My goal was 75,000 words this year. And I still finished early. Ha!

So I guess this is my new most successful year ever, trumping last year’s awesome. I wrote 50% more than usual, I still finished roughly two days ahead of time, and for once, I actually finished the story — I didn’t just meet the word goal! And this was my fifth win in ten years of NaNoWriMo, making my win rate a nice, even 50%. Not bad. Not bad at all. I should feel good about this year, and I do, but somehow this still feels like a muted victory.

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So this was, hands down, my most successful NaNoWriMo ever.

I hit 50,000 words a full week before December, and I managed to continue following the three rules I set last year: no flashbacks, no writing out of order, and no werewolves. Contributing factors to this success include the fact that I did a lot more pre-planning than usual. I actually had an outline this year! With a beginning, a middle, and an end! And subplots and stuff! It’s amazing how much direction using a classic seven-point plot system can give your story.

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Yeah, so my Camp NaNoWriMo progress ended up being pretty sad.

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For NaNoWriMo website functions to be available in other months has been an oft-wished for feature since the event’s inception, and it seems it’s been at least partially fulfilled with the launch of Camp NaNoWriMo. Now, July and August are noveling months too, joining Script Frenzy (April) as officially sanctioned NaNoWriMo spin-offs. Seeing as Camp NaNoWriMo’s goals are nearly identical to the November original though, I wouldn’t really say it’s a spin-off as much as it is an extension, like their Young Writers’ Program… The only difference between the Camp version and the “real” version is the fact that both July and August have 31 days, not 30. Thus, 50,000 words of a novel in 31 days — July or August, your choice (or hey, maybe both! 100,000 words in 62 days!).

Since the Camp NaNoWriMo site launched at the very end of June, I didn’t jump on the July round. But the August round starts on Monday, and I think I’ll go ahead and give it a go.

Outside of NaNoWriMo, I really haven’t written much fiction in the last few years, so having an early NaNo might be nice. I will, of course, still be participating in the traditional NaNo in November — can’t break that seven-year streak — but writing elsewhere in the year! What a wonderful idea!

All the same, as Camp NaNo feels peculiarly un-kosher to me, I don’t think I’ll feel bad deviating a bit from the usual ruleset. To promote the spirit of spontaneity, it is against NaNoWriMo protocol to continue previously started manuscripts, or to rewrite existing material. Well, screw that. I think I’ll be rewriting portions of the 2010 NaNo novel, Lehelle, for Camp NaNo 2011. Or maybe it will actually be a prequel. I’m not sure. See? It is still nebulous enough to be spontaneous. Kind of. I’ll also only be aiming for 30,000 words, personally. Actually, I think I’d probably be pleased if I could managed 20k. I’m taking an actual vacation in the middle of August, so we’ll see how that goes.

Camp NaNoWriMo: An idyllic writers’ retreat, smack-dab in the middle of your crazy life — yeah, pretty much.