Hello, my lovely stalkers blog readers. Week one of Camp Nano has come to a close, and I am certainly feeling it. I'm a little behind, but that's okay! I set a high goal, and I am still getting a lot done.

Which is why I'm bopping in to offer a little encouragement to all you lovely writer beans. Are you behind on nano? Well. Remember something. You set this goal. No one else did. You are under no obligation but your own to finish.

You see, goals are there to encourage us and help us get stuff done. I set a goal of 70k, but I don't think that's going to happen. But I also haven't changed it yet, even though the temptation is quite strong and I'm fairly positive I cannot do 70k words in a month. Writing, yes. But editing? Ha. No.

Why?

The goal of camp nano - of all nano-y things, actually - is to push yourself. To step out of the comfort zone. I edited nothing for all of January, February, and only a little bit at the beginning of March. So my goal with camp nano was to edit again. I am attending a writer's workshop in June (*screams* I GET TO MEET THE KATIE AND THE AIMEE AND THE CAROLINE, ALL FELLOW WRITERS AND BLOGGERS AND I AM SO INSANELY EXCITED AHHHHHH *ehemmmmm*) and my goal is to have finished draft two of my WIP and have the first three chapters of draft 3 polished.

Why am I telling you this?

I wanted to push myself for camp nano. So I set a high goal. But the important thing I told myself is that it is okay if I am behind. It is okay if I don't meet the 70k mark. As long as I edit something.

I want you all to think about this as you charge onward in your manuscripts, whether you're doing nano or not. Goals are there to encourage us, not make us feel terrible if we fail to meet them, and stressed as we're striving to do that.

My advice?

Find out what works for you. 50k in a month isn't too crazy for me (heck, I did it in 17 days PLUS A THREE DAY TRIP OF NO WRITING in November - so basically in two weeks) but for some people it might be beyond their pace. And that is okay. All writers are different.

So please, do not stress! What you need to do is find your pace. That way, when people set higher goals then you, you don't have to worry. You can't write that fast, and that is okay.

DO NOT beat yourself up if you are slower than someone else. Okay? Okay. Glad we could clear that up. XP

So write on! Conquer camp nano! And if you didn't write as much as you wanted, remind yourself that it is okay. You may not be able to write 50k in a month, but if you keep on writing you will hit 50k sooner or later. And if you only wrote 100 words in the month when you wanted to write 50k, well ... I still say you're a winner. ;)



Are you doing camp nano? How's it going for you? If you're not doing camp nano, have you set any goals for this month? Please share them with me in the comments!