The Countdown to NaNoWriMo is On!

October 17, 2011

So, it’s that time of year again. What time? NaNoWriMo time, of course. Every October, our busy brains start buzzing with ideas of aliens, romance, dragons, vampires, mountain climbing, police chases, puppies, and whatever else we want to insert into the Great American Novels we are about to write. Because come November 1st, our fingers will fly as we dive into National Novel Writing Month.

For those of you in the know, go ahead and skip over this next bit. For the rest of you, here’s a little info on what exactly National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo, as it is more affectionately called) is about. NaNoWriMo started in July of 1999 in San Francisco with 21 friends who decided to challenge themselves to write a novel in 31 days.

By year two, the time had been switched to the 30 days of November and a website was up. Most of the guidelines for NaNoWriMo were set at this time (start from scratch, work on your own, write a 50,000 word novel, finish it by midnight on November 30th) and hundreds of participants joined in the fun.

NaNoWriMo is now in its 13th year, and it is taking over the world! Last year, over 200,000 participants wrote almost 3 billion words, and 37, 479 people completed their 50,000 word novels. And you know what the coolest addition to NaNoWriMo has been? The Young Writers Program (or NaNoWriMo YWP), which presents resources, pep talks, and all sorts of super fun ridiculousness for teens who want to join in the frenzy! Teens who sign up for the YWP can even set their own word count goals (in case you are terrified that 50,000 words PLUS homework might just push your brain to burst) for their novels.

Writing communities everywhere are preparing to gather together at kick-off parties, write-ins, virtual forums, and more, and this year there are 10 MCPL branches on board! Red Bridge, North Oak, Lee’s Summit, Raytown, North Independence, Kearney, and Boardwalk are hosting write-ins for novelists of any age. Smithville and South Independence are offering writing workshops for teens (with a little bit of group interaction and idea generating and a lot of writing time). Parkville is doing both—3 nights for teens only and 3 nights for all ages. Plus, the Boardwalk Branch will be hosting an official NaNoWriMo kick-off party for the KC Northland on November 1st from 6-8 p.m.

So go ahead. Pick up your pen. Open a new word document. Use a crayon if you have to. Just get yourself ready to start writing! 14 days, 12 hours, 34 minutes, and 55...54...53...52 seconds to go!

~Erin D.
Parkville Branch