Camp NaNoWriMo: April 2017 (In Which I Have A Complete Turnaround)

Good afternoon, Cyberspace!

Now, unwittingly as it might have been, Sunday’s post was–for lack of a better word–a rant. An angry rant at that, and it is something that I sort of not really regret writing.

However, today I come to you, not as an angry, raging cookie, but as a peaceful Spring fairy who is at perfect peace with the world and everything in it, whose spirit is free and full of gentle serenity.

…

Oh, who are we kidding, here. That is just not who I am, peeps. (you can choose whether you are a bunny or a duck. It matters not to me.)

I AM A RAGING COOKIE! WHOO!

But anyway! As you all probably know (and if you don’t, you must be new around here, because NaNoWriMo is practically all I talk about, to be honest [and if that is the case, HI!]) this month is Camp NaNoWriMo! And if you don’t know what Camp NaNoWriMo is, let me explain it to you.

In haiku.

Writing is so fun.

Until you have time limit.

Brain implodes and death.

The end.

I know. I know. I should be a poet.

I’m obviously running out of ways to describe all the NaNo’s.

Anyway! Last year, during November’s Session of NaNoWriMo, I did a whole conglomeration of posts throughout the month, which I remember being sort of inspirational when they were probably just me ranting on and on about NaNoWriMo being super fun and how my brain was fried like an over-easy egg.

I debated doing that again this time around through Camp NaNoWriMo–inspirational posts each week, weekly inspiration boosters for all you slackers out there, and maybe the occasional Tip or Trick.

And, after three seconds some serious debate, I decided on answering this puzzle with the one word that has changed my life–

Nah.

I am, however, still going to do the occasional post about Camp NaNo, because let’s be honest.

It’s CAMP NANOWRIMO.

And that, dear bean, is what I’d like to talk to you about today!

Because in the last two days, there have been quite a few extraordinary changes that have occurred for me, and I would like to share those with you–

–list-style.

Turnaround One– The Hour Tracker

I know. I know. You’re probably hiding behind a giant cookie crumble right now thinking I’m about to explode into another angry rant about how much I despise the hour tracking method that I, myself, have forced upon my life.

But you, Mr. Cyborg, are wrong.

See, I’ve finally discovered how to track my hours, and it’s by using the wonderful Word Sprint tool on the NaNoWriMo page! After setting the sprint timer anywhere from 5 to 60 minutes, I click on over to my Scrivener tab and work on my story until I hear the rather creepy yet hilarious, “MEOW! Time’s up!” (which usually scares the life out of me).

The timer is little tricky to use, because even though there is a ‘pause’ button, it doesn’t actually pause.

#useful

But other than that rather bizarre glitch, it’s really useful, and I can track my minutes and hours more accurately without having to keep my phone in one hand, a notebook in the other, and somehow try to tap out a decent story plot with my bulbous toes.

Also, another thing I realized about tracking hours is that it totally burns away all opportunity for procrastination. When you have a solid block of time that you HAVE to write for, it makes it so much easier to focus and actually progress through the story.

Sort of.

Occasionally, I begin to daydream about Pinterest or Netflix or Jane Austin novels, and that pretty much eliminates all productivity for about thirty hours.

“So Kenzie,” you ask. “Does this mean you’re going to track your progress by hours sometime in the future, then?”

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA–

No.

Turnaround Two– My Goal

Now, before you throw your rotten tomatoes at me and call me a mutated fungus, LET ME EXPLAIN!

My initial goal was 90 hours, which equates to three hours per day, every day, for the entire month of April.

I do not know why I thought this was a good idea.

I figured, “Hey! That’s not too bad. I write TONS more than that during the day!”

No, Kenzie. No, you do not.

So, after slugging through my life for the first three days of April, and writing for five hours (*coughfourhoursandthirty-fiveminutes*) on Day Three, I appealed to my fantastic cabin buddies and decided that 90 hours was just…

No.

So I dropped it down to 60.

Because that’s so much better.

I don’t feel like I cheated by dropping my goal, however, because let’s be honest for a second: I would rather go through this beautiful Spring month of April while having fun, than slog through three solid hours of writing each day and feel like a drunken potato for the entire month.

Camp NaNo–or even regular NaNoWriMo, for that matter–while existing to help us push through our procrastination and achieve our goals, is not only about winning; it is about having fun.

So that’s what I’m going to do.

Turnaround Three– THE REVEAL

There is one thing I feel I must tell you. Something that, once revealed, will force me to become a hermit and flee to the mountains while shaving my head bald and grazing in the wild patches of grass that sprout across the rocky cliffs like a mountain goat.

However, due to my extreme sense of loyalty to all of my readers, it is something I must tell you.

I…

…do not like tea.

There. I said it. And I have reasons.

This morning I, being the humble idiot that I am, decided to try some more tea. It was supposedly a lemony sage-y flavor, and for the first few minutes, it was delicious. It was like Spring bottled into a mug. It tasted like the great outdoors. Like sunshine and yellow flowers and rain on pavement and dewy grass.

It was a masterpiece in my mouth.

And then, before I even knew what sort of chemical reaction was culminating in the back of my throat, the once-delightful flavors of Spring had burst into a full nuclear explosion of lemon flavored death in my esophagus.

I choked. I gagged. I believe my tongue tried to curdle back into my throat and slip down into my stomach like the coward it is.

It was awful.

And so, after surviving a near-death experience by a cup of lemon tea, I have come to the conclusion that tea is just not my writerly drink of choice. I think I’ll stick to hot chocolate.

Or lemonade.

Or strawberry milkshakes.

Or, you know, just keep trying tea because it’s fun to gag over disgusting flavored water.

But go ahead. Grab your pitchforks and torches. I shall begin my flight to the mountains now.

---

Alrighty, then! That’s it for this Smudge! Are you participating in Camp NaNoWriMo? If so, how is your progress? Are you making sure to put having fun before DOING ALL THE THINGS? Have you ever had a near-death experience by lemon tea? Let us talk about all of the NaNo, writerly, and evil tea related things down in the comments WAAAY down there in that little envelope thingy-ma-bobbin below! (I only just realized the other day that that thing was the comment box. [#observant])