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I made a promise to myself to write during the months leading up to NaNo and once again…I broke it.

I admit it! I’m no good at keeping promises. Unless it involves money...then I always find myself keeping them… xD

Anyway, here’s me ranting about all the writing and NaNo related things that have happened to me over the last two months. 

First of all, after July’s Camp NaNo I decided to make a cover for myself using photo editing software I received as a gift from my Mum. I showed the cover to a few writing friends and they told me that they would like covers too. 

Therefore I started a Thread on the NaNo Forums to receive requests for book covers. If you’re interested here’s the LINK to the page. On it is the form to fill in if you want a cover and many examples of my work. 

Second, Can you believe that November is just a month away? Time flies so fast… Anyway, come November I’ll be writing the third and last section of the Maiden Squire the first instalment of The Ashford Legacy Trilogy.

Now that’s some exiting news!

Once the whole book is written I’m either going to start on the second book and then edit the first book as desired or simply sit down and outright start editing the first book. I haven’t decided yet…

But lastly, has anyone checked out the NEW NaNoWriMo site?!? Amazing or what?!  Now that was worth waiting for. Just seeing all those blank bars and number dials is getting me restless for November to start. :D 

After November I’m going to resist (but probably end up giving in and doing it anyway) the temptation to start counting down the days till my birthday. I mean, come one, what’s a teen supposed to do? It’s my 18th…it’s a landmark I teenage life. :D

So here’s to the new NaNo site and to the remaining noveling adventures left to be had before the New Year starts.

Cheers!

 
After 4 weeks of writing and constantly recurring writer's block, I have finished the month of July with 42,279 words, which was lower that I had expected but still over my goal of 40,000 words. I changed the goal from 46,500 to 40,000 relatively early on in the month but I knew I wouldn’t have  much chance to write this month with my dad renovating the house and getting settled into my new life in a new village.

But thankfully I’m almost finished with my novel. 

YAY!!!

Those 40,000 odd words for July had boosted my total word count to over 100,000 and I only have about another 20,000 words left to write. 

They however will be saved for the next few months leading up to NaNoWriMo in November, where I will then decide whether to start on the second book of the Ashford Legacy or edit this book until it is more
presentable.

My cabin mates this time around were very active and very helpful. I’ve made several new friends and strengthened several old friendships too. They word warred with me and boosted my moral when I got struck by writers block through weeks 2 and 3. 

So basically that’s it. I just wanted to say that now that July is over I’m gonna be posting on here quite a bit more now and also that I’m planning to blog on a weekly basis. 

Yeah, that’s probably not going to last. But hey, I won Camp NaNo I’m entitled to make claims to accomplish ridiculous goals.

See you all round soon. xD 
 
Day 13 has finally arrived and not soon enough, I can tell you. I've finally crossed over the 20,000 word line and am ready for a break....Not quite! Gottcha!

After April's success with their Marathon day on the 13th I decided, having not participated myself, that I would host and participate in the Unofficial July Writer's Marathon.

That's right, after a whole week of writing it's finally here. Not only will many people from all over the world be partaking in this marathon but there will be a group word war trial going on where friends and rivals can challenge each other to word wars as part of a team.

I hope all goes well and all have a ton of fun doing this. To anyone not yet participating in his event, check out the link below and get writing. The Marathon starts at 00:00 your time, and lasts for 24 hours. Well, what are you waiting for? Get going, and get writing!
 
So after three days of writing no stop I finally feel like an overachiever by reaching 10,000 words more than three days in advance.
I just can't seem to stop writing. I feel this time around that camp is going to be fun. Also after getting a head start to the month I don't feel too pressured to write when I'm away this weekend to always worry about missing a day.
This month, I am going to be fine. My cabin mates are tremendously helpful and supportive. I couldn't have asked for better friends to help me on this month long noveling adventure. Thanks you guys, and to any other camper wrimo's out there who read this:
"Don't give up! Watching those word counts rise day by day is so encouraging to
everyone! Keep going! We're all behind you!"
 
So this is going to be my first post of the month (though a little premature as I'm writing at almost 11pm June 30) and hopeful the first of many. Last time I did NaNo I used all my spare time to update other sites and make sure my friends were still my friends and that I hadn't deserted them for too long, but this month I'm going to update this blog as often as I can.

I changed my initial goal of another 60,000 words to 46,500 as I will be away for a few days and have to concentrate on other things this month like my piano exams, violin lessons and job hunting. But though I will not be writing as much as I'd initially hoped that I would I'm going to use the spare time I have (aside from my music and job hunting) to update this blog with all the newest info on both ,y story, my cabin and my life while participating in Camp.

So really, what I wanted to say in this post is, look out internet, Kitteh is on the loose and typing her way across the oceans of trepidation on her new awesome laptop with my destination, NaNoLandia and that Winner's Circle, shining high ahead of me.

