Camp NaNo: Day 6

THE PARTY CONTINUES!

Word count: 12040

That's write right, the Camp NaNo party continued on 'til about 5:30pm! Without any sleep in my case, or an hour or two in others', we continued writing. I want to give them shoutouts (with their usernames, of course) for being so aboslutely, wonderfully awesome! - but I don't know if they'd like that. So, if you guys read this, know just how awesome you are!

I reached double-digits in the thousands! *dances*

We watched another movie, Airheads (starring Brenden Fraser, Adamn Sandler and Steve Buscemi), which about a rock'n'roll band desperate to make it holding up a radio in order to get airplay. It's a silly comedy, but was great to have a break to and laugh along with.

We continued writing all night, feeling as though time had been slowed in the small space of our lounge room. There was more reading each others' work, encouraging, laughing and fun as we continued. It was really cool to see everyone's different styles - some were descriptive, some were fast-paced, some were hilarious. I love reading humour in books because I have such trouble writing it. The cheese and chocolates were polished off at some point too.

We breakfasted on hot coffee and tea with toast, and kept writing all day. When everyone left at 5:30pm, I went to bed and slept 'til 9pm. I got up to get a drink, and then when back to bed (so I didn't update on the 6th).

In any case, my story is really moving along now. I have some idea of the plot now, much more than previously and my characters are taking shape. One of the girls said I had great dialogue, which made me so happy because sometimes I feel that I really struggle with dialogue. I'm always wondering "Would [character] really say that? Would anyone really say that?" and so on... But I'm pleased it's coming across well!

This is Shi, heading back to Camp!

Camp NaNo: Day 5

Also known as: THE AWESOME PARTY WRITING SESSION!

Word count: 9405

 So, as I mentioned, I was having some friends over for a Camp NaNo camp out in the lounge room with laptops, dedicated to writing. Well, we started at 8:30pm and now it's 3:30pm and we're still rocking it! This is the most fun I've ever had working with people, and it's going really well!

 I'm so proud of everyone. One other attendee and I started write at the beginning of Camp NaNo, but the others were late comers. Some had started writing a little, from a couple hundred words to 3,000, but one had not even started, thought of a plot or anything! Now, we're all merrily skipping our way to the 50K, enjoying life and food and the craziness of the intermittent conversation between the frantic tapping of keys.

Horseland is awesome
(and we're all about 18 years old!)

 We had a break to watch Horseland  - the greatest show ever - and eat cheese and chocolate. We only allowed ourselves to do so after writing at least one thousand words, and so far it's been great motivation.

 It's also been really nice to have a large company when writing. We've been reading each other's stories and giving feedback, chatting about ideas and characters, and generally encouaging each other to the next 1,000 word goal.

 It's fantastic - I highly recommend NaNo parties to all!

This is Shi, off to write more! (and more and more, hooray!)

Camp NaNo: Day 3

Alright, Day 2 already! Word count: 5322.

I've got over five thousand words now, but I still feel like today wasn't particularly productive. I was very tired for some reason (and it couldn't possibly be the late nights...) so that might account for the slow going. I feel a bit like I'm struggling with my story. I know it's probably because it's a new story with new characters and I haven't fugured out how everything works and fits together, but it can still be a little disheartening.

I played a bit of Nintendo today, as a method of procrastination. I'm re-playing "the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" with my sister. We're both doing Camp NaNo, so we used it as a break, and just relaxed. It was quite fun, and I think I was more successful there (I defeated Lord Jabu Jabu, a dungeon that has always irritated me) - but probably because playing a game is easier than writing a story.

Also, I keep getting distracted by the NaNo forums. I barely used them at all last year, but this year I almost can't stop reading them! They are terribly addictive, and it's frustrating me. But on a happier and much more fun note, I convinced a really awesome friend to do Camp NaNo with me. We'd been planning on doing normal NaNo, but we're taking on July too. We're going to have a writing session later in the week; I'm really looking forward to it. She's convinced another cool friend to join in too, so that makes four of us, writing all together. It'll be like a writing party. I'm sure it will be great! (and hopefully productive!)

This is Shi, signing off to go and write more!