Did camp kill you?

No it didn't, lol! In fact...

I won again!!!

Let's lay out the stats once more:

Day 16
Public word goal: 15483
Private word goal: 16000
Words written: 14074
Still behind, but making great progress to catch up.

Day 17
Public word goal: 16451
Private word goal: 17000
Words written: 16085
Boom.

Day 18
Public word goal: 17419
Private word goal: 18000
Words written: 17209
So close...

Day 19

Public word goal: 18387

Private word goal: 19000

Words written: 18000

Not quite as close...

Day 20

Public word goal: 19354

Private word goal: 20000

Words written: 18300

I remember this day very clearly. I did a lot, but that didn't necessarily include much writing.

Day 21

Public word goal: 20322

Private word goal: 21000

Words written: 18300

Yeah, anyway...

Day 22

Public word goal: 21290

Private word goal: 22000

Words written: 18300

…

Day 23

Public word goal: 22258

Private word goal: 23000

Words written: 18300

……….

Day 24

Public word goal: 23225

Private word goal: 24000

Words written: 18972

This had to be around the time when I started becoming genuinely afraid that I wasn't going to finish.

Day 25

Public word goal: 24193

Private word goal: 25000

Words written: 19896

Fear is a great motivator…

Day 26

Public word goal: 25161

Private word goal: 26000

Words written: 20022

…but not that great.

Day 27

Public word goal: 26129

Private word goal: 27000

Words written: 20583

Yep, definitely scared of not finishing.

Day 28

Public word goal: 27096

Private word goal: 28000

Words written: 25550

Let me paint you a mental picture: Me and my laptop. Sitting at my desk. Typing. Typing a lot. Typing all the songs in the show. A continuous internal monologue flying through my head. The monologue going something like this: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH"

Day 29

Public word goal: 28064

Private word goal: 29000

Words written: 26546

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH

Day 30

Public word goal: 29032

Private word goal: 30000

Words written: 27728

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALMOST

Day 31

Public word goal: 30000

Private word goal: Hopefully done by now

Words written: 30031

::Sighs dramatically:: ::Falls backwards onto bed:: ::Cries softly:: ::Sleeps for weeks::

Well...there you go.

I thought I knew what an insane camp experience was after July 2018's Camp NaNo. As I mentioned before, while I was working on my biggest Camp project yet, I was balancing an internship 30-40 hours a week and a musical that had dress rehearsals and performances near the end of the month. This year I was balancing working 40 hours a week and bathroom renovation that didn't have a hard deadline, and no musical. And I still ended up screaming internally like I usually do.

But seriously, is there anything more satisfying than typing those little words that take you past your goal? Seeing that "Congratulations, novelist" page? Working on whatever project you want on August 1?

I don't know, there's something to be said for a good slice of pizza. :)

#CampNaNoWinner2019

~EKL <><

You're going back to camp?

Heck yeah I'm going back to camp!

I'd like to formally introduce you to my July 2019 Camp NaNoWriMo project:

Year: 2019
Month: July
Series: None
Title: Murphy's Musical (formerly A Show About A Show)
Genre: Family Humor/Spoof Script
Synopsis: The local children's community theatre group is performing Disney's High School Musical Jr., and no one's missing out on this opportunity. Katelyn Capulet is particularly enjoying playing Ms. Darbus, since she wants to pursue acting after graduation. Madi Piper can hardly believe that she's cast as Kelsi Nielsen, because she's a genius at all things music. And Rae LaDuca is getting a kick out of being cast as Martha Cox, seeing that she's no slouch at dancing herself.
But being involved in theatre is not always easy. It especially isn't easy once the cast and crew meet those in charge: a director who has no love for the show, a music director who hates children in general, and a choreographer who seems to talk a big game. And together they're a walking nightmare. Luckily there's a bit of relief, in a pair of stage managers who could get the whole theatre company through a zombie apocalypse alive, and the cast and crew members who combine their talent with the strongest passion for what they do. But who knows if that will be enough to make High School Musical a success? Is it possible that everything than can go wrong will go wrong?
This musical-about-a-musical is designed to be one big theatre reference. There are lines and moments referencing popular Broadway shows. Every song is from a Broadway-type musical, from Singin' in the Rain to Spamalot, though words and keys are changed to fit the plot and characters. There are only a few featured male characters, in order to match common school and community theatre demographics. The story takes place in your town and the theater you're performing in, and any scripted jokes about the theater are meant to be changed to fit your theater. This show is a theatre kid's dream come true.
Intended word goal: 30000

What this doesn't tell you is that this project is also a revision of my project from exactly two years ago. The first time I tackled this story in July 2017, I took my laptop to camping at Cape Lookout for a week and splatting out the words all afternoon while avoiding the squirrels that were a little too friendly with the humans. Now I'm in my sister's old bedroom my spare room, fixing and reworking the words every evening after work while my YouTube playlist specific to this project plays through my personal little TV. I was living the dream then, and I'm living it now too. :)

Want to see how the first 15 days of this Camp NaNo month have gone? Here you go. :)

Oh wait...since these stats are going to have "public" and "private" word goals, I should probably explain what those mean first. :)

"Public word goal": The number of words that I have to write and log into the Camp NaNo website each day in order to finish on time.
"Private word goal": A much easier way to mentally calculate on the fly how much I need to write.

