While the month of November is normally reserved for Winter preparations, growing moustaches, and remembering the men and women who sacrificed their lives to preserve the freedom we are so blessed to enjoy, it is also, apparently, “National Novel Writing Month” - NaNoWriMo.
If the Labour Day weekend’s 3-day novel contest is a bit daunting for you, maybe 30 days (or nineteen, if you’re just hearing about NaNoWriMo today) sounds a bit more reasonable and appealing. But there’s no winning novel here, it’s all about the personal output, and the goal is 50,000 words – approximately 175 pages. And it’s also all about NOT looking back on your work to make revisions – just put your head down and produce 50,000 words of your novel before December 1st.
Distractions, obviously, won’t be welcome in the face of this challenge. That’s why libraries all over the world are setting up special tables for NaNoWriMo novelists. If you do get stuck, the world of library writerly resources, and friendly staff, will be right there to help.
Look for Calgary’s NaNoWriMo table on the 4th floor at Central.
To register go to http://www.nanowrimo.org/.
By creating an account, you will be provided the "support, encouragement, and good old-fashioned kick in the pants you need to write the rough draft of your novel in November."
By creating an account you’ll be able to:
- Plan your novel.
- Join a local group of writers and attend in person writing events.
- Receive online encouragement from staff and published authors.
- Access a worldwide community of writers in our online forums
Remember that if you've already got plans this month, there are eleven other months in the year in which writers are always welcome to use any table in the library to work on their novels, whether it takes 30 days or 30 years.