Welcome to Camp!

Summer has come and it is here to stay - at least for a little while. 

Let's have a show of hands as to who has entered Camp NaNo this summer? I sure have! I'll be participating this July, so I'll only be there for a month. I'm not very spirited to move on to August. That's just too much "word vomit" for me! 

My novel - Watcher - is quite the piece of work let me tell you, but there are always times when I struggle to get through it. I'm always itching to rewrite and erase but I refuse to allow myself such a measly means of escape.

Instead, I power through! It's a tough job but someone's got to do it.

I'm always doubting, but then I'll write a wonderful scene that has even me in tears and I'll realize that this is what I want. I want these tears because they signifie my hardwork and eventually they'll be the readers' tears!

I can't say much more than this, but it's going well. I've got 15,000 words so far and I'm trekking onwards on this long road to finishing my novel. So how have I managed to get through the first week of NaNo? Let me tell you this:

1. Be brave. You can't freeze in the face of danger, you must move forward no matter how daunting the cliffside may be.
2. Don't murder your friends and family (figuratively speaking). Of course, you might be extremely irritated because of the fact that they keep banging on your door and telling you that you should do something with your life and not be sitting at the computer writing a novel that could possibly change the course of history itself but don't let that deter you.
3. Think positive. This is the hardest of them all. I mean, there were times when I just looked at my novel and immediately though: what the hell is this? Some kind of gibberish fit only for trash! but I pushed on. That's the immediate thing. Just tell yourself "When I finish this novel, I might be as famous as J.K. Rowling or it might be as awesome as Stephen King's novels!" 
4. Don't look back. This is another of the hard ones. You must always move forward. To look into the previous words that you've written or the previous chapter leads to your untimely demise. I swear it. If you can't handle the pressure of looking forward, go ahead and look back but remind yourself that if you stop there this is all you'll be getting. There won't be another word after that last sentence.
5. Listen to music! That is my salvation. I swear that music has helped me get through the toughest of scenes and the roughest of roller coasters. It's all that I care about when I'm writing.
6. WARS! A lot of you might not understand the concept of a Word War but (if you happen to be a former Inkie then you won't need this explanation) if you have a bunch of writer friends then gather 'em up. Set a time (:45 to :55) and then you explode into action! You Write! In the given time frame you are to write as many words as you possibly can. At the end, you post your total wordcount (you can try an online site if you don't have Microsoft, like: http://www.wordcounter.net/) and then post up the snippets that you've written. Of course, if there are spoilers then you don't really have to. It's completely and entirely up to you. 
7. Goodluck charms. This is the last one of my little tricks. I use my goodluck charm - being a notebook and a pen - which always inspires me and reminds me that I have to write no matter what. 

You know, there are multiple ways to encourage yourself to write. Some people reward themselves after having reached a certain goal - either with cookies, dinner, lunch, breakfast or just candies. I suppose that's one way to do it, eh?

Anyway, I've got to get back to my own writing, so I'll wish you luck with yours. I'll get back to you next week and see if I can give you a little info on my own project so for now I'm going to drink the wine of literature and spew it up on paper! 

Until next time.