Reflections on my #CampNaNoWriMo Experience

It's official, the August CampNaNoWriMo is over - finished - complete - done - fini - over and completely done with! I survived but did I finish? And what did I learn? What would I do differently? What would I do the same way? Here are my reflections and thoughts on the experience.

1. I'd always known that I work better to a deadline and this opportunity proved no different. I physically wrote in nineteen days (not all consecutive, life does still go on) when I hit my 50k.
    
2. I found that I did much better at pantsing than I would have ever thought. I really enjoyed letting the characters and how I felt or thought at the time influence what I was writing.
    
3. That said, I found it was critical for me to keep a running timeline in a text file. It helped me keep track of the days and what was happening, that way nothing fell through the cracks (I hope).
    
4. I started with Scrivener and Dropbox for syncing files between my two computers. That was dropped quickly because of the lack of Internet access at home. I ended up using a 64GB flash drive to store and transfer any new files from computer to computer.
    
5. I used text files for each chapter as well as one long running version of everything (backup purposes). I absolutely love the word editor program, Jarte. It let me have plain text files for my writing but rich text files for my characters. I found a photo for each person in the book and added background information as needed. Dates were a big thing since the timeline was important to the mystery.
    
6. I write better when I am not at home, too many distractions and interruptions. About 75% of my writing was done at McDonald's, the rest at home. I have less shoulder pain from writing at home, nestled on the reclining loveseat, than I do at McD's, sitting in a booth or at a table. My left shoulder gave me fits, I know it was the typing height.
    
7. I made the right decision in getting my Samsung Series 9 Ultra-notebook. The size and weight (or lack of) made it perfect for long stretches of writing. The portability is amazing. The only downside is that I was unable to ever get it to talk to the free Wi-Fi at McD's. No idea why, no web searches were any help. Just would not connect even though it saw the networks. Thank goodness for my aircard.
    
8. Why McD's and an aircard? I discovered that I really need Internet access when writing. I end up with research needs popping up unexpectedly, a real frustration when I was at home with almost no signal for the aircard. (We now have DSL...whoo-hoo!)
    
9. I tried three different cabins during Camp and never found a good mix for me. I used a Facebook Group for support and that worked out the best. I think the camp needs a regular forum or bulletin board, more like a campfire. I haven't found many folks that used the cabin approach successfully.
    
10. Would I do it again? Absolutely and I may seriously consider doing it in November which is the BIG NaNoWriMo month. We'll be in Tennessee and there is a NaNoWriMo chapter in neighboring Cookeville.