Wanna be a Novelist?
Get Going with Cuyahoga County Public Library and NaNoWriMo
By Claudia Taller
Get that novel written during November. It’s National Novel Writing Month. Sign up at http://NaNoWriMo.org and join thousands of other people who will experience all the anguish you will feel as you try to write 50,000 words in 30 days (that’s 1,700 words a day).
Have you ever wanted to write a crime novel because you know you can do better than the last one you read? Do you dream of creating a historical romance that takes place on the banks of the Cuyahoga River? Is your novel plotted out with post-it notes on a board above your desk and you can’t seem to get started?
This is something to try when you can get help from NaNoWriMo, a national nonprofit organization that encourages writers to complete a novel in November. The first NaNoWriMo took place in July 1999 in the San Francisco Bay Area with 21 people who wanted to write. Organizer Chris Baty came up with the idea and convinced his friends to write with him—he had no idea it would get as big as it did. Last year over 200,000 participated in the event. A resident of Oakland, California, Chris is an anthropologist by training and a freelance writer by trade; his work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Believer, and Lonely Planet guidebooks. His book No Plot? No Problem! is available through bookstores.
Your neighbors have done it. When you’re done, the novel will not be the most polished writing one has ever seen, but the first draft will be complete. Some have told me it’s painful, while others find it easy. It’s a challenge, no matter how fast you write or how well you plan out what you’re doing ahead of time. But with help from NaNoWriMo, you might just do it. The approach of writing on a limited writing window forces writers to take risks and write on the fly. NaNoWriMo does a good job of preparing you for the task with website information and email follow up.
The Cuyahoga County Library, which has taken on the encouragement of writers for the demised The LIT, hosted a kickoff on Sat 10/29 at its Maple Heights Branch. Each Saturday in November, from 2-4PM, you can take your laptop to a different branch and participate in Write-Ins. On Sat 11/5 it’s at the North Royalton Branch, on Sat 11/12 it’s at the Middleburg Heights Branch, on Sat 11/19 it’s at the Fairview Park Branch, on Sat 11/26 it’s at the Orange Branch, and, finally, the Thank Goodness It’s Over Party is on Sat 12/3 at the Parma Hts Branch. When you finish, NaNoWriMo gives you a digital web badge, a winner’s certificate, and a free paperback copy of your book.
Baty says you don’t need a lot of preparation. “It turns out that if you start writing and keep writing, the story tends to take care of itself,” he said during an interview that appears on the NaNoWriMo website. “Also, if you’re plagued with a persnickety inner editor, it’s a good idea to leave all the editing until December. Yes, it’s hard to leave errors and awkward prose on the page, but the most important thing is to stay focused on the goal of getting a beginning, middle, and end of your story written in 50,000 words.”
We all crave connection with our creative selves. Baty talked about that on his site as well: “On a less bookish note… One of the tough things about being an adult is that we don’t really give ourselves enough time to play. We’re busy with work or school or family. But we still need that creative time, and our imaginations are just as active as they were when we were younger. Writing a novel in a month is a great opportunity to reconnect with that spirit of play that brought us so much happiness when we were kids. Book-building just feels great.” It’s also about accomplishment. “Also, I think when you set a ridiculously oversized goal for yourself like writing a novel in a month, and you reach that goal… that changes the way you see yourself, and changes what you see yourself capable of doing. You think: ‘Hey, if I can write a novel in a month, what else can I do?'” Baty says.
NaNoWriMo is currently in progress. Become a novelist now. Start writing and continue through Sat 11/30 at http://NaNoWriMo.org and go to the Write-Ins throughout the Cuyahoga County Library System. http://CuyahogaLibrary.org.
Claudia Taller’s book Ohio’s Lake Erie Wineries was just released by Arcadia Publishing. Find out more about the book by going to http://OhioLakeErieWineries.blogspot.com and order it through Claudia by sending an e-mail to claudia.taller@yahoo.com.