National Novel Writing Month - Home

Happy ML Appreciation Day!

Chris Baty — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 06:53:33 +0000

It's Sunday, November 8---ML Appreciation Day! On this great holiday we celebrate the work our Municipal Liaisons do to help inspire writing around the world. Thank you so much, guys!

When you take a break from noveling today, be sure to send some appreciation to your local chapter-head via email, NaNoMail, or regional lounge post. These tireless volunteers coax and cajole hundreds of millions of words from Wrimos every year, and they make November an incredibly fun place to be. We love you, MLs!

Chris

Backup your Cartoons- er Novels!

Heather Dudley — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:34:54 +0000

Back up your novel - RIGHT NOW!
Waste time with NaNo Comics!

Episode 10: Weekend pledge!

Chris Baty — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:40:07 +0000

Join Chris and his heavily armed Ewok in getting to 15K by end-of-day on Monday! We can do it!

Heading into the weekend

Lindsey Grant — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:17:27 +0000

Before we take the next couple of days to majorly boost our word counts, here are a few updates from the office:

1. Word Count Widgets are working! Just in time to for you not to play with them. Because you’re going to be writing, right? Right. (If you need a break, though, you can find them under the "Fun Stuff" tab.)

2. We got another shipment of shirts and hoodies in this morning! They are flying out of the store, though, so buy now or forever hold your peace.

3. We’re still looking for Daily Q&A guests! If you think you know someone with a great story, tell us all about it! We love stories. Almost as much as we love Tim Tams.

By the end of the weekend, we should be at 13, 336 words.

I'll see you there!

Lindsey

Word Count Boosters!

Heather Dudley — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:28:25 +0000

Meet Mr Ian Woon
Behind in your word count? Write or die!

Today's Guest: Paul Carroll, vlogging toward 50K!

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:06:10 +0000

Q: Paul, you've made three YouTube videos about NaNoWriMo. What made you decide to vlog about the program? Do you feel more motivated to reach 50K now that you've told the YouTube universe you'll be writing a novel?
A: For some time now, my writers group, The Literary Den, has been discussing our campaign to promote reading and writing, particularly over here in the UK and Ireland. We had spent a lot of time talking on our forum, and very little time actually doing anything, so I took it to YouTube and promoted the biggest global writing event I know of: NaNoWriMo. I had so much fun with it last year that I knew other people would love it too. I've even managed to get a couple of friends involved, one who was afraid she might not finish, the other who wasn't even sure what NaNoWriMo was! Now the three of us are in it together.

In one of the videos I announced that I would "adopt" a novelist, like what Wrimos were doing in the forums. The difference was that only people who had heard of NaNoWriMo could see that. I wanted to make the whole thing a lot more open and to get as many new faces involved as possible. The Den's all about making writing fun; and despite the obvious competition this will create in the manuscript department, it's for the greater good of the cultures we have over here. Writers like James Joyce, WB Yeats, and JM Synge once made Dublin a literary hotspot; now it's like a heritage site to people around the world where they can trace back their families. People are almost afraid to write for fun, to express themselves, and that needs to change.

This is why I've told the YouTube universe that I'm committed to NaNoWriMo for the month. I entered last year blindly, madly even (deciding a week in advance I was going to do it, with no ideas in mind) and without knowing anyone else until it came up in the Den that a few others were involved. And that was it. That was what motivated me to finish. Yes, having a fun novel to write was helpful, but having a public eye on me, knowing I might actually be judged by winners in the group (and people who followed my blog at the time) because I didn't finish like I said I would, that pushed me to the end point. That, added to the fun of the month (and my face quite literally on the Internet, telling people I'm entered to write yet another novel in a month) is sure to make the experience even more fun!

Paul Carroll is a writer, reader, bookseller, and blogger from Dublin, Ireland, studying to become a Religion and English teacher. He runs an online writers group known as the Literary Den and Vlogs from time to time about his life and books that he reads and writes, and has recently begun acting at college. His NaNoWriMo videos can be viewed here.

Reminder of CreateSpace offer for winners!

Chris Baty — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:02:23 +0000

It's so great seeing the word-count numbers rising upwards! If you're among the 70,000 authors who've signed up but not started writing yet, I applaud you. That's the kind of cheeky daredevil-ism that this event is based on. Please do have a word count by the end of this weekend, though, or we'll cry.

If our tears aren't enough to get you noveling and you need another reason to set those sights set on 50K…For the third year running, our fantastic sponsor CreateSpace is offering all NaNoWriMo 2009 winners a free proof copy of your manuscript in paperback book form. They'll even cover basic postage! We've posted a quick overview in the forums, and we'll be putting up more details (along with the actual codes for winners) on the "I Wrote a Novel, Now What?" page on December 2.

Chris
Just south of 6,000 words

Today's Guest: Dan Pugatch, NaNo-ing nearlywed

Lindsey Grant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:42:41 +0000

Q: Dan, you're getting married in November and have still committed to doing NaNoWriMo this year. Do you really plan on writing during your honeymoon? And how does your fiancee feel about all this?
A: That's correct, I'm committed to win NaNoWriMo this year after two previous attempts and fails. If there's one thing that describes me best it's perseverance, which is something to expect from a guy with a chest tattoo of "Goonies Never Say Die!" I'm getting married on November 7th and our honeymoon to Jamaica is from the 9th-16th. I plan on writing throughout the week, and the plane ride from Boston to Montego Bay is 4 1/2 hours each way. I'm an early riser (I get up at 4 AM most days for work and my lovely Heather wakes up 7 AM or so) so I figure I can write while she's still sleeping. I haven't decided if I want to bring my laptop with me, write on paper and type it up when I return home, or call the hotel and see if they have a public computer I can use. As far as what Heather feels about this, she said as long as it doesn't get in the way of the romance. Its only 1-2 hours a day, I can definitely find time, and what better muse for a story than laying on the beach with a drink with paper umbrellas in it...

Dan Pugatch is a bicycle mechanic from Boston, Massachusetts whose life revolves around bicycles whether it's racing for OrganicAthlete's vegan cycling team, running the Boston 3 Speed Bicycle Club, or volunteering his time for the Bicycle Benefits program. He has even worked in the past as a bicycle courier navigating downtown in the winter making deliveries. This year Dan figures NaNoWriMo would be a good excuse to put that English degree to use. Surprisingly, there are no plans for bicycles in his novel, but you never know!

More donor shout-outs!

Chris Baty — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:59:48 +0000

Two more shout-outs from awesome NaNoWriMo supporters!

Back up that book!

Chris Baty — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:27:58 +0000

Welcome to Back Up Your Novel Day!

To take part in the celebrations, just email your fresh novel to your webmail account, slap it on a flash drive, upload it to your favorite back-up service, or bury your whole computer in an airtight, waterproof capsule at a local park. Anything to make sure those words are safe!

This year, hundreds of NaNoWriMo participants will lose their novels to software crashes, coffeeshop spills, and unexpected hard-drive deaths. It happened to me right before NaNoWriMo began this year, and I've been a wrecked shell of an individual ever since. Learn from my stupidity! Back up that book today!

And there's another, more exciting holiday coming up on the NaNoWriMo calendar as well! Sunday, November 8 is Municipal Liaison Appreciation Day. This is the day we all reach out to our hardworking volunteer MLs with buckets of thanks and stacks of fresh-baked pies to thank them for everything they do to keep us motivated every year. If you've appreciated your ML's efforts, please send them a NaNoMail or email, or post in your Regional Lounge this Sunday and let them know!

Off to preserve my 5,891 mediocre words for posterity,

Chris