Writing last month didn't go as planned. However, the deadline and format encouraged me to delve into my thesis novel and a second novella that I had been working on. I've made some deep improvements on those, and identified problems that should keep me busy until the next Camp session.

In retrospect, had I chosen a slightly easier goal than the November 50k, I would have made it. I managed to write 35k words despite a terrible week-long migraine that I'm still battling and a host of other commitments. However, even though being a "winner" would have made me feel accomplished, I had to confront the fears that prevented me from working on these revisions in the first place. Doing that is more valuable than any "winning" that Nano could have given me.

I decided to do Camp this April quite late. I think that if I had had more time to plan in March, my word count goals would have been more achievable. Although NaNoWriMo encourages you to dive in and just spew words everywhere, I'm never comfortable with that, and I found myself needing to spend time planning that could have otherwise gone to writing. (Yes, the point is to produce words, but I felt naked without some of that groundwork, like a person lost in a cave without a map.)

My goal for May and June--besides to survive some tumultuous personal issues--is to have a working blueprint in hand for further revisions once I have gone through both works.

If anyone needs an eager Camp cabin-mate in July, I'd be happy to group up with people. Often, cabin camaraderie starts out tentative and then fizzles out after the first few days. I'd like a cabin full of encouragement, activity, and inspiration.

I'm very busy this week trying to finish Campnanowrimo and other activities, so here's some short bullet points:

• I had a great raid night in GW2 yesterday in which we cleared Spirit Vale with little fuss.
• My poem, 'To the Idea of War,' has been accepted in Route 7 Review.
• I'm working on finishing up pieces for my writing classes.
• I should have a painting update this week!
• I'll be sending out the very first round of acceptances and rejections for Hapax shortly.

I hope everyone is having a good week and can get all their to-dos done!

I have been quite busy, doing over 9k words today for Nanowrimo. I think this will be a good final week for me, although there's a lot of obligations I have. I'm hoping that July will be calmer, but that almost never happens.

In any case, I think that if I can pump out another 6-8k tonight and tomorrow, I can still win. I'm a very bursty writer, and there's been a lot of prep work before I could even start writing and update my word count, such as outlining, rereading, and making sure my project had a good narrative arc. I still have an entire book project to revise, so it's not like I'm going to run out of work!

However, I would like to build in more of a regular writing process. Don't get me wrong--I spend a lot of time each week writing and planning to write, as well as submitting work and trying to establish an author platform, including this blog. But, I think that a routine or a weekly expectation for a word count would help me, as I can go through periods where I hardly write anything at all.

I hope that I'll have something valuable to share about my process. I'm also looking for July camp cabinmates, because my "surprise me!" cabins never seem to work out.