Author Jen Breach is your Camp Counselor this week. Find all Camp Care Packages in Breaking News throughout the month of April, or learn more about Camp NaNoWriMo!

1) Celebrate your progress: 

You made it through the first week of Camp NaNoWriMo! Did you remember to celebrate that? Stop for a second. Acknowledge the work you have done. It might not be the work you were hoping or dreaming of doing. But it is the work you have done, which is ultimately more useful to a novel than a dream. Pat yourself on the back.... and now get back to it, and don’t forget to celebrate yourself as you go! 

2) Shake it up with poems:

While we Camp NaNoWriMo all month long, did you know that April is also National Poetry Month? If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by how much Camp there is left, or a bit stuck in your novel, check out NaPoWriMo (unaffiliated with NaNoWriMo) and their fantastic prompts. Pick a day at random, read the poem, write one, or use the prompt for prose. Whatever works for you! 

3) Enjoy the journey: 

My absolute, hands down, one hundred percent favorite thing about finishing a novel's first draft? Knowing that the time and practice and effort of finishing has made me a better writer, and knowing that I will use my improved skills to improve the novel with the next draft. Your brilliant, awful, amazing, frustrating, funny, serious, unwieldy, messy, marvelous novel is making you a better writer. Don’t forget to say thank you.

Writing Dare: Before each of your writing sessions this week, read a poem, either one you love or one that's brand new to you. Does it give you any ideas? Bonus points if you decide to WRITE a poem too as part of your warm-up.

What's up at Camp?

• Check out the results of our "Now What?" Novel Excerpt Contest! 
  
  
• Join our next Virtual Write-In on Wednesday, April 14, 1:30 PM PST (Your Time Zone) for real-time writing prompts and sprints with the NaNo community from around the world.
  
  
• Need more support with plot, characters, or world-building? Check out our Young Novelist Workbooks or NaNo Prep 101 Workbook!
  
  
• Struggling to get to "The End" of a draft? Check out our National Novel Finishing Month (AKA NaNoFinMo) resources, new for 2021!