November is National Novel Writing Month. The NaNoWriMo project was begun by Chris Baty in San Francisco in 1999 with 140 participants. In 2010 over 200,000 writers participated worldwide. Perhaps you, or some of your students, have ideas or an outline that you’d like to turn into a novel.
The object is to write 50,000 words toward a complete novel in one month’s time. There are now groups across the country meeting for inspiration, contemplation and write-ins, but most of the work is solitary writing and word-counts logged online.
Since 2005, NaNoWriMo has promoted the Young Writers Program, for kindergarten through 12th-grade students. Teachers who register their classroom receive a starter kit which includes reward items, lesson plans and writing ideas.
Students, as well as adult writers can participate in forums and local programs.
