You may have noticed the Camp NaNoWriMo dare appearing on your Dashboard and thought to yourself, "Self, what the heck is this Camp NaNoWriMo thing, and why should I join it?" 

We've got answer! And bug spray! And tent poles! Well, actually just answers: Camp NaNoWriMo is a community writing challenge that happens in April and July. It's different from NaNoWriMo in November because you can work on any type of creative project, not just a novel. It's different from setting a personal challenge because you'll be participating alongside thousands of other writers, all trying to reach their goal by the end of the month. We'll cheer each other on and NaNo HQ will provide extra support like Camp Counselor advice, webcasts, virtual write-ins, winner certificates, and more!

Learn more about Camp!

Contest Updates

We received over 600 novel excerpt submissions, woo hoo! As the person who reads them all first, I am SO impressed and grateful to you all for sharing the characters and worlds you've built. As someone who also submits work to places, I know how scary it can be to send your precious story into the world, so thank you for trusting us with it. 

We'll aim to announce results in early April (that gives us time to choose finalists, and for our guest author judge Sarah Suk to choose winners). If you sent in your work, thank you! We appreciate your bravery, creativity, and persistence. 

Please consider sharing your excerpt in the "Now What?" contest forum and reading other young writers' hard work. 

(Note: You must be 13 years or older to access the forums - if you're younger than that and want to share, you'll have to ask an adult to make an educator account to help you.)