How are your Camp NaNoWriMo projects going, writers? Are you on par with your goal, blasting ahead, or feel like you’re lagging behind? Today, Camper Shay Duchaine shares a few words of wisdom about the importance of having your goals help rather than hinder you:

It’s that time of year, folks, and we have found ourselves in the middle of another Camp NaNoWriMo season. Some of us are already deeply involved in our projects, while some (like me) are getting a little bit of a late start. Regardless of where you stand, be proud that you have decided to embark on this wonderful adventure.

When a new NaNo session starts, or when I am working on a new project, I like to set personal goals for myself so that I can monitor my progress. I love feeling that sense of triumph when I hit a word count or hear the ding of my alarm after writing for an uninterrupted amount of time. However, I’ve noticed that sometimes when I’m trying to achieve large accomplishments, I can turn personal goals into expectations. When these expectations have gone unmet, for any reason, it can be easy to become self-critical.

What does it take to call yourself a writer? Sometimes, using this word is a challenge and an act of courage. Writer Rosario Martinez tells the story of the moment she finally shared this part of her identity with stranger—and what came next in her writing life:

I always knew what I wanted to do when I grew up: write stories. But that was a long time ago, when “writing” wasn’t something I thought of as a job, let alone a career. It felt so out of reach for me, and I began to think only a very lucky few could achieve this dream. Being the people-pleaser that I am, I moved on to something else. It’s not that I didn’t want to be a writer, but I got really good at pretending I could ever be anything else.

For a long time I worked a job I thought I could make my career, checking all the boxes on my long list of tasks that needed to be done before I could move on to the next step. It was inorganic and a heartless approach to a life I thought I wanted. During that time, I’d pull out my notebook at night and just breathe the words that had been saturating my head all day long. I did this for many nights and rare free weekends. It made me so happy to just write for myself. Knowing that no one would ever need to know what I was writing or read my stories made me feel good. It was like my very own little secret.

We’re getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo next week! Camp is a great way to expand your writing style or work on a different type of project than you normally do. Today, author, educator, and participant Tilia Klebenov Jacobs shares a fun technique to help the worlds that you create come alive:

World-building is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with an entire fictional universe.

In terms of technique, it is sufficiently de rigueur to merit its own joke in La La Land, where a blowhard screenwriter vaunts his supposed world-building prowess as Emma Stone backs politely away. But there’s a reason the term has been around for over half a century: unless your fictional world feels real, the story fails. And by real I do not mean that it cannot contain, for example, trolls, light sabers, or plot devices hinging on magic and/or time travel. It can have all of this and more; but it must feel authentic.

This August, we’re focusing on the writing life, with real talk from published authors, student writers, and, of course, the intersection of our great loves: writing and food. We asked Ashleigh, producer of the NaNoWriMo Cookbook to share her writing and revision thoughts alongside her favorite recipes:

There is one final, very important revision tip you should follow when you finish or get close to finishing your novel: share it with everybody you know who you know could provide good feedback. Your parents, your siblings, your third cousin Bill and maybe some close, online friends. As long as it’s people you trust, you’ll be in good shape.