Camp Pep: Embrace Your Village

Camp NaNoWriMo is nothing without you, our incredible participants. Today, Lorena Pimentel, writer and NaNoWriMo participant, tells us what the key component of successfully participating in NaNoWriMo has been for her:

The reason I started doing NaNoWriMo was that I was in a writing rut. I’m a journalist, occasional blogger, and someone who writes for work and study, but I rarely write for fun. Back in 2012, I was a freshman in college and desperately wanted to write anything other than my essays. I had heard about NaNo before, mostly from friends on social media, but had always kind of feared it. 

But I was determined to do it. I did my research, went around the internet looking for experienced Wrimos—Youtubers were a great help—and practically studied for it. I outlined a pretty ambitious YA novel with multiple characters and searched NaNoWriMo’s forums for whatever tips I could get. This proved itself to be the best plan. Researching gave me the confidence to go ahead and write my novel. I ended up winning my first NaNo, and the experience gave me the confidence to keep participating in NaNo ever since.