked below
My YouTube Playlist
My Facebook Page

i hope you will stick around and check out more of my posts :) if you would like to check out my other blogs the links are 
My Main Blog
My Endometriosis Blog