Forming NaNoPierceCo April Camp Cabins!

 

Hi Sockmonkeys!

I cleaned the old cabins out and new cabins for this year's Camp NaNo season are now ready for campers!

If you plan on participating in Camp NaNo during the month of April, please sign up on one of the forum threads linked below and join one of our regional cabins to help connect with other Sockmonkeys who have decided to participate. 

I'm trying something a little different this time and have dedicated one cabin to those who are writing during Camp and the other to those who are editing during Camp (although the overflow from the writing cabin may join this cabin if it ends up being necessary).  If you're doing both, then either pick the type of project you're mainly going to focus on and join that cabin or join the editing cabin and let everyone know you're multitasking. 

Click here to visit the NaNoPierceCo Cabin #1 (2021) Writing Cabin thread and sign up if you're writing during Camp.

Click here to visit the NaNoPierceCo Cabin #2 (2021) Editing Cabin thread and sign up if you're editing and/or multitasking during Camp.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or email them to me at the Sockmonkey gmail address.

And whether you're participating in Camp or not, I hope you're staying healthy and that whatever projects you might be working on are going well.

NaNoPierceCo July 2020 Camp Cabin Sign Ups Open!

Sorry for the silence, Sockmonkeys!

It's time to get ready for the July session of Camp NaNo!  This summer is likely to be a bit different for most of us, so you may find yourself participating or you may not.  If you'll be working on a writing or editing project and you'd like to have the virtual company of others in the Tacoma/Pierce County area, please consider joining one of our regional Camp Cabins.

We had two cabins during the April session of Camp NaNo - one with 20 campers and the other with 14.  If you participated in the April session and were in a Cabin but won't be participating during July, please visit your NaNoWriMo profile page, visit the Cabin and click the button to leave it so there will be space for another participant. (You can always join a cabin in a future session.)  If you participated in the April session and would like to stay for the July session, please reply to the July Camp NaNo thread on the forums and let me know that.

If you're new to Camp NaNo, the region or both, and you'd like to join a Cabin for virtual writing moral support during July Camp, please visit the July Camp NaNo thread on the forums and reply to let me know.  You will be sent an invitation from the Cabin that has space available and you will need to accept the invitation in order to be a member of the Cabin.

Those of you who receive the regional emails from NaNoWriMo Headquarters will find most of this information repetitive, but I know some people don't get those emails (whether due to a glitch or because they unsubscribed) and a post here is easier to link to across our social media so that more Sockmonkeys will hopefully see it.

If you participated in April Camp and were part of one of our Cabins, how did it go?  Do you have any suggestions for the cabins?  Would you like to see writing prompts?  Quick word games?  Any other things that might entice you to visit the Cabin and participate in the community more often?

Whether you'll be participating in Camp during July or not, I hope you're staying healthy and being as creative as your circumstances allow.

Last Wednesday of April CampNaNo Weigh in!

Hello Sockmonkeys!

Well, it's April 29th, which means we're on the next to last day of the April session of CampNaNo for this year.  Even with the uncertainty going on around us, it feels like this month has just flown by for me.  How about you?

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who signed up to participate in one of our regional cabins this session!  It's been fun to see bits of conversation as well as the occasional site badge go buy as an update of various writers' progress this month.  If you weren't able to join this time, don't worry!  There's another session of Camp in July.  You can participate solo or can join a regional cabin at that time and join with other Pierce County writers as we work toward our writing and/or editing goals that month.

Whether you participated in Camp or just did writing on your own, how did your writing go this month?  If you participated in Camp, how did it go? Did you reach your goal?  Were you editing, rewriting, drafting a new project, writing a number of shorter works, etc?  I remember seeing some of our participants mention a little of each of these and I hope everyone got their projects where they hoped they would over the course of this month.

Please, leave a comment and let us know how the projects have been going, whether you participated in CampNaNo or not!  Will you continue working on your April project during May?  Will you be taking a break from writing to do some reading?  Other Sockmonkey Writers would like to know!

Bringing Wednesday Back Again.... Sort of!

Hello Sockmonkeys!

