NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo

by Julianna O.

          NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place every year throughout the month of November and it challenges you to write a novel in one month. You can either sign up for NaNoWriMo as an adult on their regular site (nanowrimo.org) or you can sign up for the Young Writers Program (ywp.nanowrimo.org), if you sign up for the Young Writers Program (YWP) you have to be 17 and younger. NaNoWriMo consists of word count goals, if you hit the word count goal, then you win. For the adult NaNoWriMo's word count goal is 50,000 words and for the YWP, the word count goal is set to 30,000 words but you can change it.

          This is my first time doing NaNoWriMo, I signed up for the Young Writers Program and I made my word count goal 17,000 words. I am doing it along with my virtual school, every Saturday they have a live session online where they talk about different NaNoWriMo stuff. Last Saturday, they talked about what is a novel and we shared some of our favorite novels. I am really excited for NaNoWriMo but I am a little terrified because this will be the first time I am actually writing a novel and I really want to finish my novel within November. I do have a few ideas of what I am going to do but I am not quite sure what to do yet.

          I have a week to prepare (when this gets up on Friday, I will only have two days to prepare), I haven't even figured out what happens in the beginning, middle and end of my novel yet. This next month is going to be a little stressful, lets hope not, but I know I can do it. What I learned is that, if you tell yourself you can't do it, then you can't but if you say I can do it, then you will be able to do it because 'with God all things are possible' (Matthew 19:26). I will pray that I will be able to reach my word count goal and win NaNoWriMo.