Singing For The Soul

NANOWRIMO :: National Novel Writing Month Of November

National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writers Program provides kids and teens with a month-long creative experience that improves self-esteem, teaches perseverance, and radically alters their relationships with writing and literature.

We do this through a youth-oriented website where kids and teens can mingle, get advice from beloved writers, and find inspiration as they tackle a challenge they’ll never forget. And we do it through our free resources for educators: Common Core-aligned curriculum and workbooks, and a classroom kit featuring a full-color progress chart, stickers, buttons, and certificates.

In 2010, over 42,000 kids and teens and 1,800 classrooms worldwide took part in NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program. In 2011, we’re expecting over 2,000 classrooms to spend November writing novels.

If you’d like more information about the Young Writers Program, check out:

• How Does NaNoWriMo Work for Young Writers?
• How Does NaNoWriMo Work for Educators?

Or get in touch!

Support the Young Writers Program:

The Donation Station: Your contribution of any amount helps fund one of our classrooms. Students and teachers will benefit from our free educational and motivational materials: complete curriculum, workbooks, a full-color progress chart, stickers, buttons, and certificates.

The Classroom Sponsorship Program: Your contribution of any amount directly funds one of our classrooms—maybe even one in your area! Students can receive even more incentive goodies: NaNoWriMo t-shirts, certificates, posters, pencils, and stickers.

Some of our students reading from their 2010 novels:

Novel fever takes the world by storm.

Symptoms include flashes of brilliance, questionable plotlines, and blatant use of mixed metaphors.

Berkeley, California (Oct 10, 2011) - At midnight on November 1, armed only with their wits, the vague outline of a story, and a ridiculous deadline, more than 250,000 people around the world will set out to become novelists.

Why? Because November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, the world’s largest writing challenge and nonprofit literary crusade. Participants pledge to write 50,000 words in a month, starting from scratch and reaching “The End” by November 30. There are no judges, no prizes, and entries are deleted from the server before anyone even reads them.

So what’s the point? “The 50,000-word challenge has a wonderful way of opening up your imagination and unleashing creativity,” says NaNoWriMo Founder and Executive Director (and 12-time NaNoWriMo winner) Chris Baty. “When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both. Also, it’s a great excuse for not doing any dishes for a month.”  More than 650 regional volunteers in more than 60 countries will hold write-ins, hosting writers in coffee

shops, bookstores, and libraries. Write-ins offer a supportive environment and surprisingly effective peer

pressure, turning the usually solitary act of writing into a community experience. That sense of community even extends beyond the page—so much so that several dozen marriages and at least six babies have resulted from NaNoWriMo over the years. In a few years, those babies will surely take part in NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program, a version of the event

geared toward kids and teens. These budding authors also benefit from a community of their peers, as well as the free resources (including lesson plans, workbooks, and a snazzy classroom kit) used by thousands of educators worldwide.

Although the event emphasizes creativity and adventure over creating a literary masterpiece, more than 90 novels begun during NaNoWriMo have since been published, including Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, both #1 New York Times Best Sellers.

“Writing a novel in a month inspires incredible confidence in seasoned and first-time novelists alike,” says NaNoWriMo Program Director Lindsey Grant. “Completing a draft of the novel they’ve been contemplating for ages gives participants a tremendous sense of accomplishment and leaves them wondering what else they’re capable of.” For more information on National Novel Writing Month, or to speak to NaNoWriMo participants in your area,

visit www.nanowrimo.org or contact press@nanowrimo.org.

The Office of Letters and Light is a California-based international non-profit organization. Its programs are the largest literary events in the world. Learn more at www.lettersandlight.org

A Poem

I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There's nothing more to say.
The poem ends
Soft as it began-
I loved my friend.


by: Langston Hughes