National Novel Writing Month Challanges Students

Would you take the challenge of 50,000 words in 30 days?

National Novel Writing Month challenges people to every year. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel between the first and last day of November.

Creative writing teacher Charlotte Wood said that she heard about NaNoWriMo years ago when she had a student who mentioned it.

She began to participate in it the past two years. She said that “We as the Lit Mag have been publicizing it to support the endeavors for young writers to write a book in a month.”

She encourages all of her creative writing students and other students throughout the school to participate, “with some of our Lit Mag fundraising money we have purchased large medals for those who succeed in the 50,000 word count.”

Wood recognizes that NaNoWriMo is “pretty impressive and daunting for students, especially students taking eight classes.”

In her classroom, there is a chart with sticky-notes of all 25 of the NaNoWriMo participants’ names, and when they increase their word count, they move their sticky-note up towards the 50,000 mark.

Another effort for Wood to encourage writers is that she opens her classroom every day for people to write, because “I want to make sure that they have a space of quiet where they can work.”

Most people can find that quiet place at home, but Wood said that “they do know that the space is open everyday until 5 p.m. in case they are overwhelmed at home and need a quiet place.”

Wood said that the students that participate “like to challenge themselves, and they like to challenge each other to make that word count by the end of November.”

In addition to these students, other members of the community like to push themselves to write. Writer House behind the Bodo’s on Preston, “is a community organization that supports NaNoWriMo too, so some people go there to write, adults go there, and students from other schools go there to write,” Wood said.

Of the Albemarle students, Wood said that, “not counting me, there are 25 students [at albemarle] that I’m aware of,” but she said “there could very well be more.”

To keep the encouragement for these writers going, Wood said she has, “cool book related items from the author Joy Hensley, [author of] Rites of Passage.” Wood explained that she has “bracelets and signed bookmarks, at the 50,000 mark we have a few signed Young Adult novels to give away.”

NaNoWriMo is enjoyed by the students and teachers and will definately be returning next year on November 1.