I have been told that being a writer is one of the bravest occupations there is.

If so, then this month I will be surrounded by the bravest people in the world.

I have been cordially invited up to participate in NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month) an online writer community challenge to get to your word goal in the month of June.

I had only ever heard of NaNoWriMo in passing, thought it to be a mystical elite group that only the best writers could be a part of. Thus, every night I would dream when I would be accepted into such a popular and strong community of writers.

That was nearly a year ago when I had first heard of its presence and since then I have been writing my ass off. Hoping that after all my hard work, my career would change for the better.

I was write ( ;), sorry for my pun).

Soon, I was lucky enough to acquire the friendship of an abundance of aspiring writers and was granted with more than enough helpful criticism. I was able to grow as a writer and believe once again I could become an actual writer.

However, not everyone is so nice in their criticism.

I know they mean well, or at least I think they do, but you can still take intense criticism poorly. For when you pour you heart and soul into a piece of writing, or even a novel, and see it get shit on right before your eyes, you start to deflate.

This is what happened to me every time I ever received criticism from my last year's English teacher. Looking back now, with more experience, I can see that he was only trying to help. But back then, I saw his comments as if they were straight from the devil himself.

Now I cannot judge, but I would always be shocked to find that when less than English-oriented students did better than me on a writing assignment. It was in this in which I started to doubt my decision in becoming a writer.

Somedays I would sit emptily on my bed, crying at the thought that I was not good at the thing I love most. It nearly broke me in two.

But then, one sad night, I had gotten an email from NaNoWriMo to join their camp.

This shocked me beyond repair.

How had NaNoWriMo thought to send me an email? Me!

I could not believe what was happening. I, Kaitlyn Anderson, was invited to join Camp NaNoWriMo.

Now, it doesn't sound like much to be invited to a free online writing camp. But then, when I was just about to give up writing forever, it was a sign from God.

Thus, this summer I will be partaking in NaNoWriMo. From this I hope to grow as a writer, find my own writing style, and finally, finally finish my novel.