NaNoWriMo Still Waiting for You!

November 16, 2010

So, you say that you’ve been noticing all of your friends’ facebook statuses changing to say something like "ABSOLUTELY CAN NOT TALK TO ANYONE UNTIL I FINISH WRITING." Wondering what all the word count comparing is about? Feeling a little confused? Left out? Worry no more, the answer is here! It’s November, and that means NaNoWriMo, of course.

You may be wondering what in the world NaNoWriMo is; a simple query with a simple response. National Novel Writing Month is the opportunity for people worldwide to attempt to write a complete novel in one month. Yes, you read that right. 50,000 words in 30 days. Unbelievable, right? Not so much. In fact, I bet you know tons of people who are doing it right now. Take your Mid-Continent Public Library folks for instance—there are at least 5 and maybe as many as 100 staff members writing furiously every spare moment they get! And, they’re not the only ones.

I bet there are several students in your very own school who are hard at work penning the next great American classic. Seriously, just last week, I talked to three different teens at the Parkville branch who had started their stories. One was writing a vampire romance, one was pushing the zombies, and the third was composing something entirely different! Super exciting!

What’s even better is that you can still join in the fun. If you are under 18, you can even join in on the NaNoWriMo Young Writers’ Program and set your own word count goal. So the month is halfway over? Go ahead and set your goal at 25,000 words. Or 20,000. Or 10,000. Or, be super daring and shoot for the full 50,000 anyway. What have you got to lose? Nothing but the opportunity to release your uber-creative mind, and put some new writing out there!

Go ahead. Pick up your pen. Open a new Word document. Use a crayon if you have to. Just start writing. If you need some inspiration and/or want to register officially, check out the NaNoWriMo official website and the NaNoWriMo YWP website (even if you are over 18, check this site out anyway, because it’s awesome!). And if you really want to join the fun, some branches are hosting Write-In’s for all writers to gather at.

Erin D.