Grab Your Quills for NaNoWriMo
Have you ever wanted to write a book? Now’s your chance. IT’S NANOWRIMO!
What is NaNoWriMo?
Some of you are probably asking, “What is NaNoWriMo?” Well, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. That’s right, a month for writing a novel. Now, you’re probably thinking, “A novel in a month? Is that possible?” Yes, yes it is, it doesn’t have to be the best novel ever.
Every writer starts with a rough draft of some kind, and that’s what you would be writing. What you do with it afterward is up to you. Some people do it just for the fact that they can say, “I wrote a novel in one month.” Others have gone on to rewrite, edit, and publish their stories.
NaNoWriMo then and now
NaNoWriMo started as a challenge between some friends back in 1999, to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month. Now it’s a nonprofit organization that holds a yearly challenge to do the same every November.
A smaller version called Camp NaNo is held in April and July with programs to help support writing fluency and education. The NaNoWriMo home site helps track words for writers from LA to Mexico City, Seoul to Milwaukee, and many more.
NaNoWriMo communities
Prior to 2020, NaNoWriMo partnered with over nine hundred volunteers in thousands of libraries, community centers, cafes, gaming shops, and many more locations to hold “Write-Ins”. Providing a place where groups of writers could meet up and help each other with getting through their novels.
In-person “Write-Ins” held by NaNoWriMo helped writers encourage each other to keep going, overcome writer blocks, and just be able to have someone to run ideas past. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, NaNoWriMo went completely online.
Virtual “Write-Ins” were held on Facebook, Zoom, Discord and Twitter. Online groups were designed with cart rooms on the NaNoWriMo site, allowing the organization to still provide a way for writers to help each other.
How can you get into NaNoWriMo?
This year, if you would like to take part and try your hand at writing a novel, we’ll be holding our version of “Write-Ins” over in The Library on the Facebook group where you might even be able to get some points for your house as well.
If you would like to make an account on the main site for NaNoWriMo, we also have a group for the Weekenders that you can be added to.
Writing won’t start until November 1st, but we’ll be answering questions and posting updates in The Library, so if you’re interested, please make sure to turn on the notifications for that thread.
Hope to “see” you there.