See, July has 31 days, unlike November and April. An even, reasonable word goal of 30000 divides up into a messy 968 words a day. The tough part is, no word goal divides nicely and evenly into 31 days. (Except for 31000, which I seriously considered, but I digress.) And knowing the kind of person I am, I love finishing NaNo a day or two early so I'm not quite as rushed, but I also tend to lose my mojo a bit and fall behind around week 2 or 3. So by telling myself that I have to write 1000 words a day, this ensures that I finish a little early if I stick to it, and gives me a little grace if I don't.

So without any further ado, here are the stats for the first 15 days!

Day 1
Public word goal: 961
Private word goal: 1000
Words written: 1018
Yeah, let's do this thing!!

Day 2
Public word goal: 1935
Private word goal: 2000
Words written: 2097
Nothing can stop me now!!!

Day 3
Public word goal: 2903
Private word goal: 3000
Words written: 2987
…Welp, I already "failed" my private goal. But I still met the public word goal, so...WOO!

Day 4
Public word goal: 3870
Private word goal: 4000
Words written: 4215
Happy Independence Day! National holidays are great for cranking out the words. :)

Day 5
Public word goal: 4838
Private word goal: 5000
Words written: 5048
I got my invisible, not-even-used-in-camp Updated-My-Word-Count-5-Days-In-A-Row badge! Yee haw!

Day 6
Public word goal: 5806
Private word goal: 6000
Words written: 5476
……That's awkward.

Day 7
Public word goal: 6774
Private word goal: 7000
Words written: 6230
The typical fall-back-and-can't-immediately-get-back-into-it.

Day 8
Public word goal: 7741
Private word goal: 8000
Words written: 7061
Okay, week 2 is looking a little better...

Day 9
Public word goal: 8709
Private word goal: 9000
Words written: 9524
Wh…what happened??? (I finally pushed through that difficult section where I had to cut out a character and redistribute his lines in a way that made sense, that's what I did.)

Day 10
Public word goal: 9677
Private word goal: 10000
Words written: 10382
Adding a song to the musical script=easy bunch of words.

Day 11
Public word goal: 10645
Private word goal: 11000
Words written: 11492
Now I'm on the way-ahead-can't-stop-won't-stop track, which is the opposite of a problem. :)

Day 12
Public word goal: 11612
Private word goal: 12000
Words written: 11721
Watching "Race To Witch Mountain" while writing, or at least from a writer's perspective, was amazing for inspiration! Just...for a different project. :)

Day 13
Public word goal: 12580
Private word goal: 13000
Words written: 12014
I was painting my bathroom. (Isn't every writer full of excuses explanations?)

Day 14
Public word goal: 13548
Private word goal: 14000
Words written: 12014
...Yeah, still awkward.

Day 15
Public word goal: 14516
Private word goal: 15000
Words written: 12014
Safe to say, I just wasn't feeling it.

Oh yeah, on a handful of these days I forgot to log anything I wrote that day. (I blame the Internet.) But thanks to the "Edit page count by day" feature, I just went back later and logged in the past days' word counts as needed. Mega convenient. :)

Perfect? No. Progress? Somewhat. Having fun? Definitely. And isn't that mostly what matters? :)
Can't wait for the next fun 16 days!

~EKL <><

Did you do it?

YES!

It wasn't easy, but I met my Camp NaNoWriMo novel word goal!

Let's continue breaking down the numbers...

Day 16
Word goal: 8000
Words written: 6275
No words from the previous day. I was probably doing homework.

Day 17
Word goal: 8500
Words written: 6501
An entire 2000 words behind my goal, but at least I wrote words.

Day 18
Word goal: 9000
Words written: 6688
Even more than 2000 words behind. Oof.

Day 19
Word goal: 9500
Words written: 7004
More than 200 words written in a day (which by this time was a personal miracle) but still not doing great.

Day 20
Word goal: 10000
Words written: 7300
This is when I truly got nervous. Two-thirds of the way done with the month, and not even halfway done with the book... Was this "easy" word goal too much?

Day 21
Word goal: 10500
Words written: 8158
Woo, look at me go! :)

Day 22
Word goal: 11000
Words written: 8384
Aaaaaaaand we're back to minimal words.

Day 23
Word goal: 11500
Words written: 8795
Picking the pace back up a little...

Day 24
Word goal: 12000
Words written: 8795
I probably wrote a couple words and forgot to log them. It's been just long enough that I can't remember the details of each day.

Day 25
Word goal: 12500
Words written: 8983
At least I'm writing...at least I'm writing...at least I'm writing...

Day 26
Word goal: 13000
Words written: 8983
...or not.

Day 27
Word goal: 13500
Words written: 10500
I think this was around the time when I realized, "...Oh hey, I don't necessarily have to write in chronological order."

