I am extremely motivated by external deadlines, so I’ve decided to add some pressure to my novel revision process.  I also really like winning.  I’ve signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo which is a more free form version of National Novel Writing Month.  Unlike the official NaNoWriMo challenge in November, where the only option is to write 50,000 words in a month, Camp NaNoWriMo lets you pick a variety of different projects and goals.  You can write a novel or revise something.  You can set your goal in word count, page count, or hours.  (There are other options for both the project type and the goal metric.)  If you achieve your goal by the end of the month, then you win!  (There are some discounts on some writing tools if you win, but I’m in it just to get the email saying I won.)

I’ve set the goal of 100 hours of revision.  So far, I’ve only put in about 26 hours of revision since I started working on it last month.  This is a big increase.  Obviously, I have time, since, yeah, jobless, but I do have several other commitments in April.  I am visiting my parents and brother for a week.  And I’ve taken on a fairly extensive professional project that I’m guessing will also take about 100 hours to accomplish.   All and all, I’ve ramped up the pressure for next month.

I’d like to get the novel revision completed in April.  Ideally, that would also include having other people read and comment on my draft, but I’m not sure I’ll be that far along.  I’d be satisfied if I could get it to a state where I am comfortable sharing it with other people.  I’m definitely nowhere near ready to share at the moment.

This next week I plan to make a substantial push to complete as much work as I can and then map out my battle plan for April.  I’m excited to finally push hard.  And, of course, I want to win…