Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Amidst the April Fools announcements of Google seeking a Pokémon Master and Amazon's new Kindle Paperscent, a semiannual writing session has quietly begun.
National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, is an annual creative writing program where participants around the world (in contradiction to its name) are challenged to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. The contest has experienced a positive reaction, with the website's about page stating, "341,375 participants started the month as auto mechanics, out-of-work actors, and middle school English teachers. They walked away novelists." Even famous author John Green had participated in this (albeit 4 years ago).
Since 2011, the website has also offered a friendly 'camp' session during the months of July and April in 2014 for anyone to write a novel in a month; the difference is, the word limit is chosen by the user. Everyone may opt to be part of a 'cabin' with up to 10 other people based on settings one would have chosen for encouragement and advice. Each cabin has a message board that can only be seen by members of that cabin.
This will be the first year I will be participating in anything NaNoWriMo related, and frankly, I'm quite excited. I am opting to write a collection of events I have witnessed through a car/train window, which I hope will sharpen my writing skills in the first person POV. It's a great first step to begin writing. You don't even have to impress anyone; just start.
I hope to see more people participate in the project. Who knows? I may even become cabin mates with any of you viewing this sometime soon.
À bientôt! - Angela