Day 28
Word goal: 14000
Words written: 13007
A little motivation and letting yourself go wherever your writing muse takes you are wonderful things, I tell you! :)

Day 29
Word goal: 14500
Words written: 14179
For the first time after initially losing my mojo, I truly felt like I could finish!

Day 30
Word goal: 15000
Words written: 15210
You know what's really fun? No, not necessarily meeting your word goal. (Although that's pretty neat, too.) It's passing your word goal!

And with that, a truly hard-earned victory is mine for the taking!

And just in case you don't believe me...

 

#CampNaNoWinner2019
I never do hashtags, but there you go! Lol

Hey, this was fun. Let's do it again! :)

~EKL <><

Halfway through the month...halfway through the novel?

I'll let the numbers speak for themselves.

To recap, or rather, to formally introduce...

Year: 2019
Month: April
Series: None
Title: The Adventures of Faith Harper
Genre: Fanfiction novel
Synopsis: The year is 1841, and the place is St. Petersburg, Missouri. The quiet life 15-year-old Faith Harper leads is shaken when the new sheriff boards at her house, around the same time that her uncle and cousin move to town from St. Louis. Knowing what it's like to be without family, Faith intends to make her new family feel welcome. This becomes difficult when her dear cousin Becky Thatcher gets engaged to that rogue Tom Sawyer, and Uncle Josiah is judging the murder of Dr. Robinson, all within days of arriving. "Uncle Abe" makes it perfectly plain that he doesn't intend to be family to the Harpers—only a superior. And to pile on the agony, Lyle Peters doesn't seem to be the old school comrade he used to be...
Intended word goal: 15000

So let's take a look at the first 15 days of this Camp NaNoWriMo month and the progress I've made on my novel!

Day 1
Word goal: 500
Words written: 539
Nothing too difficult.

Day 2
Word goal: 1000
Words written: 1195
Again, nothing too difficult.

Day 3
Word goal: 1500
Words written: 1630
Yawn...

Day 4
Word goal: 2000
Words written: 2008
If Camp NaNo had the same badge system as November NaNo, then I'd get the "1667 words" writing badge. :)

Day 5
Word goal: 2500
Words written: 2590
This is where I would get November NaNo's "Updated word count 5 days in a row" badge.

Day 6
Word goal: 3000
Words written: 3090
Exactly 500 words, as was the original daily goal. Boom.

Day 7
Word goal: 3500
Words written: 3500
I did it! One week of beautiful perfection!

Day 8
Word goal: 4000
Words written: 3500
That is to say, I didn't do any writing on this day. (It's the infamous Week 2; what else is new?) I had a big college test online that I had spent all week studying for, and I had to take that night. But I got a good score on it, so it was a different kind of win. :)

Day 9
Word goal: 4500
Words written: 3840
Once you get off track, it's so hard to get back on...

Day 10
Word goal: 5000
Words written: 3840
Again, I didn't write anything on this day. I had a chunk of homework reading and I had to pick my battles. Writing is great, but so is graduating college. :)

Day 11
Word goal: 5500
Words written: 4505
Finally got some good words in!

Day 12
Word goal: 6000
Words written: 4525
20 words is better than 0 words!

Day 13
Word goal: 6500
Words written: 5509
A couple days prior I got an email from NaNoWriMo, encouraging me to participate in a Writing Marathon involving word sprints for five days in a row, with the word sprint time limits increasing each day: 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours. Being me, I didn't notice the email at first. :) But on this day I did get around to doing the 10-minute word sprint, and it definitely help me bump up my word count!

Day 14
Word goal: 7000
Words written: 5717
Now that I had finally started the Writing Marathon, I was supposed to do the 20-minute word sprint on this day, but I didn't. I was either on the Internet when I could have been writing (meh), or doing homework (better).

Day 15
Word goal: 7500
Words written: 6275
I got the 20-minute word sprint in, and it felt so good to crank out the words! It also helped hugely to have the right music playing in the background. :) (Now you can probably expect a future blog post about noveling music...)

I'm not perfect, but I'm still going! :)
Here's to the next 15 days!

~EKL <><

Wait...you've done NaNoWriMo HOW MANY times?

In my last post, I mentioned that I have participated in NaNoWriMo eighteen times.

That number has not changed since then.

So yes, 18 times.

18.

10+8.

2x9.

7 times in November NaNo, 11 times in Camp NaNo.

And hey, as long as we're here, I might as well share my experiences and, well, geek out a bit more about writing. So sit back, relax, and maybe grab some popcorn while we're at it, as I chronicle all of my NaNoWriMo adventures in a nutshell...

