April is almost here and with it comes National Novel Writing Month’s Camp.

This writing event is virtual and last the entire month of April. It is not as strict as the November event, where the goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

Camp NaNoWriMo was started in July and August of 2011, first focusing on script writing. In 2014 the months of April and July were cemented as the camp months and no longer was script writing the focus.

With script writing not as popular as the blockbuster November novel writing, the scope of what was encouraged during these camps was expanded. Morphing to help writers tackle the other aspects of wordsmithing besides just getting the initial words on the page.

Camp NaNoWriMo now encourages various suggested camping tracks, but anything goes as long as you are working on your creative writing. April’s and July’s events are run closer to that of the Young Writer Program, YWP, where goals are fluid and set by the writer themselves.

The downside is since everything is less structured, all connecting is done by the site’s message boards and forums. Participates are rarely guided or prodded as much as in the full-blown fall event. Which for editing, rewriting, and/or finishing a previous project can be a good thing.

No municipal liaisons, ML, are asked to organize write-ins, though a quick peek at the main calendar will have virtual opportunities to write/connect with others. The camp forums also have active threads that can help keep a writer working towards their goal.

If you are already part of a local group, you may even have member run events. Check with your local NaNoWriMo message board/ calendar to find out.

Here at Starkly Written we just encourage you to get your writing on.

I welcome you to join my buddy list and am always happy to connect and encourage other wordsmiths.

Sam’s buddy list can be found here.

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