Oh and good luck to all Campers who will be participating in Camp this month. See you over the finishing line! xD
 
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Three months is a long time to most people but not long enough for precious few. I am not "most people" in that I'm usually running against the crowd but when NaNo is concerned...no matter how many months you have off in-between events it never seems like enough time.
 
Over the past three months I've had many epiphanies and inspirational light bulbs blowing fuses in my brain and so I couldn't wait for NaNo to come around again. But now that it's here I kind of wish that I had more time to prepare for it.

I've been away for a week and so have not had the whole week leading up to the launch of July Camp to prepare and work out where I'm going to start and what my strategy is going to be. Luckily I have a big band of motivational friends in the form of my new Cabin mates.

One of the members was in my cabin last year and made friends with me very quickly. The other two I met online in a NaNoWriMo chat room that one of them had set up for private word wars. The three of us then grew even closer when we started writing on Scribophile together. It's so nice to see your friends make friends with your other friends xD

All three of them were very helpful in motivating me last Camp and I hope that now that I've had a taster of what Camp is like, I can help both all of them and the new Cabin members with their writing by being a rock of encouragement like they (and unmentioned others) have been to me.

As you can see (from the snapshot above) there are six members in my new cabin. The top three are the Campers that I already and the last two are new arrivals that I look forward to making the acquaintance of. Also you can see that this new cabin is quite active on the cabin message board (which I'm so glad of). After April's disaster of Cabin assignments I'm so glad that this month's round of cabin assignments has dropped me in such a promising cabin.

All that remains to be seen is weather we can all keep going and weather we all manage to finish the month with our goals (and winner's goodies) in our hands. With a whopping goal of 336,500 words I hope that all of those little words will come together to form six wonderful novels which we can all be proud of.

 
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God ye, Good den, 
Fair gentle ladies and gentlemen,
For you this is a lucky day,
As tattles and rumours, I have to say.

I bring you today the classical tale,
Of a fair young maiden who lives in a vale,
Who dreams of the worlds she cannot see,
And visits the places across the sea.
 
Who pens the ideas of her mind,
And sees inspiration in all that she finds,
Who travels and wanders through kingdoms and time,
And pens down her findings, in tale and in rhyme.

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 Today I am here to give you a small little snippet of information/advice.

As my website is primarily based around my writing and creative endeavours, anyone who visits this website regularly will know that I have
recently finished the semi-annual writing event, Camp NaNoWriMo and am currently preparing myself - both mentally and physically - for the next Camp NaNo event which will take place in July.

I’m planning on writing the second half of the novel I’m working on and then maybe using the months in-between July Camp and actual NaNoWriMo to edit and revise the novel as a whole.

I’ve never done anything like this before and after last November’s novel went into its box only a quarter of the way written, I am firm in my desire to actually FINNISH this book. 

No one will read it and I’m very sure that it will be no good, but the main objective of NaNoWriMo is to get you to sit down and put aside time to write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. Almost all brilliant writers took months even years to write, draft and re-draft their books so that we could enjoy the literary feast before us when we open one of their masterpieces.  

The whole point of NaNoWriMo is not to gain a prize for simply writing 50,000 words, but is to get you to realize that though you may think you don’t have the time to do something as outrageous as write a novel in 30 days, if you set your mind to it, you CAN do it. And so can accomplish other impossible feats in everyday life. It is there to show you that you can do amazing things, even if you are not an amazing person. And to show you that although your writing will not be perfect, you can do anything if you set your mind to it. 

So in short...do NaNoWriMo. It will destroy your brain and eat your soul. But it's totally worth it!
 
Good luck WriMo’s and well done to all you Camp winners out there.  

 
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After four weeks of nonstop writing, I have finally hit the finishing line of 65, ooo words in a month. (Here's proof...)

I has taken a long time and a lot of hours of brain racking and backspace banging but I have finally finished the first half of my first draft of the first part of my first book. 

I had the original idea of a woman becoming a knight from many different thing. A line of dialogue from one book, a scene from a film, and finally I came up with a story line which fitted the exactly with the pre-created characters.

 After week three of Camp NaNoWriMo I knew that I would not finish the whole story idea in one month let alone in one book so I decided to split it and have a long first book and a smaller sequel.

The idea has worked so far and now that camp is over I'm going to sit back, relax and wait for July to roll around...

 WRONG!

I'm going to carry on writing during May and June, a little at a time, to keep my creative juices flowing for when July comes a calling.

I recently discovered the online writing goal tracking program called Pacemaker (http://pacemaker.sewillia.com/) which would work extremely for a single month. The features are great but after visiting this great site (http://svenjaliv.com/2013/01/its-here-word-tracker-for-2013/) and found an amazing spread sheet of sorts.