Year: 2012

Month: November
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Mystery of the Old Theater
Genre: Mystery novel
Synopsis: Sarah, Ali, Lewis, Ariel, Cassie, Mike, and Priscilla have a secret club called The Seven Dwarves, which exists as a best-friend-bonding group and a private mystery-solving agency. In this first book, the Seven Dwarves and their siblings are all in the musical A Year With Frog and Toad, performing at the Venetian Theater in Hillsboro.
A couple days into dress week, something really strange happens, following by a threatening note signed The Phantom. The strange Incidents and Phantom Notes keep coming during the week, getting more dangerous every time. Set pieces break, costumes disappear, and cast and crew members get injured. The Seven Dwarves see it as their duty to put a stop to the Incidents before Opening Night.
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 3943
Experience: This was my first time doing NaNoWriMo ever. A church friend first introduced me to it, but I didn't really have buddies to write with me and cheer me on. I ran out of creative juice pretty quickly, and I came nowhere close to winning. But I was still happy that I did it.

Year: 2013

Month: July

Series/title/genre/synopsis: Same

Intended word goal: 10000 to begin with. But my writing buddies were going for 50000 words, and I felt like I could do better. So a few days in I changed my goal to 15000.

Words written: 16654

Experience: This was my first time doing Camp NaNoWriMo. A theater friend who was also into NaNo introduced me and my sister to it, and we wrote our books together. They both started brand new books, but I liked what I had written during my sad November attempt, and I took this event as a chance to revisit it and have a do-over. It was a total blast, and I certainly couldn't have done it without my writing buddies who wrote alongside me and motivated me every day. (Where am I, the Oscars?!)

Year: 2013
Month: November
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Secret of the New Teachers
Genre: Mystery novel
Synopsis: In this sequel to Mystery of the Old Theater, the new school year is beginning, bringing a lot of changes for the Seven Dwarves. For one thing, Ariel is going to George Fox University, which means separation from her Dwarf friends. For another, Mike is finally old enough to join the rest of the Dwarves at Summit View High School.
But Summit View has changed as well. The entire staff, mission, dress code, and schedule have completely changed. The school is now run by a fearsome batch of people with muscles and intimidating presences to spare. The worst of these is the new principal, Grayson Black, a senior citizen who could probably take down an army with his words alone.
These new teachers expect complete and utter perfection from their students. Mistakes are not tolerated. And Sarah, Ali, Lewis, Cassie, Mike, and Priscilla really want to figure out why they have to put up with it, because they aren't exactly perfect...
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 20226
Experience: Again, not a win, but I was really pleased with what I wrote. My sister and I both wrote sequels to our July novels, while our friend wrote another new novel, and working together again was also a blast! Then my sister and I left on a road trip to Disneyland at the end of the month, so we were writing in random hotel rooms and in the car while on the long California roads. That in and of itself was an adventure. :)

Year: 2014

Month: April
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Incident at the Theme Park
Genre: Mystery novel
Synopsis: The Seven Dwarves have successfully starred in a musical, conquered their new school teachers, and had a wonderful end of the school year. It is time for a good long vacation at The Happiest Place On Earth—Disneyland!
And they're not just going. They send in applications to work as "cast members" for the summer they're there, and they make the cut! When they're not busy enjoying everything that the Disneyland Resort has to offer, they're helping bring the park to life by playing a princess at the Royal Theatre, wandering around in a Mickey Mouse costume, providing commentary on the Jungle Cruise, welcoming guests to the Haunted Mansion, dancing in the new show Mickey and the Magical Map, and playing Peter Pan and Wendy in Fantasmic!
What the Dwarves aren't aware of yet is that other people playing Royal Theatre princesses, Mickey Mouse, Jungle Cruise skippers, Haunted Mansion attendants, Mickey and the Magical Map dancers, Peter Pan, and Wendy have their eyes on those kids, and not in a good way...
Intended word goal: 20000
Words written: 20608
Experience: It had only been a couple months since my Disneyland trip, where I had experienced the all-new Royal Theatre and Mickey and the Magical Map for the first time. Besides, my sister had written about working in Disneyland in her Camp NaNo novel the year before, and it was my favorite part of the book. I just had to write about it myself. And look at that...it brought me another win!

Year: 2014

Month: July
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: The Dwarf Diaries
Genre: Mystery short stories
Synopsis: If you've ever wondered what happened in between the Seven Dwarves books (or what other things happened during the books), you've wanted to know more about the Dwarves' lives, or you're just a fan of looking behind the scenes, look no further. With four short stories about events that occurred in between the books, interviews with the Dwarves, and more, this book is full of things about the Seven Dwarves that you didn't know you didn't know.
Intended word goal: 20000
Words written: 21328
Experience: By this point I had finished Mystery of the Old Theater and Secret of the New Teachers, but not Incident at the Theme Park. I didn't want to start another book in the series and have two in limbo at a time. So you know how Percy Jackson has that behind-the-scenes book The Demigod Files? I wanted something like that. This was the result. It was a departure for me, because I had never written a set of short stories before, but I lived and I even had fun while writing it!

Year: 2014

Month: November
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Incident at the Theme Park
Genre/synopsis: Same
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 24405
Experience: Oh well, another novel that didn't win. Not gonna lie, I'm positive I could have written more if I had just tried a little harder. It was kind of a busy month for me (dance/voice/piano/theater classes every week, performing in a musical for two weeks instead of one, getting wisdom teeth out, yada yada yada), and I lost my creative flow and my motivation after a while. Plus, I was stuck on a really hard section that required a ridiculous amount of planning. But hey, I was writing!

