Camp NaNoWriMo and Updates

Hello! I'm back! ;)

I did Camp NaNo this month, which was an awesome experience! I aimed for 18,918 words, because I started the novel I was working on before Camp, so I added how much I wrote before to my word count. I'm not sure if I reached my word count goal or not, which sounds odd, but I finished up writing at nearly midnight and was ready to submit it, copying and pasting, when I lost 10,000-some of my words. I recovered the words, so I still have them, but I gave up on actually submitting.

(I don't think I reached my word count, though.)
But I learned a lot!

I started a new novel - I know what you're thinking, not another novel! ;/ - called Black and White. I started this new novel to take a little break from Immortal Fire. I was having serious writer's block on it, and I knew that I needed to change some things up, so during Camp I worked on this new novel and plotted out Immortal Fire.

Like I said, I learned a lot from doing Camp, even if it wasn't as successful as I hoped.

So, I thought I'd share with you my top five lessons that I learned from this Camp:

#1: I found out more about plotting.
I discovered that plotting out stories can be fun! I found out more about how I personally like to plot, and I think that this will be valuable for future writing.

#2: Goals.
As you can see from my blogging and what I have said previously, that I might be a little bit iffy about goals and writing times and such. During Camp, I realized that I have to write more regularly and set goals for myself if I want to accomplish anything.

#3: This might sound funny, but music.
I am a complete music fanatic. I play the violin, I sing (a lot for someone who is not especially talented at singing, and either have the radio blaring or headphones in all day. I discovered that instrumentals are a ton of help! Also, I made soundtracks for myself, which are very helpful when you need to get into a certain mood.

#5: Enjoying what I do.
I love to write. I've said this a million times, and I'll say it a million more. I've been sinking into a rut, though, lately, of not getting enough writing in, finding myself discouraged, and not really enjoying it. That's partly why I switched tactics - or novels, whatever - for this Camp.

But I think that now I can say that I found my love of writing again!

What about you? Did you do Camp? If so, what did you learn from it? Where you more successful than I was?

Here's an extra one:

#Bonus: Success.
Success is measured in different ways. Some people might say that success is purely result-based. That is a big part of success; what you end with. It's whether or not you succeeded in what you set out to do.
But another part of it is what you learned. I learned a lot from Camp, even if I didn't reach my goals. I was successful - at least I think so! - even if it wasn't in the ways I originally imagined.

Happy writing!
-Autumn