Summer writing at CampNaNoWriMo

I have been a participant in the National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, several times in the past.  Falling, as it does, in November, it is difficult.  I have found that I always travel to visit family, or have family here for Thanksgiving.  I also teach and that is a busy time with many holiday projects underway.  I have written 3 novels and published one, but their definition of a novel is 50,000 words. That is about romance novel length, but far from YA Novel length.  My DuffyBarkley is Not a Dog, at nearly 90,000 words was on the shorter side of YA Fiction.

So I met my NaNo goals, but didn't meet my personal goal when I hit that 50 K limit.  This summer I have signed up for CampNaNoWriMo http://www.campnanowrimo.org/

This gives me a month which has 31 days, when I am not teaching - in a year when I actually don't have any required classes or family visits looming over my head.

 I pulled out the draft which is the sequel to Duffy Barkley.  It is called Seek Well, and although I have worked on it in the past, I froze up at the end of November, and just could not think of one more thing to add to the story.  Summer Camp seems to be just what I needed.  The mind is flowing, like the breeze and the river in summer, and I am once more having fun.

loved this entry in Crescent City parade

This is not to say that I am only writing.  But I am writing every day.  In Twitter universe, I #amwriting entries keep getting posted.  That makes me smile.  I played, and I did write between the parade in the morning on Independednce Day, and Fireworks on the Beach that evening.  In fact the fireworks inspired a scene which I could never have concieved of back in November.

Seek Well  has a dragon and it thinks it is a micro-monkey.  It has a beloved friend who has been accused of being a traitor.  It has much that I loved about my visit to Guatemala.  Like every fiction piece I have ever written.  It has a lot of me, and I keep discovering more as I read and reread.  

Waiting for fireworks on the beach

I hope, when I finally finish this beast, that I will have created someting which other people will have fun with too.  Right now, I'm having enough fun for all of us.

possible element in Seek Well book cover