Elftown Herald Features

What is NaNoWriMo?
By: Carla Anderson

   Every November, a little madness fills the air. No, it's not pre-emptive Christmas shopping. It is the start of the annual National Novel Writing Month, generally called NaNoWriMo, founded by Chris Baty in the summer of 1999. The objective of NaNoWriMo is for participants to write a 50,000 word novel, beginning as early as midnight on November 1st and ending at midnight on November 30th. This may seem an unlikely goal, but this year there were 5,892 winners who achieved 50,000 words or even more.
   The website, www.nanowrimo.org, provided a place to sign up and create a profile, where a daily word count could be entered each day. There were also daily interviews, forums where writers could discuss plotlines and so on, as well as the NaNo chronicles and announcements on the main page, not to mention the large, obvious square counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the end of the month.
   I participated for the first time this year. I made it up to around 8,000 words before the month came to an end, mostly due to lack of time (and sometimes, inspiration). However, it was the “push” that I needed to get writing again, and I highly recommend that all of you writers out there—and even people who've never written a story before—join up next November for a little writing madness.