Year: 2015

Month: April
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Mystery of the Prima Donna
Genre: Mystery novel
Synopsis: Having already defeated the Phantom of the Venetian Theater (Mystery of the Old Theater, November 2012/July 2013), those teachers who had no business butting in at Summit View High School and nearly killing all the students (Secret of the New Teachers, November 2013), and some employees at Disneyland conspiring against them (Incident at the Theme Park, April/November 2014), the Seven Dwarves are ready for something a little more low-key. Their winter musical, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, sounds pretty good.
Countless hours of research and preparation later, they take the stage once more. And so does Rebekah, a new girl from Washington. She's not exactly new to the stage—she's an en pointe ballerina, a voice student of an opera singer, and hugely into her school's Shakespeare competitions that she wins almost every year. Yet Rebekah's not popular or likeable. She doesn't pay attention when the directors are talking, bad-talks other actors while they're onstage, and makes it obvious that she thinks no one can compete with her. And she's not even that good onstage, either, despite everything she's bragged about.
So why does she get Becky Thatcher?
Intended word goal: 20000
Words written: 20120
Experience: Remember when I didn't want to have two books in the Seven Dwarves series in limbo? Well, by the time April rolled around I stopped caring as much. I mean, I already had one series book and a behind-the-scenes book that weren't finished. So I figured a fourth book in the series couldn't hurt. What made this one so fun to write was that it helped me work out my aggressions at a rough patch I was going through in real life.

Year: 2015

Month: July
Series: None
Title: You Can Fly
Genre: Young adult novel
Synopsis: Lydia Fox isn't a perfect little angel. She's a good girl—good, not great. She talks too much—often without thinking. And she doesn't have a great relationship with her stepfamily—they're so annoying and obnoxious.
But maybe that's a good thing. If Lydia's preppy and sassy stepsister Maggie hadn't disliked her current middle school so much, then Maggie's weird dad Fred wouldn't have transferred her to that other school he had connections to. And if Lydia and Maggie had gotten along instead of always being at each other's throats, then Mom and Fred wouldn't have offered to send Lydia to the school too, to help the girls bond.
Bonding with Maggie is the last thing Lydia wants to do. But going to Spotlight Dance Academy in downtown Beaverton...different story. If there's one thing Lydia loves more than anything, it's dance.
Only a couple years at SDA later, Lydia is well-versed in ballet, jazz, tap, and a bit of hip-hop. She wants desperately to get into the advanced classes, including ballet en pointe and the jazz competition team. But 13-year-olds rarely pass the tests to get into those classes. And dance isn't the only struggle she's facing—she still has to deal with teachers who don't communicate at all, piles of homework that only get bigger and never smaller, and still having to put up with Maggie. And let's not forget Allison...
But Lydia is never alone. She knows how to make and keep true friends. Ruby Moon, her soul sister from birth. Katie Hong, a "not-really-exchange-student". And Lila Hart, the super shy new girl. With the three musketeers at her side, there's nothing she can't face. She really can fly.
Intended word goal: 15000
Words written: 15313
Experience: Remember when I stopped caring about how many Seven Dwarves books were in limbo? Okay, I did still care. :) I decided to go off my beaten path, as my writing buddies had done several sessions before, and tackle a completely new novel. Since we all shared an obsession for dance, we all wrote books that had dance as a major feature. That was different, but fun! I had to hem and haw over genres for quite a bit when I entered my novel into the Camp Nano website. (Is YA too old when the characters are 13? Is Children's Fiction too young? What's the difference between Literary and Mainstream? Help!!!) Though I ended up setting on YA, I still feel like it isn't entirely the best description for it. It's really more middle grade, especially because that's the target audience. But that's not an option on the websites. Oh well. :)

Year: 2015

Month: November
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: The Dwarf Diaries
Genre/synopsis: Same
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 40000. Seriously. Technically I wrote 111 more, but I didn't enter them into the word counter before midnight, so...
Experience: This was another busy November for me. Not as busy as the last one, but still not like I had all the time in the world. Both of my writing buddies opted out during this month, so this was the first serious NaNoWriMo where I was flying solo. I didn't mind, though—I churned out a lot of words and added even more to this world that I had created. I was actually rereading the book just last night, and it made me so happy! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me cry from laughter...

Year: 2016

Month: April
Series: Reimagined fairytale musicals (Nothing official yet, just a thought in my brain...)
Title: Ella
Genre: Romance script
Synopsis: Prom is coming up soon at Tremaine High School. Ella Cinders has never been to a school dance before, and this year she really wants to go to prom. But her stepmother won't let her, her stepsisters take great joy in that fact, and Ella just feels completely unworthy. Meanwhile Henry Prince, the most popular guy at school, is getting overwhelmed by all the girls pressuring him and begging him to take them to prom. He's starting to envy his best friend Bobby Michaels, who is often relegated to the background and ignored by everyone of the female gender. In this modern but magical retelling of a classic fairytale, Ella and Henry learn just how valuable they are the way they are.
Intended word goal: 15000
Words written: 15076
Experience: This was my first time doing a script for NaNo, and I actually wrote a musical! I'm not sure how I got the idea to write this, other than the fact that I love musicals and putting fairytales in modern settings. So here we are. :) I'm actually in the process of editing Ella to be set in the 1950s instead of modern day. I changed the title to Eleanor's Shoes, and I changed the names to sound a little more 50s authentic. Ella=Eleanor (as the new title may have given away), Henry Prince=Henry Good, Bobby Michaels=Bobby Lowe, etc. Maybe I'll revise this script for a future NaNo, and call the genre "Romance revision". Hmm...

