Don’t you just love a clickbaity headline? Our mileage over what constitutes a “terrible mistake” may, in fact, vary. I’m just putting that out there now you’ve made the terrible mistake of clicking the link to this post.
As I write this, about twenty-four hours have passed since I made the mistake. As you read this—or, at least, as this is published—I am about to feel the ramifications of said mistake. What dastardly decision have I made? What decision could be so bone-headed that I feel the burning desire to put it out into the world in the vain effort it feels my pain?
Why, I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo. I know; it’s absolutely dreadful.
As I’ve touched on before, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, which despite its name, is an international event. Having determined that one month isn’t enough, throughout the year, NaNoWriMo hosts Camp NaNoWriMo at various points in the year, one of which falls in July. It’s much the same as NaNoWriMo proper, but a little looser in that you can set your own goal, instead of being beholden to its crazy demand of 50,000 words in a month. You can choose to spend the month editing, or you can work on a variety of projects.
Not me, though. When I make a terrible mistake, I go all in. 50,000 words, it is.
So, how do I plan to spend the month? By focusing on the next draft of Luminary, which I’ve been trying to get to since finishing Till Death Do Us Party’s latest draft. And, honestly, it’s fitting for this little book. I wrote the first draft (draft 0, because I hastily typed it out) during NaNoWriMo in 2021, and I used last April’s Camp NaNoWriMo to rewrite it, with a draft I call draft 1). Draft 2 will be another wholesale rewrite, where this time, I’m shifting it to be told in the first person, which should give it a different feel.
If the site’s a little quieter over the month, please understand that it’s because I’m paying penance for my terrible mistake. I’ll have fewer book reviews over the month (already decided after the mammoth May and June), and I’d already planned on spending some time with Luminary. I’d also planned on doing some non-writerly stuff, but that plan’s leapt out the window.
But, hey, if you’ve made the same terrible mistake, hit me up on the NaNoWriMo website. We can be buddies.
TTFN,
wastanley.com 