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National Novel Writing Month - The Beginning

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Your assignment, by numbers: 1 novel, 50,000 words, 30 days.

National Novel Writing Month (hereafter referred to by the more common NaNoWriMo) is a challenge to hammer out the first draft of a novel in the month of November.

NaNoWriMo was started in 1999 by Chris Baty (who we’ll be talking to next week). That year, there were 21 participants. Last year there were 310,095 registered participants. There’s no telling how many actually participated (over half of the people I know participating this year aren’t registered on the site), but the mass appeal is undeniable.

It’s a learning experience. Hey, writers gotta write. Even if you are too humiliated to share your completed 50k word draft, it’s impossible to not be a better writer on the other side of it.

And there’s the social element. Writing is generally a very solitary experience, but NaNoWriMo pulls the writer out of the cave. On the site, there are check-ins and write-ins and forums. Learning together and helping each other.

This month, we’ll be following the progress of some participants. The excited beginnings, the doubts, the (hopeful) wins (note: to successfully complete the challenge is “winning”). We’ll also be talking with professionals and insiders. First, let’s meet our participants.


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Sabrina Ricci is a writer and ebook developer. She’s a former publishing insider, working for the likes of Simon & Schuster, Random House, and NBC Publishing before taking her skills and knowledge to indie writers. She’s also obsessed with dinosaurs. Sabrina writes and writes about writing for a living, so barring a visit from a friend of the Chicxulub asteroid, she’ll definitely succeed in NaNo this year.

Tell me about your writing background.

I’ve been writing since I was a kid (I know, all writers say that), but I didn’t start seriously writing until college. I was inspired by the journalistic style of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Chronicle of a Death Foretold” and started writing essays and short stories. Then after college I moved to New York to get into the book publishing industry. I mostly made ebooks but got exposed to some wonderful writers and new genres. And it was inspiring being in that city and seeing firsthand how digital publishing is changing the industry. In 2012 I self-published my first book, “The 13th Cycle.” It’s a novella about the end of the world and the Maya calendar, and I got it out just before the Maya calendar end date (December 21, 2012). Since then I’ve self-published a couple other books, written a bunch of articles and blog posts, and now the plan is to work on a book series.

You’ve done NaNoWriMo before. How did it go?

Great, and terrible. I had no outline or plan when I wrote my story, and the end result will never be polished enough to share with other people. But, I did write 50,000 words in a month. I had never written anything that long before, and it felt like a big accomplishment just knowing that I could write a novel-length work.

What do you think will be the biggest challenge this time?

Good question. The last NaNo I did I had a tendency to write excessive dialogue or unrelated scenes to make my word count. Since I plan on actually publishing this book, my challenge will be to only write scenes that move the story forward.

Tell me a little bit about the book you’re going to write.

So, this book will be the first in a series about dinosaurs. My plan is to make it Game of Thrones-esque, but all the characters are dinosaurs in the late Jurassic era (my favorite dinosaur is Apatosaurus, so everything will revolve around that). The goal is to get this book, and hopefully a second one, out before the premiere of the movie Jurassic World next June. My husband and I are huge dino geeks, and we’ve got a website and are also soon launching a dinosaur podcast.


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Lindsay Brunner was raised by an English teacher mom and speech teacher dad. She majored in English and since graduating has worked in sales and marketing, “using language to persuade and educate, and I’m having the time of my life!” So she’s got this.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before?

I’ve legitimately committed to NaNo [or Camp NaNo] five times since 2009, and won three. My first win was my first year, with the novel idea that had been in my head for over a decade. 

So hey… nervous?

I’m not nervous, but… I’m never nervous… More just hoping I really can make the time in my schedule to get this done.

If my goal one day is to be an author, I need to prioritize making time to write for me, not just for my clients.

Tell me a little bit about the book you’re going to write.

