Happy April!
Supposedly it's officially spring now in Chicago. Which... spring is always slightly random for us. We had the coldest Easter Sunday in 20 years last year, but it's been sunny and should be warming up soonish.
We'll see what "soonish" actually turns out to be.
But, at least it appears as though the worst of winter is behind us. Even just having the sun out more often while it's still cold gives hope that spring is coming and gives me a tad more motivation to reach some of those goals I made back in January. Starting resolutions in the middle of winter is a terrible idea, because all I want to do is curl up in bed with a book and binge Netflix TV shows.
April also means Camp NaNoWriMo is starting! It's like the little sister to National Novel Writing Month where people get to work on their writing projects. There are a few differences though.
- During National Novel Writing Month in November, the big goal is 50,000 words. During Camp, you get to set your own goal.
- You have the option to be put into a "cabin" of other writers where you have a little chat going and can encourage one another in your goals.
- You don't have to necessarily be working on a novel during Camp.
I don't regularly participate in Camp NaNoWriMo the way I do the big event in November. It all depends on what I'm working on and what's going on in my life. This year, I decided that I'm going to casually participate since it could be the kick in the rear I need to get some major headway in my novel done.
What will I be working on? Glad you asked.
I'm officially stepping back from Vampire Snow White (Bleeding Heart.) I love that book and the characters, but the writers block I've had with it has been some of the most intense I've ever experienced. After talking over with my writing group, I think it's time to take a break from it for the time being. At first I didn't want to switch projects and push through it, because if you keep on switching around what you're working on, nothing will ever get done. But, I think this is for the best. I love this book, but I don't think I have the tools or mindset to tackle it yet. In the future I will, but not right now.
Which means I'm going back to the novel I originally was working on before Bleeding Heart took over, and that's what I nick-name my "fairy tale mash-up" (White Rose).
White Rose is going to be more of an adult epic or high fantasy novel that I think would have young adult appeal. (Think A Court of Thorns and Roses. While, technically it is marketed as YA, NONE of the characters are teenagers after the first book and has a lot of content that I don't see as being YA. I see my book as being something similar.) The main focus is combining the two fairy tales of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" with "Snow White and Rose Red" where we see the story of two sisters, Eira and Rose. There's a bunch of other fairy tales I want to reference though, which makes it really fun.
I'm pretty excited about this book because since it's not a urban fantasy, all of it will take place in a different fantasy world and I'm enjoying building it up.
My overall word count goal is to write 25,000 words. I already had 14,000 words written in this novel. So, by the end of April I should have roughly 40,000 words done. This makes for a little over 800 words a day. Which is not bad at all.
I'm not going to stress myself out about word count though. As long as I'm making regular progress each day, I'm going to be happy. I also will not be joining a cabin. I have a good core group of writing friends and other connections I've made, and they aren't all participating in Camp. It's just easier and more helpful to go to them when I need support.
It's going to be a fun month writing-wise and I'm excited!
I have one other goal I want to work on this month too. That's building up my email list. A few days ago I posted on social media that if I were to add an incentive for people to join my email list, which would be the best:
- Original fiction
- Writing help freebies
Some people said they'd want original fiction, but the majority asked for writing help freebies, to my surprise! So, that's something I'd like to work on. It'd be great to have some sort of free worksheet or workbook or something for people who sign up for the email list. I'm not sure how to do it yet, or what it will entail, but it's definitely on my goals for April.
If anyone has experience making the PDFs for their subscribers (writing or otherwise) please let me know, because I have no idea where to even begin!
What are some of your goals for April? Anyone else participating in Camp NaNoWriMo?
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