"Thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon"
Tom Scanlan
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Campus News
"We had taken the cloistered, agonized novel-writing process and transformed it into something that was half literary marathon and half block party."
This laid-back, rejuvenating form of writing that started over ten years ago has become an international phenomenon. In fact, on a trip to Scotland several years after the beginning of the program, founder Chris Baty heard on BBC radio that Scots had taken to his idea of unrestrained writing, and put their own spin on things by encouraging those interested in writing an entire novel during the month of February, which is what inspired the idea for the national month of novel writing here in America.
One of the thousands of fans and active participants of NaNoWriMo is Samantha Mattos, a student here at BSC. Mattos was eager to tell The Comment about her admiration of NaNoWriMo, and that famous authors, such as Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted) participate in the challenge and send encouraging emails to others involved.
"I personally do this for fun. I'm not an English major, but writing has always been something I've enjoyed. I look at this as a great learning experience for budding as well as accomplished authors, because every writer needs something to strive for….Also, at the end of November, I'll have 50,000 words of a novel that I can edit, and, if I so choose, prepare for publication."
Hopefully Mattos will not be the only student here at BSC to get involved with NaNoWriMo this year. But if others found themselves too overwhelmed with course-loads this time around, no worries because the program is here to stay, and will certainly be available next year and for many years to come. For more information go to nanowrimo.org, and remember that every prospective writer needs to start somewhere, and this relaxed environment may just be what you need. As the website says:
"Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together."
This laid-back, rejuvenating form of writing that started over ten years ago has become an international phenomenon. In fact, on a trip to Scotland several years after the beginning of the program, founder Chris Baty heard on BBC radio that Scots had taken to his idea of unrestrained writing, and put their own spin on things by encouraging those interested in writing an entire novel during the month of February, which is what inspired the idea for the national month of novel writing here in America.
One of the thousands of fans and active participants of NaNoWriMo is Samantha Mattos, a student here at BSC. Mattos was eager to tell The Comment about her admiration of NaNoWriMo, and that famous authors, such as Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted) participate in the challenge and send encouraging emails to others involved.
"I personally do this for fun. I'm not an English major, but writing has always been something I've enjoyed. I look at this as a great learning experience for budding as well as accomplished authors, because every writer needs something to strive for….Also, at the end of November, I'll have 50,000 words of a novel that I can edit, and, if I so choose, prepare for publication."
Hopefully Mattos will not be the only student here at BSC to get involved with NaNoWriMo this year. But if others found themselves too overwhelmed with course-loads this time around, no worries because the program is here to stay, and will certainly be available next year and for many years to come. For more information go to nanowrimo.org, and remember that every prospective writer needs to start somewhere, and this relaxed environment may just be what you need. As the website says:
"Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together."
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