Let's go Camping

Camp July Prep

My next writing project is writing something completely different from the romance series I’ve been working on. You can get the first two books of my series here.

Authors often need to write something different to keep their mind active and keep themselves excited about writing. I’m glad that the Fire series is a different couple in each book with a connecting group and storyline throughout. Today I’m going to talk about the story I’ll be drafting in July. What Camp NaNoWriMo is and how to prepare for it. Come, take this journey with me.

The idea.

I'll be writing my first ever Ménage or Reverse Harem romance this summer. It has a tentative title of Love Rules. I have a temp. Book cover and a synopsis.

Bridget, known throughout town as Boss, and Bee to her friends. Grew up fighting for those who no one else cared about. She knows what it is like to survive on your own wits. In the run-down trailer park in Southern Louisiana, Bee takes the unwanted and neglected children and creates a family and builds an empire. Owning half the town and the President of her own motorcycle club, she has power, respect, and a name for herself. There is no place in her life for love, no place for weakness, especially when a rival MC is trying to encroach on her town. But can love strengthen her?

Quinn has been Bee’s right hand since the beginning except for that short four years he went away to the military. He has also been in love with her for almost as long. Being her VP in the MC has been his only avenue to care for his badass boss and greatest desire. He watches her care for everyone in town, but neglects herself at every turn. When a friend Jack from his military days comes to town seeking work, Quinn sees a chance to love and take care of Bee in more ways than one.

Jack met Quinn when they were 18 and hell on wheels. One drunken night, Jack admits his deepest desires to share a woman with another man and Quinn shares his deepest love for his childhood sweetheart. Jack wants to meet Quinn’s badass woman and when he is drifting between jobs, comes and see for himself if she just might be the one for him too. Taking a job as a male stripper at Boss’s club and a mechanic at her shop. Jack is just in the right spot to help Quinn capture Bee’s heart.

Can Bee trust these men can love her and not take her power? Will they help make Bee strong enough to handle the danger facing her and her town? Can these men show her she can have respect, power and love too?

What is Camp NaNoWriMo, and when is it?

Na(tional) No(vel) Wri(ting) Mo(nth) is a non-profit organization that encourages people to write a novel in a month. They have the most well known writing event during November, but they also offer two other events in the year. Two Camp NaNoWriMo events, one in April and the other in July. Of course, you can use the page to track your writing projects all year. These events are offered to the community to help encourage you to write, revise, edit, or more. One of my favorite things about the camp events is the post card swap found in the forums here: https://forums.nanowrimo.org/tags/c/camp-nanowrimo/74/none

Why would you want to prepare for it?

Even if you aren’t a planner or a planster it’s a good idea to prepare for Camp NaNoWriMo during June. Here are a few ways to prepare for each kind of writer.

Decide what project you are going to work on for the event. Are you going to outline, 0 draft, 1st draft, revise, or do editing for the event?
What type of writer are you? A Planner, Planster, or Pantser?

The Planner:

What is your project?

What phase of the project are you going to work on?

If you are outlining you will want to check out outlining methods. Maybe create a writer's notebook. If you need help creating that, you can get my workshop on that very topic here:

If you are 0 drafting or 1st drafting, create a plan:

How many words are you looking to draft for the event? The traditional number is 50,000 words. Take a calendar for July and mark off days you know you don’t want to write or can’t write because of events or physical limitations. For instance, I will not write on Sundays and there are 5 Sundays in July 2022. I’m also giving myself 5 grace days off in case of emergencies or unforeseen things. So that makes 10 days off of 31 days.

That leaves me 31-10= 21 days to write 50,000 words

50,000/21= 2,380.9 or 2,381 words a writing day. I know it sounds like a lot, especially with 2 jobs. But I know that if I break it up in writing sprints and get up early, I can make it happen.

What kind of road map do you need to create?

Character studies
Plot and subplots
World building and locations
Themes and symbolism
Inner conflicts
External conflicts
Goals
Writing software
Scene cards
Storyboard
Story bible

How are you going to track your project if you are revising or editing?

For Camp in April, I set myself the goal of 1800 minutes to revise 34 chapters. I was lucky, and it took me under 1400 minutes to revise 34 chapters.

What groups do you have that can help encourage you?

The Planster:

A planster is a person who is a mix of a planner and a pantser. You like to plan more, but not too much.

What project are you planning to work on?

What phase of the project are you going to work on?

How many days do you have available? See the counts above.

What groups are you in that will help encourage you to finish your project?

Do you need to have some kind of road map?

How much work do you want to do before the event?

The Pantser

Ah, the pantser. The writer that wings it and flies by the seat of their pants. Hence the name. You still have to set up your project on NaNoWriMo to track your project so you can win goodies.

What project are you going to work on?

What stage is this project in?

Do you need a group to help encourage you?

If you are looking for a group to help, you can of course look on NaNoWriMo’s Find a region and join a NaNoWriMo group in your area. https://nanowrimo.org/regions/find

On the Wings for Writers Discord Writing Group

Upcoming Events:

Tonight at 5 pm Central U.S. time 1st Wednesday Discord meeting come help us make the server a place you want to hang out.

This weekend is our Retreat weekend

We have a location for next month's #virtualwritingretreat Outlander We are going to Scotland baby. If you would like to donate a prize please sign up here https://forms.gle/zQZT9aJmKFRFw5H47 If you would like to just make sure you get points so you can win prizes during the retreat sign up here https://tinyurl.com/march-retreat-signup