I realize it's been a little while since our last Wednesday writing weigh-in, but I think we've all been adjusting to things - changes in our routines and schedules, etc - and I'm no exception.  But, I guess it was missed in the Facebook group because one of our members posted their own quick check and got a few responses, so I decided it was probably time to bring this back again.  I'm not sure if weekly is too often and maybe bi-weekly would be better for folks, but I guess I'll find out, won't I?

Whether you're participating in Camp NaNoWriMo with us in one of our two regional cabins or not, are you getting some writing in?  Or are you just participating in a Camp project on your own?  How is your writing going?  Or are you getting in some reading and refilling the creative tanks that way?

With the quarantines and lock downs, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy, and I thought this would also be a good time to ask how everyone is feeling, too.  Whether you're writing regularly or not, are you getting enough rest? Eating and drinking to stay healthy? Observing hand washing protocols and other precautions?  Keeping in touch with isolated friends and family members?  How are you passing any extra time this Stay Home, Stay Healthy time is giving you? 

No matter how much writing you are or are not doing, please join me in saying thank you to the various healthcare, emergency and other necessary services workers who are out there trying to keep things going while we stay home trying to help flatten the curve.  We appreciate all of your efforts!

Need an Ebook with some Writerly Inspiration?

Hey there Sockmonkeys!

I hope everyone is staying healthy and hasn't had their routine completely upended by the need for physical distancing.  High hopes, I know, but hope is a good thing to have, even when things are so strange at this point.

In any case, one of our original Sockmonkey MLs/group leaders, Darlene Reilley, shared with me an e-book she created and released to try to aid writers during this unusual time.  She is offering it as a free download from her blog Darwrites (link to follow shortly).  I am writing about it here and linking you to her post with her permission, so please, feel free to go check it out and leave her some thanks, comments, encouragement, etc.

How do you download it?  Visit The Writer's Pocket Book of Inspiration page and follow the instructions listed.

Technically, this is something that would be part of Self-Promotion Saturdays, but, since she just released it, is offering it for free and it's both timely with current events and the start of Camp NaNoWrimo, I'm making an exception and posting it right away.  I hope you find it encouraging and useful if you decide to visit and download it.

On a side note, since I just mentioned Camp NaNo, our first regional Camp cabin is full (though a few people still haven't accepted their invitations) but we have plenty of room in our 2nd regional cabin. If you're interested in doing some virtual writing with us this April, please visit the sign up thread and let me know.

Sockmonkey Wednesday Update Time and Mini April Camp NaNoWriMo Update

It's that time again, Sockmonkeys!

Is weekly too often for these?  Oh well, I'll try to keep them coming and I hope more of you will chime in as you have various updates to add.

How is your writing going?  Or have you been reading?  Been sidelined by other life responsibilities?  Using your creativity in other ways?  Please, pop in the comments and let us know a bit about what you've been up to, we'd love to hear from you!

If you're new to NaNoWriMo in general and Camp NaNoWriMo specifically, you may be wondering what this whole "Camp NaNoWriMo" thing is about.  To put it briefly, it's like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November, but during Camp, you can choose your own word count or creative goal.  [Although, I believe they are still coding in some of the old Camp functionality, so right now it only tracks words.  They eventually hope to allow you to track progress by minutes or hours spent, say, editing.]

The thing they've added that's very similar to the old Cabins from the Camp NaNoWriMo website is a thing called "groups".  You are allowed to join more than one group, if you choose, of course, but if you'd like to join a Regional Cabin with other Pierce County Sockmonkey Writers, I have set two up.  (If you get the emails from NaNo Headquarters, you've likely already seen a very short blurb about this with two links directly to the sign up threads, if not, please consider this your invitation to join.)  You need to be a registered user on the NaNoWriMo.org site in order to join a cabin/group. 

If you'd like to join Cabin 1, please reply to the thread linked here.

Once Cabin 1 is full, please reply to the Cabin 2 thread here. 

Each Regional Cabin has a capacity of 20, minus the Head Camper (me), so two should be plenty, but I can create more if we have that many who want to join us.

I will send you an invite from the NaNo site as soon as I'm able after you reply to the thread and you'll need to accept it in order to join the cabin.

Any questions?  Please feel free to leave them in the comments (someone else may have the same question, after all!) or send an email to our regional email @ PCsockmonkeywriters@gmail.com .

And, whether you decide to participate in April Camp NaNo or not, happy writing!