Today I’m going to steer away from the serious art thinking that I’ve been discussing in the last few posts and switch to some fun things. We all can use some fun in our lives, right? April is almost here, which means Camp NaNoWriMo will be starting soon, as well as the 100 Day Project, two activities that are more fun than a barrel of Silly Putty.
Are you ready? We still have a few days in March for prep, plenty of time to finalize those outlines and mail order art supplies!
Camp NaNoWriMo
Remember NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) from my posts in November? On April 1, the Camp version begins (https://nanowrimo.org/what-is-camp-nanowrimo) begins. If you’ve never heard of it, think of it like a “mini” NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write about anything you want for the month of April. It doesn’t have to be a novel. Better yet, you can set your own word goal instead of having to complete the 50,000 words that the November event requires and still earn badges along the way.
After some serious thinking, I decided to write fanfiction short stories for Camp. I’ve never written fanfiction, so this will be new territory to explore, and short stories are very achievable. My word count goal is low: 6000 words, very doable. If I can push past that, I will. But I’ll save the really hard work for the November challenge. Camp should be fun, not work!
When I decided on trying fanfic, I was torn between Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and the Lord of the Rings world of Tolkien. It was such a hard choice. I want to invent new characters that live in the same world as the books but in a setting either before or after the major events of the book plot lines. Eventually, Middle Earth won out because I felt comfortable with my current knowledge of the series. Writing with WoT content would require that I put in more research into details, like recalling what the clothing was like in Tear, or the main routes of the Traveling Folk. Things like that eat up my time and prevent me from getting any serious writing done.
My prep list for April’s Camp includes getting my bullet journal ready, creating three to five plot outlines, and hopefully establishing a couple of character arcs. Here’s a sneak peek at my journal:
- The first page of my bullet journal section has my prep checklist and my motivation for finishing the challenge. I chose a quote from Goethe — it seems so practical! After Camp starts, I can refer back to it when I’m struggling to get to the keyboard.
- I signed up for a writing group (formerly called “Cabins”) so that we can cheer each other on during the month. You can find one through the forums at the NaNoWriMo website. This particular group has a prompt list, so I’ve copied it into my bullet journal for easy access and decorated it with my Middle Earth theme. At the outset, they look highly applicable to what I intend to write, but I’m not going to beat myself up if they don’t end up in the daily word count.
- My journal’s pièce de ré·sis·tance is a two page spread with a map of Middle Earth. This is my incentive for completing my word count. Each day that I write at least 200 words, I can mark off another leg of my journey on the map. It’s like having a token on a game board. I’ve found little things like this give me motivation!
Some people get really enthusiastic about Camp and include activities like stocking up on their favorite trail food, or pretending to pack. I’m not sure I could take it that far, but I enjoy reading about what other Campers do. With about 10 days to go before the official start, there’s plenty of time to go crazy with planning.
The second project I’m tackling in April is the 100 Day Project (https://www.the100dayproject.org/) The goal here is to create something for 100 days. My last attempt at this was in 2018, and during which I successfully completed a small drawing of something I was thankful for every day.
What I learned from that experience was that it worked best if I knew what I was going to draw and kept it small and simple. Thinking of an idea was the tough part. So if you’re going to have a successful project, it might be best to have a list of daily ideas to draw from. I don’t think I would have succeeded if I hadn’t spent 20 minutes or less a day on it, either.
This year I decided to try doing 100 postcards from Middle Earth. It parallels the Camp NaNo challenge for the first 30 days, so I’m hoping it will be a good way to focus on writing as well as the Project. The only prep that’s needed for this is to ensure I have supplies on hand and to create a list of 100 postcard ideas.
The materials are simple. I thought about cutting up my own postcard-sized pieces of paper, but in the interest of saving some time and keeping everything consistent, I found these mixed media postcard pads on sale at Jerry’s. I’m not limiting myself to any one medium, either, since I think there will be some days I’ll want to spend more time on something like colored pencil, and other days when I might just throw down a quick sketch in graphite or watercolor.
My goal is to have these finished nicely in a poster frame (or two) and hang them on the wall. So I’m willing to spend more than 100 days, if needed, or (depending on the quality of the finished post cards) spend two days on a single card and make less. My only requirement is to start on April 7 and spend time every day for 100 days making post cards.
I’d love to hear if you’re participating in either of these projects and what you’re planning on making! Don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t done so yet! And share your pics on Instagram…#The100DayProject and/or #campnanowrimo.
originally posted at annettezimmerman.com