Year: 2016

Month: July
Series: None
Title: Stories of Old Retold
Genre: Fantasy script
Synopsis: Have you ever wondered what would happen if the worlds from all your favorite books somehow combined? Well, that's exactly what happens to two teenagers one innocent day at school. They come to This Place, a land where characters from many different works of classic literature live together in peace and harmony—or so they used to. A recent plot twist has sent This Place into panic, and it's up to the surprise visitors, cautious Alice and impulsive Peter, to find the most valuable objects in all the land and prevent the threat of danger. But the kids stumble upon something and someone much more evil, and find themselves trapped in a story with no happy ending. With magic and thrills, many different types of music, and characters known from their own beloved stories, this musical tale explores what it means to be the hero of your own story.
Intended word goal: 25000
Words written: 25088
Experience: The first musical script I wrote was a success, so I had to do it again! This was my first time doing anything fantasy-ish for NaNo, so that was another departure, but I was prepared and really excited to tell the story. Of all of the scripts I've written (and there are several), this one is by far my favorite. It's my "baby". Like, I seriously want to pull a Lin-Manuel Miranda and star in this musical I wrote when I bring it to Broadway. Not even kidding. :)

Year: 2016

Month: November
Series: The Seven Dwarves
Title: Mystery of the Prima Donna
Genre/synopsis: Same
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 20586
Experience: Going back to this book brought back memories of the rough patch that led to the book existing in the first place. But you know, life goes on and I didn't mind the memories so much. (Besides, I had new worries on my plate: college.) And yes, that's another November that I "lost". But the book had helped sweeten some bitter times in my life, so did I really lose in the end?

Year: 2017

Month: April
Series: None
Title: Disney's Alice in Wonderland. (Very much purely unofficial, I promise!)
Genre: Children's fiction script. If we could combine multiple genres (which we can't, unfortunately), we'd add Fantasy to the mix.
Synopsis: Travel down the rabbit hole and join Alice, one of literature's most beloved heroines, in her madcap adventure. The ever-curious Alice's journey begins innocently enough as she chases the White Rabbit to Wonderland. Her adventures become increasingly more strange as she races the Dodo Bird, gets tied up with Tweedledee and Tweedledum, raps and taps with a bubble-blowing Caterpillar, has tea at the Mad Hatter and March Hare's unbirthday party, and even beats the Queen of Hearts at her own game! Featuring updated songs from Disney's thrilling animated motion picture, and ensembles that could fit a cast of hundreds, Disney's Alice in Wonderland is a fast-paced take on the classic tale.
Intended word goal: 15000
Words written: 15482
Experience: I didn't want to write another Seven Dwarves book, or a sequel to You Can Fly, or a sequel to any of my musical scripts. But I wasn't done writing scripts. So I decided to expand a script for a musical I was once in. If you know me, you know that I love any and all things Alice in Wonderland. Being in Disney's Alice in Wonderland Jr. was one of my favorite musicals to be in, and, well, I wanted more of it! So my goal was to expand it from a junior level to a full production level. This was a challenge for sure, but I loved every minute of it!

Year: 2017

Month: July
Series: None
Title: A Show About a Show (working title)
Genre: Satire/humor script
Synopsis: The local children's community theatre group is performing Disney's High School Musical Jr., and no one's missing out on this opportunity. Piper Barnes is particularly enjoying playing Ms. Darbus the drama teacher, since she wants to be one after graduating. Kylie Seaver can't believe that she's cast as Kelsi Nielsen the piano prodigy, because she's a genius at all things music. And Joy Kendrick is getting a kick out of being Martha Cox the hip-hop queen, seeing that she's no slouch at dancing herself.
But being involved in theatre is not as easy as it may seem. Not everyone on cast or crew has much experience in their fields of work, and they have all of two months to get their acts together. It gets even less easy once they meet those in charge of the show: a director who has no love for the show, a music director who hates children in general, and a choreographer who seems to talk a big game. And together, they're a walking nightmare. Luckily, there's a bit of relief in a pair of stage managers who could get the whole theatre company through a zombie apocalypse alive, and the cast and crew members who seriously care about what they do. But who knows if that will be enough to make High School Musical a success? Is it possible that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong?
This musical-about-a-musical is designed to be one big theatre reference. There are lines and moments referencing popular Broadway shows. Every song is from a Broadway show, from Singin' in the Rain to The Addams Family, though words and keys are changed to fit the plot and characters. There are very few male characters, in order to match common school and community theatre demographics. The story takes place in your town and the theater you're performing in, and any scripted jokes about the theater are supposed to be changed to fit your theater. This show is a theatre kid's dream come true.
Intended word goal: 20000
Words written: 20190
Experience: Oh man, this was a great one. As a theater kid myself, I had so much fun writing about what I knew and loved best. (I mean, other than writing...lol) I wanted this show to be hilarious, but also sincere, and full of theater jokes and references. Most of all, I wanted to celebrate the wonderfulness of being a theater kid. Lumping all of these challenges together made the whole thing really interesting and fun. I went to some needlessly ridiculous means to stretch out my word count, but it was great and I would do it all over again! Hmm...I still haven't decided what I'm going to do for November yet...could this be another possibility?

