Camp NaNo and Countdowns and Books (OH MY!)

Happy Thursday, Cyberspace! I apologize 19 times over for the late post this week; however, I have brilliant excuses that make absolutely no sense, so therefore you should just forgive me so we can all get on with our lives, okay?

Brilliant.

Now, part of the reason that I had no post on Tuesday was because (shocker of shockers) I had absolutely no idea what to write.

“What?” you say. “You’re a writer. You’re constantly yapping at us about all the writerly things you do, and all the writerly things you want to be, and all the NaNoWriMo nonsense that makes our brains puke out of our ears. What do you even mean?”

Well, now, dear cyborg, every now and then I come down with this little thing known as Writer’s Block, which causes the spontaneous and imaginative brain-flow to immediately freeze in its passages, forcing me to cease all creativity for about three days as I binge watch Sherlock on Netflix lie on the couch and moan about not being able to create things with my mind.

I’m sure all the writers out there can relate.

HOWEVER! As you can see, I now have a post, which can only mean one of two things:

1. I ran out of Sherlock episodes to watch

or 2. something miraculous happened in the past two days to spark my imagination and interest, and I have leapt onto it like a giant rolling ball headed towards a cliff.

I’ll let you guess which one it is.

(HINT: it’s both [#worsthintever])

Anyway, today is more of an update on a few things, rather than a 14 Reasons Why Binge Watching Netflix is a Terribly Beautiful Waste of Your Time (ft. ‘You’re Going to Die Someday, So Get Off The Couch and Do Something With Your Life Already’) kind of Smudge.

I know, I know. My updates tend to be boring and filled with promises that it seems like I never keep; however, today is going to be different.

(there we go with the promises again.)

Anyway, I’m sure you are all extremely intrigued by the somewhat randomness of both the title of this Smudge, and the strange countdown thing-a-ma-jiggy that just randomly appeared on the sidebar. And if you have not noticed the mysterious countdown thingy, then you are now probably confused, which means you’ll keep reading to figure out what it is I’m blabbing on about.

Either way works for me.

So, let us get started, shall we?

Camp NaNo(WriMo)

Now, for those of you who do not know what NaNoWriMo is (because it has been at least four months, so you’ve obviously forgotten), here is the dictionary definition:

Na·No·Wri·Mo

National Novel Writing Month

Noun

1. A program during the month of November in which writers from all across the globe strive to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days
2. A time of great stress and alarm that sweeps the writing world every November, where writers from all over the world race against the ever-ticking clock that is winding down to December 1st as they rip their hair out and inhale possibly toxic amounts of caffeine, tea, and chocolate

So now that you know what NaNoWriMo is, you may be wondering what, exactly is Camp NaNoWriMo. Well…

Camp Na·No·Wri·Mo

Noun

1. A program similar to November’s NaNoWriMo that takes place in the months of April and July. Differences include the ability to create a wordcount goal separate from the usual 50,000 (either higher or lower); the option to track your end goal by words, hours, pages, etc.; the ability to either start a brand new manuscript or edit a current WIP; and cabins
2. A distant third cousin to NaNoWriMo, with one bulging eye and a hillbilly accent

It might interest you to know that last year’s April session of Camp NaNoWriMo was the very first time that I actually won a NaNoWriMo event. My goal was to write 25,000 words, and by the night of April 30th, I had reached over 50,000. The feeling of accomplishment I had that night was one of the greatest I think I’ve ever experienced.

And then I ended up scratching the entire concept of the near-finished novel I wrote. But still, that feeling of intense accomplishment remains, and April’s Camp NaNoWriMo will forever hold a very special place in my heart.

So of course I’m going to be participating again this year! WOO!!!

However, instead of jumping straight into a random cabin with people I have absolutely nothing in common with, I thought that maybe, just maybe, some of my bloggy friends would like to hop onto the Camp NaNoWriMo bandwagon with me and join a “We’re All Crazy Here” type of cabin?

A cabin, for anyone who has not participated in Camp before, is basically just a group of two to twelve* writers who are all participating in Camp NaNoWriMo together. There’s a little chatroom thing-a-ma-bobbin on the Camp NaNoWrimo website where you can hold writing sprints, word wars, dares, or just share all of your delicious stories and marshmallows.

Or keep the marshmallows for yourself and just dare people to fatally injure their main characters. (#smart)

It’s really just a wonderful way to connect with the other participants, and also makes the whole NaNoWriMo process feel a lot less like you’ve just been stranded on a rock in the middle of the Arctic ocean.

So what do you guys think? Would any of you writerlings out there be interested in joining me on this wonderful Camp NaNo adventure? If you’re interested (please, please, please be interested) just shoot me a comment below, and we can get started on recruiting everyone else on the blogosphere!

Perhaps we could even do a Hogwarts House themed cabin! (GO HUFFLEPUFFS!)

Or, you know. Just a normal cabin would be great.

Yeah.

And Countdowns

Ah, yes. The mysterious countdown widget that has appeared on the right sidebar… Whatever could it be?

A countdown to someone’s birthday?

A countdown to the very first Smudged Thoughts Arts and Crafts post?

The timer to the grenade that I’m about to launch into the stratosphere?

Well, you better keep the guesses coming, because I’m not telling.

That’s right, folks! I ain’t giving away anything before March 23rd! Sorry for the inconvenience, but it turns out that I do have a few reasons behind my madness, such as–

1. I want it to be a surprise
2. I’m not exactly sure it’s going to turn out, so the mysterious countdown widget might just mysteriously implode before the set date
3. I like having mass amounts of power. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–hack

So yeah. Number three is pretty much the main reason as to why I’m keeping it a secret.

Because power.

And also because I like seeing people writhe in curiosity and confusion. (except I hate it when I, myself, must writhe in curiosity and confusion.)

Moving on…

And Books

We’re nearing the end of this post, I promise.

Now, as far as BOOKS! go, I mainly just want to briefly update y’all on how everlost is coming along.

UPDATE: it is coming along terribly.

Basically, I am at the point where I begin to question everything.

“What is plot?”

“Why are my characters talking with British accents?”

“Where did that onion come from?”

“Should I just delete everything and start from scratch?”

“HOW DO I EVEN?”

I am seriously thinking about scrapping it all. But I won’t, because that would be lame.

Especially since I spent all of November picking away at my brain cords to get this far. So right now I’m just trying to get this awful first draft written before April 1st, so I can spend the entire next month hacking at it with a red pen and deleting all the onion-flinging.

(Note: there has not been any actual onion-flinging thus far)

But rest-assured that, if I do not get the first draft completed this month, it SHALL be completed next month during Camp. Either way, everlost shall be completed this year, and I am determined to get this behemoth of a draft polished into a nice, cordial finished copy by the end of 2017.

 

OH MY!!!

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Alright, so that’s pretty much everything I’ve got for today! I do apologize for the late post. Here are some cookies as a peace offering. *throws cookies into the air*

Also, don’t forget to tell me what you think the Countdown is for! Is it my impending doom? YOUR impending doom? The world’s implosion? Are you interested in joining a cabin with yours truly? (I’ll bring the marshmallows [and keep them all for myself, obviously] Let’s chat about all the things in the comments below!