There are two ways to come at a NaNoWriMo, you can plan it, or pants it… Typically I’ve been a planner, but this year I’m determined to shake things up and 100% pants it. No outlines, no characters already forming in my head… I’m very consciously not thinking much about it, until Friday night when my alarm goes off and I dive in. I can’t tell you what I’m going to write about, because I don’t know yet. I have created a super geeky working title for this project… I’m kind of wondering if anyone will get it without having to google!

Are you active on the forums at all?

I am active on the forums, sort of. I volunteer for a cloud-based web app called Yarny doing some social media and marketing stuff, and I typically spend my time on the Yarny threads, or in my regional forums checking on write in times and locations. I’d love to meet more wrimos though, so come find me at JennaWolf412 and let’s buddy up!


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Barrington Lloyd is on his fourth year of NaNoWriMo. This year he’s one of the Municipal Liaisons for the Bay area. MLs are volunteer coordinators who moderate regional lounges of the forums (and other individual forums), send out pep talks and emails, coordinate write-ins, and do other tasks to encourage wrimos during the month. The leadership role that Barrington has taken on will surely give him the inspirado he needs to meet his goal this month.

Tell me about your writing background.

Most of my writing has been academic; I studied Spanish in undergrad, and Persian in grad school. I have written both prose and poetry in both, though I probably wouldn’t share it! Outside of that, I have written mostly for NaNo in the last few years.

I finished in 2011 and 2013, and participated in 2012 for NaNoWriMo. It’s really fun! The first year was the easiest, but every year after that it gets harder to tamp down the inner editor while writing.

What do you see as your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge will be getting words in every day. I travel for work a lot, so finding the time to write between meetings, flights, and new hotels will be the greatest hurdle this year.

Tell me about the book you’re writing this month.

I did literally no planning before I started writing this year (like the first year too, and that turned out great!) so I can tell you that my protagonist is a detective in a special agency, and he smokes Lucky Strike cigarettes. That’s about all I have right now.

So you’re an ML. What kind of events will you be doing?

I will be leading weekly write-ins, probably on Saturdays and/or Sundays. I will be holding a few during the week as well as we get into the Week 2 slump, because I know I wish I’d gone to some in past years.


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Olga Suvorova likes to challenge herself. She’s the type of person who, no matter where she is, is always in her favorite place with her favorite people She was excited about the spirit of NaNoWriMo and is taking a slightly different approach with the challenge. Yes, Olga is what is known in the wrimo community as a rebel.

Tell me about your writing background.

I’ve been trying to make story telling a beautiful routine of mine by writing a blog but I failed (miserably!). I didn’t manage to commit fully and make it a regular thing (like brushing your teeth every morning). There was always something: travel, lack of inspiration, creative coma, blah-blah-blah. Over years my blog turned into this weird state of mind suffering from amnesia: random posts, disturbed memories, awkward radio silence.

Some people believe in karma, others in long walks on the beach. I believe in stories—heartfelt, true, funny, scary, surprising, ridiculous.

Every day I have a story (or two, or more) to tell. I’m not a copywriter, or editor, or novelist, or anyone who could be considered a “professional” writer (though how would you define “professional”… scary word). I just love telling stories - about people and things that excite me, make me wonder, get me thinking. And that’s what writing has been for me.

I obviously needed NaNoWriMo. I haven’t done it before, I only heard about it this year and fell in love with an idea. I believe that these type of initiatives are probably the best push to get going and creative juices flowing (at least for people like me). Yes, I’ve officially prescribed NaNoWriMo to myself as a cure against procrastination, laziness, lack of commitment.

You’re going about this a little bit differently. Not a 50k novel exactly. What’s your plan?

I thought I’d better start small but just not stop. So I’ll be writing stories, short stories. Every single day of November. By the end of November I aim to have a little collection of short stories about people and experiences that move me. Quite a novel idea, right?


If you’re a wrimo this year, we wish you the best of luck. And if you want to jump in this year, you’re only a few days behind. Just a little more pressure on the pressure cooker. Stay tuned for tips, encouragement, and updates from our group.


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