Year: 2017
Month: November
Series: None
Title: Stories of Old Retold
Genre/synopsis: Same
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 32986
Experience: This was my first time doing a non-Seven-Dwarves book in November, even though I had done plenty during Camp NaNo. But as I mentioned before, this script is my "baby", so I was glad to pull it back out for another round. I still didn't win, and I didn't beat my personal record either. But I actually came very close to finishing the story, so that's a plus!

Year: 2018
Month: April
Series: Discovery University
Title: Discovery University: Out Of Control
Genre: Science fiction novel
Synopsis: Taylor and Alex, a pair of troubled and headstrong twins, can't wait to graduate and leave middle school behind. But they're not transferring to any ordinary school—Discovery University is a complete secret from the rest of the world, a place where kids and young adults like Taylor and Alex discover that their mental illnesses are actually superpowers in disguise. If the twins can complete a week of initial training to get a good grasp on their powers, and go on a mission where their powers are needed, they'll be officially accepted into the university.
But learning to control newfound superpowers, never mind unlearning everything they know about their illnesses, is not as easy for Taylor and Alex as it sounds. And of course, they had to be brought into this just as the imminent danger from THEM is at its greatest, so time is of the essence.
If Taylor and Alex can't hone their superpowers enough to use them effectively, their entire future and that of Discovery University will be at stake.
Intended word goal: 20000
Words written: 20086
Experience: Back to noveling! I felt ready to abandon my scripts for a month and tackle a book again. But not just any book—one that has been in the works since I was 13. A single game in theater class gave rise to my first sci-fi novel that I ended up investing so much time and love in for a long time. Admittedly the time-and-love investment was very on-and-off for years, and the story kept changing dramatically whenever I worked on it, but I've finally settled into something that I believe is going to be amazing. (You know, when I actually finish it someday.) I've never in my life written anything like this—time travel, mental illness, and main characters ~7 years younger than me, to name a few main points—but it's so worth it.

Year: 2018

Month: July
Series: Three Peas
Title: Three Peas
Genre: Young adult novel
Synopsis: Sadie doesn't want to be like everyone else, but her life is so complicated it's almost unheard of. Four fathers have come and gone, and her mother has decided that she's old enough to take on a parental-type role in the house. Mother's word is law, so Sadie wants to exceed expectations and even impress her brothers and sisters. But her siblings have never respected her as an equal, so they're naturally not eager to respect her as a figure of authority. And Mother has always been bossy toward her children, but now her bossiness seems to reach new levels, mostly falling on Sadie. Can Sadie rise to the occasion day after day, despite what anyone else says?
Austin knows a lot, but he doesn't know what a true home is like. He's been all across the East Coast hopping from foster home to foster home, ever since he lost a father to custody issues and a mother to cancer as a little kid. Judging from the promising first few weeks at the latest foster home, Austin may actually last longer than a year. But his foster dad is no "warm and fuzzy" type, and his foster brothers will take advantage of him whenever they can. If they found out about the hobbies he keeps under wraps (nothing illegal, just unexpected), they'd put him right back in the system. Can Austin keep his secret, stay true to himself, and score himself a permanent family?
Lily has hope, determination, and nothing else. All she wants is to escape her life at a dumpy boarding school for orphans, at the mercy of the school management's "royal family". She could escape if she was adopted by a visitor, which happens every once in a while. But she's never been considered for adoption in her lifetime, and she's running out of time. Not to mention the hierarchal royal family has it out for her and the other teenage orphans, and will stop at nothing to make her in particular miserable. Can Lily maintain hope for happiness any longer, or will old grudges and exaggerated incidents come back to beat her down?
Intended word goal: 35000
Words written: 35289
Experience: I really felt like working on another novel that have been in process since I was 13, since it went so well in April. This is definitely more of a true YA book than You Can Fly. And this one, even more than Discovery University, has changed dramatically with each rewrite, but now I've got something that will work. It was by far the busiest NaNo session of my life, but at least I was truly doing what I loved. It would have been a lot harder otherwise. (Camp NaNo + internship 5 days a week + the biggest musical I've ever been in = AAAAAAAAAAAHH!)

