National Novel Writing Month

A panel of three NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) winners held a packed audience captive as they shared their former participation in this 30-day, 50,000-word novel-writing challenge. The National Novel Writing Month takes place internationally every November, encouraging writing and creativity around the world. Winners are those who complete their novels in the one month.

Gail Carr, a youth services librarian at Headquarters Library in Gainesville and a three-year winner of NaNoWriMo, took off last year for time to become a grandmother. Her supportive husband Archie, her first grandchild, and a Chihuahua named Pedro keep her busy now, but not too busy to write.

She feels creating is crucial to her life. Others – 325,142 of them last year – share that view as that number signed up for the challenge; 58,917 hit their goal of writing a 50,000-word draft novel in 30 days.

Gail told how published authors offer frequent pep talks delivered to the participant’s NaNoMail inbox throughout November. She came prepared with pompoms and got the audience cheering as she shared some past gems. This year Diana Gabaldon, Charlaine Harris, N. K. Jemisin, Gene Luen Yang and Stephanie Perkins, all well-known authors of diverse genres, will offer their encouragement throughout the month of writing.

Additionally last year, 803 volunteer liaisons on six continents gave their time and encouragement, and 849 book stores, libraries, and community centers opened their doors to NaNoWriMo writers.

Gail admitted that as a slow, careful, technical writer she had not enjoyed writing. Then she met Jennifer, who encouraged her to join NaNoWriMo, and learned to write fast and carefree, with no editing and no agonizing. She experienced a burst in her self-confidence helped by the pep talks.

Jennifer Kinser, a Tower Road librarian and graduate of Florida State, is this year’s local NaNoWriMo municipal liaison (ML). She gets encouragement from her 22-year-old tuxedo cat named Sylvester. In 2010, she joined the challenge on a whim after being encouraged by a friend. She was working and going to grad school, but the energy of others brought her to the finish line. She emphasized that not reaching the 50,000-word goal would not be the end of the world. Just writing makes you a winner.

Jennifer gave us a NaNoWriMo website tour from sign-up to forum participation and beyond. She encouraged everyone to create an account and look at the site, getting familiar with it ahead of time. Individual writing is usually done on personal software, then copied and pasted to the NaNoWriMo site for word counts. Writing can be in any genre, but only new writing should be used toward the 50,000 word count.

The writing schedule is 1,667 words per day to reach the 50,000 word mark.  Typos don’t matter. The NaNoWriMo site can lead you through the challenge – it’s a warehouse of information. Under the heading “Regions/Local Volunteers,” you can find and contact your municipal liaison (Jennifer) whose job it is to set up write-ins and meet-ups for encouragement. Most first timers are especially interested in the “NaNo Prep” page, found under “Inspiration.”

Winning is hitting the 50,000 words, but by creating an account, which is free, you are not required to do anything else. At the least, you can get acquainted with the site, and any writing you do is more than you would have done, a plus in itself.

Audience members wondered: Why November? The answer was that November includes holidays – the long Thanksgiving Day weekend plus Veterans’ Day. It all started in 1999. The audience got to hear the NaNoWriMo song presented in a YouTube video,

Hannah E. O’Neal, age fifteen and ready to write her fourth novel, hit the 50,000-targeted word count her first year, even though writers seventeen and under can be winners at 10-30,000 words. After finishing, Hannah took advantage of a NaNoWriMo coupon from Createspace for two free published copies of her novel. The coupon was time sensitive and gave her the needed incentive. She encourages everyone to give it a try.

Audience members inquired about the writers’ schedules. During the month of November, Gail stated she did not do dishes, leaving the table immediately after dinner to write for however long it took to reach the daily word count of 1,667. If necessary, she devoted more time on weekends, and she declared she always felt energized while writing.

Jennifer, as liaison, has write-ins planned for three branches. The information can be found on the library events page for November. Meet-ups are also planned, at Perkins Restaurant (tentatively) and other places to be announced.

In answer to an audience question, Gail shared what she wrote about the three years she has done NaNoWriMo. In 2011, she did no planning and wrote personally about child abuse and bullying. It was cathartic for her. In 2012, she planned ahead with an outline, writing about the library’s role as a social service agency. She hasn’t shared those manuscripts. In 2013, she tried fiction, futuristic sci-fi on the theme of bullying and slavery, using a short outline. She confided this manuscript was aging like a nice cheese on the shelf.

Hannah admitted that at first she was a pantser – a seat-of-the-pants writer – with two characters as protagonists, finally coming up with an antagonist as she was writing. Interaction dictated her scenes. Later she began to outline.

Everyone was again encouraged to register, even if in November. The experience would be invaluable. Someone questioned about the organization asking for donations on the NaNoWriMo site. All three panelists emphatically declared the site was free with donations made only by those who felt compelled and able. They insisted that sharing the NaNoWriMo information was just as important as a donation.

Gail reminded the audience that local authors are encouraged to donate their books to Alachua County Libraries so they may be made available to patrons. A special sticker indicating the author is local is applied to the spine. Headquarters has its own local author section. Please contact the library if you are interested in having your book on the shelf.

And if you don’t have a book, sign up for NaNoWriMo and write one.