5 April 2020: Camp NaNo Update #1

Camp NaNo has begun, which means that many writers are committing to write for the month of April. Although similar to NaNoWriMo, Camp NaNo allows you to set your own word count goal rather than defaulting to 50,000 words like in November.

This month, I'm hoping to write 25,000 words and complete the three unfinished stories for Interrobang: The Collection. It's not going well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely writing. It's day 5 of Camp NaNo and I've written 6085 words so far, but a good majority of that progress has been on an entirely new story. Oops.

Here's my problem: I'll have multiple works-in-progress, but a new story idea will capture my attention and I'll neglect the stories I originally intended to write. It's happened before and it's happening now. It seems I am incapable of ignoring a plot bunny.

A few months ago, I had saved the name "Graham Cates" in my phone. I didn't know what I would use it for or who this character would be, but I liked the name and waited for an opportunity to use it. Fast forward to Wednesday night, I was getting ready for bed when the opening lines of a story popped in my head:

"Graham Cates checked his watch again. He didn't like when people were late."

I immediately grabbed my phone and started writing, inspired but frantic. By the time I finished with those first opening paragraphs, I knew it was something special, even if I had no idea where it was going.

For right now, I think I've figured it out, and I'm just hoping that I don't get distracted by yet another story idea. Good luck to me with that one!