Year: 2018

Month: November
Series: Discovery University
Title: Discovery University: Out Of Control
Genre/synopsis: Same
Intended word goal: 50000
Words written: 40041
Experience: I loved working on Discovery University so much that I was excited to revise it in November. Instead of strictly following the chronological progression of the story while writing it, like I normally do, I wrote the sections that I had an idea or mental image for at that moment. I have never written so out of order before. But it's a method I will gladly do again, because it kept the creative ideas flowing without forcing them to follow a timeline of events! It didn't quite lead me to a win, but it did lead to me beating my personal record! :)

 

Whew! Did I seriously say I'd sum up my NaNo experience in a nutshell?
 

So there you go! I think I'm done now. :)

Wait, no. I'm not. As I write this I'm preparing for the next Camp NaNoWriMo session tomorrow. (That is, in 1 minute.) I'm going to be writing my first fanfiction, and my first historical novel: The Adventures of Faith Harper, with a word goal of 15000. Wish me luck!

~EKL <><

NaNoWriMo? What's that?

It's been exactly three years and one day since my first post, so I might as well write a second post!

Now, do you want the short answer, the long answer, or the not-really-an-answer that just talks about how I do the thing?

All of the above? Sounds great!

SHORT ANSWER:

NaNoWriMo is an acronym that stands for National Novel Writing Month. The specific month happens to be November. And you write a novel during the month.

 

LONG ANSWER:
 

National Novel Writing Month is a program where you write 50000 words of a novel throughout the whole month of November. The idea at its most pure and basic is, you start with a blank page on the 1st and end with a finished novel on the 30th. No editing, no grading for grammar—just writing words. Some people don't always play it out exactly like that, though, and that's all right. Sometimes they go into it having already started their novel, and their 50000 words just pick up from where they left off. Other times they write a second draft of what they wrote in the past. These people are called NaNo Rebels. I have always been one, and in all honesty it's the most rebellious thing I've ever done. :) The age limit for NaNoWriMo is 13 and up, and I was 14 when I first did it, but technically it's oriented toward adults. It has absolutely nothing to do with explicit content or anything, though—they just have another program oriented toward kids. More on that a little later. :)
 

Camp NaNoWriMo also exists, and this has even more freedom. You have options outside of writing a novel: you can choose to write nonfiction, poetry, short stories, a script, or even a revision of something you wrote in the past. You can also set your own goal for the month, and it isn't just limited to words. You can track your hours or minutes you spend writing, or how many lines or pages you've written. And if you change your mind in the middle of the month, if you're tired of tracking words and you'd rather track pages, you can absolutely change it. It's all up to you, and it's awesome. :) You also have the option of working in a virtual cabin, either a public cabin with other writers of similar ages or genres, or a private cabin where you invite other campers in. And best of all, this program happens twice, in April and July. A two-for-one deal!

NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program is another variation, which is oriented toward children aged 17 and younger, and teachers and other educators. Like traditional NaNo, the main event is writing a novel in November. But like Camp NaNo, the kids can set their own word goals, and the educators can have their students work in virtual classrooms similar to cabins. The students also have the option to keep the fun going year-round, with fun challenges and opportunities to edit their novels on the site. I've never done this, because when I joined I jumped straight into normal NaNo, as I mentioned before. And when I was the right age to do it, I was homeschooled and my classroom experiences were limited to small co-ops and those yearly standardized tests. :) But it sounds like a lot of fun!
 

All of these programs can be buckets of fun, they can be the most crazy thing you've ever done, or they can be super chill. Everyone's experience is so different. But at the end of the day, there's no wrong way to do NaNoWriMo. What matters is that you're writing.

 

NOT REALLY AN ANSWER:
 

I've been all-in in NaNoWriMo for seven years. I've done it a grand total of 18 times. That's seven novels, revising four of them later; four musical scripts, revising one later; and one set of short stories, revising it later. The revising was basically me writing the project once during Camp NaNo and once during traditional NaNo.

But here are my quirks when it comes to NaNoWriMo: I never actually finish the writing project. Sometimes I meet my word goal, but the story isn't finished at all. If it's a script, I might not even be done with Act 1. After the month ends, I have no motivation to look at the project for another month or so. And I'll be honest...I have never once succeeded in writing 50000 words in November NaNo, or Camp NaNo for that matter. I've actually won each round of Camp NaNo, but solely because I can set my word goal lower. It's not like my goals are to write 30 words in the entire month, though. I do push myself to some degree. :)
 

I'd love to discuss all my adventures and writing projects I've accomplished with NaNoWriMo, but trying to cover all seven years here would be a little much for one post. So you can expect a post in the future where I do that. And it will have to be in the near future, before the next NaNo session gets underway. Because that's where my writing energy will be devoted when the time comes. :)

I guess all that's left to say is, NaNoWriMo is awesome and I cannot recommend it enough! :) If you're interested and want to dig deeper, I have links to the NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNoWriMo, and NaNoWriMo Young Writer's Program under the "Need Help?" tab. Go check them out! And if you have done or plan on doing NaNoWriMo, tell me all about it in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
 

All right, time for me to vanish off the earth for another 1097 days—
I'm kidding, I'm kidding!

~EKL <><