NaNoWriMo 2020!

Hi everyone!

It’s almost November, which means it’s almost time for National Novel Writing Month, yey!

So every year, people from all over the world set aside time during the month of november to write an initial draft of a novel, hence national novel writing month.

The idea is basically that everyone has a story within them that they could tell, a novel or novella that they could write, and that the reason we don’t write those stories is that we get bogged down in perfectionism. Basically, we write a small amount, and then we try to make that tiny amount perfect before moving on...but then we get bogged down in making it perfect and never write the next bit. So, the idea with national novel writing month is to try to write a certain amount of WORDS over the course of the month without worrying about whether the story is perfect or not. AFTER one has done that, one can go back and perfect it if one wishes, but either way, the story is now out there on paper (or on the computer).

Originally, NaNoWriMo was for adults, and the word count goal was always 50,000 words. But then people wanted to make sure youth could also participate, and so a young writers’ version was made. For the young writers’ version, you set your own word count goal.

So, here’s why I’m mentioning this: this year, I have set up a Google Classroom so that people who want to participate can have a place to meet up (virtually, of course), get feedback, bounce ideas of each other, receiving writing prompts when they’re stuck, and just generally have a virtual space where they can have a built-in cheering squad and support system for NaNoWriMo!

If you want to participate, you can either email me (if you’re in your school email just look for Gilana, I’ll pop up) or ask your one of your teachers (probably your ELA or reading teacher) to email me your name. I’ll be posting all the info that you’ll need in the Google Classroom. We will have opportunities for Zoom writing group sessions too. This is all 100% voluntary, but if you like to write, or have a story idea that you want to get out, please join us!