National Novel Writing Month - Breaking News

Script Frenzy is now looking for Municipal Liaisons!

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:45:27 +0000

Over at Script Frenzy. org, NaNoWriMo's sister event, we are looking for Municipal Liaisons. If you have participated in Script Frenzy (or have been an ML for NaNoWriMo), consider organizing a Script Frenzy chapter! (Perks include an increased likelihood of reaching 100 pages, the adoration of local participants and OLL staff alike, and the chance to meet your favorite celebrity*.) Come check it out!

In other news, we've heard from a great many Wrimos who submitted manuscripts to Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award. We're cheering you on, intrepid writers, and looking so forward to hearing what happens. For those of you still waiting to submit, the deadline is February 7. Remember, the world needs your novel!

Hoping to shake off the effects of my flu shot,

Lindsey

*Prices and participation may vary.

Let the ABNA begin!

Lindsey Grant — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:22:47 +0000

That's right! As of today, January 25, the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award starts accepting submissions. The deadline is February 7, so don't delay!

Get thee to their website posthaste!

In 2009, a handful of Wrimos made it all the way to the semifinals! I like that trend. I like it a lot. And I'd really love to see a Wrimo take the top honor!

If you decide to submit a manuscript, let us know how it goes. We enjoy nothing more than celebrating your success! (Well, maybe celebrating your success and eating Schoco-Bons.)

Off to think up more medieval-sounding admonishments,

Lindsey

Hey, look down there!

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:54:43 +0000

It's the Wrimo Report, a new home page block! Being the new block in town, nothing would make the Wrimo Report feel more welcome than if you read it, told your friends about it, and then submitted your own NaNoWriMo story for consideration!

We're looking for the hilarious, the painful, and the downright unbelievable-but-true experiences you had this past November. We'll be posting a new Report every week in the off-season, which gives you roughly 38 opportunities to be featured! (And it gives me 38 opportunities to laugh, cry, and hopefully not lose my lunch.)

Bring it!

Lindsey

The week of guaran-tees!

Chris Baty — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:01:01 +0000

We unleashed some serious sadness when we ran out of 2009 Noveling Machine shirts and 2009 Winner shirts in December. We were trying to be conservative and keep unsold tees from filling up our storage unit (our fate in years past), but we hate sadness and we also hate missing chances to raise money for NaNoWriMo and the YWP.

So we've brought both the Winner shirt and the Noveling Machine shirt back to the store for a one-week victory lap. If you'd like one, please order it now! We'll collect all the orders for the shirts we receive by Monday, January 11th, print them that week, and then get them out the door to you the week of the 18th.

This is a longer wait than usual on shirt orders, but it means we can guaran-tee (ha!) shirt availability all this week and weekend, which is a good thing. Thanks for your patience, and for supporting our programs by purchasing soft adornments for your sexy torso.

With great armloads of new year's love,

Chris

Have a happy holiday and an elfin great New Year!

Chris Baty — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:57:59 +0000

The Office of Letters and Light---NaNoWriMo's parent nonprofit---will be closed from December 18 to January 3 so all our hardworking elves can go home for the holidays. Polar bear wrestling! Nog fights! Toys!

We'll be back in the office on January 4. Also, after many folks wrote in to our Shipper Captain Bradford with deep sadness about us being out of Noveling Machine and Winner's shirts, we stopped being dumb and went ahead and put in another order with our t-shirt printer. Sorry about all the will-be-in-stock-won't-be-in-stock back-and-forth on the 2009 shirts this month! In previous years, we've over-ordered and ended up with shirts that didn't sell, so we wanted to be cautious.

We'll have a full complement of black and burgundy Noveling Machine t-shirts, as well as 2009 Winner's shirts in the store starting at 11 AM, Pacific, on January 4. All sizes will be in stock in the store throughout that week, but after that we will let the 2009 designs fade away like last year's nog. Thanks for your patience!

Happy holidays everyone!

Chris

Please share your NaNo thoughts!

Chris Baty — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:20:37 +0000

We've put together a post-event survey for all NaNoWriMo 2009 participants, and would be grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill it out. There are no essay questions this year, we promise, and your feedback will help us make NaNo even better next year. Your short, refreshing survey awaits!

Chris

In the wake of the awesomeness...

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:51:09 +0000

...more awesomeness!

The Donation Derby winners have been announced on the blog. Head on over and help us celebrate their fundraising prowess (and take a look at all those cute-but-ferocious creatures!).

The end of this week marks another (less furry, but equally important) post-event milestone: Survey Time! We'll be distributing an all-participant survey asking for your feedback on NaNoWriMo 2009. Tell us what you loved, what you loathed, and what made you so happy you spit your coffee into your corn flakes.

The most helpful input in crafting next year's event comes from you! Your donation of time and thought in filling out this survey means so much to us as we set out to make NaNoWriMo 2010 even bigger and better. (In addition to the survey email, we'll post the link here in the Breaking News.)

Now let's get back to napping!

Lindsey

Winner's shirts and stats-o-rama!

Chris Baty — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:56:50 +0000

We've been getting calls all day about when the 2009 Winner's shirts will be back in stock in the store.

At long last, they're back!

We also have more hoodies in all sizes and our final restock of the 2009 Noveling Machine t-shirts.

To further increase the store frenzy, we've put all our 2008 t-shirts, including the 2008 winner shirt w/sticker, on sale for $15. The sale ends December 11. There are also a handful of Night of Writing Dangerously 2009 tote bags left over from the event that we've put in the store. Thank you so much for supporting NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program through your cottony purchase!

If you haven't already, please come by the blog to check out this year's stats and share a few of your favorite NaNo '09 memories.

Lots of wrap-up emails will be heading your way next week! Have a great weekend!

Chris

I Wrote A Novel, Now What?

Chris Baty — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:23:43 +0000

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE!More Winner's shirts will be arriving in the store this afternoon (we're thinking around 4 pm, Pacific). Our screenprinter just promised an amazing turn-around time on re-orders, so if we sell out of this batch, we'll have more soon.

UPDATE: Stats geekery in the house!

We’ve posted our ginormous, post-event I Wrote A Novel, Now What? page where you’ll find some great tips about novel revision and heaps of ideas on keeping the creative momentum rolling year-round.

The page is also the repository for two very special Winner goodies, courtesy of our mighty sponsors CreateSpace and Scrivener!

We'll be sending out a couple wrap-up emails next week!

Stay tuned for stats geekery!

Chris

The day after

Chris Baty — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:12:18 +0000

Whew. What an incredible October and November.

We'll be spending the next week doing wrap-up work and making sure any loose words floating around the site find their proper home in regional tallies before beginning the Great NaNo 2009 Stats Geek-Out.

Tomorrow, we post the "I Wrote A Novel, Now What?" page, with special goodies for NaNo winners from CreateSpace and Scrivener, along with heaps of thoughts on what to do with our evenings and weekends now that our noveling blessing/curse has been lifted. My immediate suggestion: Find the nearest NaNo TGIO party and go raise a glass with your fellow novelists!

If you don't have a TGIO party in your area, please come to the Bay Area TGIO Blow Out, happening this Friday. We will be crowning winners from 7 pm to 11 pm.

Finally, a huge thanks to all our participants and Municipal Liaisons for making NaNoWriMo such an inspiring, creative, and crazy place to be every November.

You guys are awesome.

More soon!

Chris