by Quinn Kreck, staff writer
The month of November is national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo creates a challenge for writing a 50,000-word novel over the course of the month, or members can set their own word count goal.
“National Novel Writing Month is a not-for-profit organization that challenges writers to lift their creative voices to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days,” said English Professor Dionne Howell. Students wanting to get involved can join a weekly writing workshop hosted by Professor Dionne Howell that “…provide a safe writing space where we encourage creativity and hold each other accountable.”
The weekly writing workshop takes place on Wednesday from 3:30-5 PM in the Centennial Campus learning commons window section. The writing workshop supplies a place for students who wish to take on a writing challenge, not necessarily one of writing a novel “Not all of the participants are working on novels. Some are working on a collection of poems, which is welcomed.”
Professor Howell is also participating in the NaNoWriMo challenge and is attending the workshops “This is my first year accepting the challenge, and I am pretty happy with my progress thus far.”
The workshops offer expert guidance, peer feedback, writing prompts to spark creativity, and a supportive community of fellow wordsmiths. English Professor Mandy Solomon is participating in NaNoWriMo “When my friend and colleague Dionne Howell asked if I’d be interested in participating, I was excited to get back to writing.”
Professor Solomon and many others have joined the NaNoWriMo workshop for a space to improve their writing skills and convene with fellow writers “We are a small group so we will spend time on each member’s work and offer feedback to help them in the revision process.” Students looking to start writing, continue a piece they have started, or have hopes of being published someday should join the writing workshops and take on the NaNoWriMo challenge.
The NaNoWriMo program is celebrating its 25th anniversary, as it has been around since 1999 and a nonprofit since 2006. The 50,000-word challenge is a national goal that people can join, or they can set their own personal goals at a different word count.
Creating an account with NaNoWriMo supplies writers with weekly statistics, a daily streak counter, forums and more. Completing the national challenge gives writers a badge, certificate, and sense of accomplishment for completing the task.
In 2022 413,295 writers participated in NaNoWriMo programs, with 51,670 meeting goals to become November challenge winners. Former NaNoWriMo writers have gone on to have the novels they wrote drafts of in November get published. NaNoWriMo offers a great challenge for students who love to write.
