This year’s National Novel Writing Month—“NanoWriMo”—at http://www.nanowrimo.org is officially launched for 2006! Spend your November writing 50,000 words, and rest assured there are thousands of others, all the way around the world, sharing the stress and the heartache and the triumph with you.
I have an account—I go by “just_like_jacopo” (minus the “” of course) but I’m afraid I don’t have what it takes to respond to the cram challenge; it’s November 2nd, and I don’t even have a plot outline!
But the point, besides getting people writing—the idea is once you just start getting some output, you can worry about writing well later—is also a very progressive principal (and not just for aspiring writers who haven’t written anything with traditional methods.) NanoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that sponsors literacy in poor countries. Half of all their proceeds this year will go to children’s libraries in
Vietnam.
Partnered with Room to Read, this is an enterprise that has had success in the past, as well. Their website says, “The funds we raise will pay for the purchase and transport of 600-800 books in both Vietnamese and English, kid-sized furniture, maps, games, and ongoing librarian training. In the past two years, NaNoWriMo has built three libraries in
Cambodia and seven
Laos.”
So for all you writers out there, or even the non-prolific literacy advocates, this is the site for you! You don’t have to attempt the 50,000 words in 30 days challenge in order to donate, and donations are tax deductible.
So please! Have a heart. And a book… : )
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As a side note, here's a direct link to the NanoWriMo page about their fundraising endeavors: http://www.nanowrimo.org/modules/cjaycontent/index.php?id=14
If you don't want to just make a donation, they also have some pretty cool gear!
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~I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.~
I had no idea of anything like this. Thanks for sharing it! :)
Glad to be of service. : )
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~I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.~
NaNoWriMo scares me.
"You are narrow-minded because you disagree with me."
Lol, why? Just the thought of 50,000 words?
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~I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.~
That and its outcome. It's hard to produce a good novel in a month, so most NaNoWriMo novels are pretty crappy.
"You are narrow-minded because you disagree with me."
Oh, but of course! Yes, it's going to be terrible writing for the most part--but I love the idea behind the whole enterprise. Most people who want to write novels are terribly intimidated by the simple blank screen, or blank piece of paper. The idea is to get the writing going, and then, if the writers have any talent at all, once they've jumped that hurdle they will begin a massive revision process and, quite possibly, turn up with a pretty good story. I think somewhere the site goes on about NanoWriMoers who have gotten published later on... So, definitely, crappy writing, and it's not for everyone; but I think it's an approach that really works, and I definitely love them for their literacy advocacy. : )
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~I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.~
I have participated several times, although I have never gotten very far. November tends to be a busy month for me, and it seems like that's when some emergincy pops up. I enjoy trying though. It's nonpreassure, and you can go back and edit it at the end of the month. It's just a way to get more people writing, who always come up with some excuse. I had no idea about all their literacy programs though, that's great.