Welcome to November! You survived Halloween and hopefully enjoyed some good treats or fun scares, if you like that sort of thing!(if you missed our Books and Beverages episode all about the genre of Horror, listen now!) If you are looking for an exciting and creative project to work on this month, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) may be for you!
What is NaNoWriMo? I first heard about it while reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, when she read the book No Plot, No Problem and was motivated to write a novel, (meaning 50,000 words) in thirty days. It’s really that simple!
From the NaNoWriMo website: “On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.”
I definitely recommend getting (or borrowing from your local library!) a copy of No Plot, No Problem to be your guidebook during this month of excitement, but of course there are tons of other resources available out there to help keep your creativity flowing!
- Resources from the NaNoWriMo website, including pep talks, banners, and word count tools
- This article from reedsy that features 41 Insider Tips for Winning NaNoWriMo 2017
- Bustle has these 12 NaNoWriMo Tips with fun gifs to encourage your writing
- Writer’s Digest has this very detailed list of 30 Tips for Writing a Book in 30 Days from actual participants
- If you need some proof that this month of writing can actually deliver results, check out this article from Goodreads all about books that are now published that began as NaNoWriMo projects!
And of course, a wonderful place to do your writing or connect with other participants is your local library! Great River Regional Library is hosting events at several of its branches.
If you, your students, or your patrons are taking part in this month long activity, let us know! We’d love to hear about your novel-writing adventures!
We’re running a Nanowrimo program at SJU in partnership with our Writing Center. The Library provides space, refreshments and logistical support, and the Writing Center does the actual writing coaching. We’ve got about a dozen people working on books. One student reported, “Just being in a room where everyone is writing creates a powerful writing atmosphere!”.
This is great! It’s always fun to do these big, crazy projects together with other people!