National Novel Writing Month

Hi everyone, Dr. Hill asked me to post about some of the stuff Lexington is doing for NaNoWriMo. Lexington has grown into a very active NaNo group and we're doing some very awesome things this coming November.

For those who don't know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. It started in July 1999 in California with Chris Baty and a group of his friends who decided to challenge each other to write a novel in one month. 50,000 words was decided the target and thus NaNoWriMo was born. The event now takes place every November 1-30 with Camp NaNos now happening in June and August. The Office of Letters and Light (OLL) has expanded into an amazing writing support program and over 300,000 people participated last year.

Part of the fun of NaNoWriMo is getting together with local Wrimos. NaNo Lex is the name of our group and you can find us on Facebook, email (lexKYnano@gmail.com), or, once you join the NaNo forums, through there also. The Lexington group has slowly gotten bigger over the years and this year we are going to have a lot of write ins, 2 All Night Writes, parties, and lots of word wars. This year we are hoping to challenge both Louisville, KY and Oxford, England to a word war (who can write the most words by the end of November)!

The next event is the Novel Nosh on October 26 from 11am-2pm at the Carnegie Center. You can bring your lunch and talk about how to plan out your novel or help others figure out theirs. It's a lot of fun and tends to include silly challenges.

After that is the Kickoff Party on November 1st at 7pm at one of our Muncipal Liasions' (basically the moderator for the group) homes. This is basically us getting together, maybe writing, maybe not, and getting into the spirit of NaNoWriMo.

Other major events this month include an All Night Write at St. Michael's November 8 and another All Night Write at Joseph Beth ($25 ticket) on November 22. These are pretty much what they sound like! We get together for 12 hours and write, have word wars (who can write the most amount of words in a certain amount of time), have plot bunny races, eat food, and a lot of other fun things. Joseph-Beth is new this year and there will be snacks, wine, interactive booths for inspiration and plenty of space to find a quiet corner and do a lot of writing. (There are places available to smoke in both locations if anyone is a smoker.)

More events are planned and added to the calendar both in advance and spur of the moment through November. I'm hoping to host some write-ins either on or near campus for anyone who is interested.

I'm happy to answer any and all questions either here on the blog, in class, or through email (elizabeth.angell@uky.edu).