These trackers are so great that I've decided to use them in-between NaNoWriMo and it's relative Camps. 5,000 words in May, 2,500 in June. 5,000 In August 2,500 in September and October.

I absolutely love them and to any writes out there looking for a lovely programme to help with writing goals, I would suggest using either or both of these amazing products.

So finally, without further ado, I leave the virtual world merrily with the prospects of doing some noveling recon tomorrow in the form of a weekend woodland survival course, after which I will be adding another few thousand words to my total word count for the month of April.

 After all, 70,000 is so close that I can almost taste it. And the prospect of finishing only 4,00 words away from that momentous goal is just agonizing. And so, as a message to any and all other Campers doing NaNoWriMo this month I bid you... 

"Good luck. And may the words be ever in your favour."

 
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Hello there virtual friends.

Today I would like to give you a chain.
Yes, a chain. Or more precisely a link to my NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo profile
pages.

I like keeping tabs on other campers and Wrimo's no matter where they live, and so if any other wrimo's who blog see this, I would just like to say "thank you for honouring me and reading my post".

I love seeing everyone's little word bars go up as the month goes along and so I shall now
present you the links to my pages.

It would honour me if any other Wrimo's out there were to mail me via the NaNo site and tell me what they think of my books or my blog.

To see my Annual November novel writing progress please see this link - http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/aerin-s-heart-s-song

To reach me on the separate Camp NaNo forums and keep tabs on my semi-annual
novel progress, please see this link - http://www.campnanowrimo.org/campers/aerin-s-heart-s-song

Another little tool that I use which I shall post on this site is a gadget found on the website www.tickerfactory.com. With customizable banners and event counters, it is a handy tool for any event.

With that said, I leave the virtual world at peace with a sweet farewell and a softly whispered "adieu". 
 
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 It used to be every November that millions of people would shut themselves away and loose themselves in the daunting task of writing a 50 thousand word
novel during the 3o day month of November.

National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo as it is informally known is a fun and exiting literary adventure for people of all ages, weather looking to write their next killer best seller of weather just writing for the sun of it.

But then out of the smoke of all those novelists came the wondrous Camp NaNo. A lite version of National
Novel writing month, held twice a year in July and August.

This year in 2013 the camp system changed and the camp sessions were set for April and July instead.

Last November (2012) I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time and after winning and thoroughly enjoying myself in the process, I decided to join up for Camp NaNo in April.

The word count goal was flexible and after my quick win last November I decided to up my goal from 50,000 words to 65,000.

It is now day 24 of The April Camp NaNoWriMo and I am currently at 53,157 words and going strong.

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NaNoWriMo is a fun experience for all sort of people, no matter your experience or skill. Anyone can do it, and so everyone should. It is fun to meet new people from all over the world and chat about different aspects of your noveling journeys.

I am completely confident that I will reach my 65,000 word goal for the month of April and so thoroughly intend on participating in the next Camp NaNo in July.

I encourage everyone who ever wanted to write a novel to give NaNo a go. It doesn't matter if you win or loose. At the end of it, you can say that you sat down and worked alongside millions of people worldwide in an attempt to write a novel in a month. 

Some writers take years to get their novel down on paper. NaNoWriMo is an
incentive to write.

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It will not be perfect, but it will be written. After the month ends, do with your novel draft as you wish.

Edit it, revise it, put it away for a while, pick it up later, or in extreme cases, bin it and start again. But
whatever you decide to do after NaNo, if you haven't written anything, you can't do it.

I never knew I could get so much satisfaction from writing. I become my characters, they become real to me. I know them inside out and they help me learn about who I am as a person. I grow stronger as they do and feel their pain like it were my own.

I can become whoever I want to be. I can be a knight in a fantasy realm, I can be a warrior in the forests of the Amazon. I can be a fairy in a glen or even a captain in a hovercraft seven thousand years from now.

I can live anywhere I want. Be anything I want to be. That type of release comes only from writing and delving into the magical realms I create in my books. Nothing makes me feel so fulfilled, and nothing can take away the joy I find when becoming my characters and letting them lead my life.

    Welcome to NaNo Land

    'Welcome to NaNo Land' is the part of my website where I blog about everything NaNo or Camp NaNo related. 
    As I am a Wrimo Queen, (namely participant and winner in almost every NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo) this page will almost always be updated at least once a month.

    About The Author

    Young though I am, I can proudly say that I am an Author. I have written two novels so far and at the moment am writing my first sequel. The Ashford Legacy.

    NaNo Events

    Date - Words ~ Won/Lost

    Nov 2012 - 50, 033 ~ WON 
    April 1013 - 66,582 ~ WON
    July 2013 - 42,279 ~ WON

    Categories

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    Camp Nano
    Nanowrimo
    Writing Software

    Wandering Libraries

    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013