National Novel Writing Month is when future novelists get busy.
According to nanowrimo.org, at the start of November, hundreds of thousands of people around the world start writing with the goal of having written 50,000 words of a brand-new novel by the end of the month.
It’s not too late to join the annual challenge.
Writing a novel can be daunting for anyone. NaNoWriMo provides tools, structure and community to help people achieve creative goals. The goal is to encourage writers to finish the first draft of their novel so they can go back and edit it later. The key is to aim for completion, rather than perfection.
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Kathi Linz of Seymour said usually, only about 10% finish the 50,000 words.
Linz is an author and has been employed at the Jackson County Public Library since August 2005. She currently is an information services assistant at the main library in Seymour.
Two of her published books, “Time Walker: Cara’s Story” and “Marc’s Rebellion,” were written during NaNoWriMo from past years.
Brownstown resident Carolyn Griffin is an author who has taken part in two NaNoWriMo challenges.
The first time was in 2015 when she signed up as a group with a couple of friends, but things got competitive, and it wasn’t a good experience.
“So I began to challenge only myself each November to NaNoWriMo and not join groups involved in it,” Griffin said. “Since I have challenged myself to it, there are days when I write more than the challenge requires and days when only 50 or so words are on the page, but the content is more important and examined much closer.”
Griffin has participated in NaNoWriMo individually for five years now.
Two of Griffin’s published books, “The Great Release” and “My Useless Reviews of Books and Movies,” are now out of print, but “Sidesplittin’, Butt Kickin’, Tear Droppin’ Times” is still available in paperback online at Amazon or Iuniverse.com.
Griffin said she has been taking classes online recently to improve her writing, and if all goes well, books four and five will be out next year.
“As for when and why I began writing, my mother used to read to me each night before bed, even when she was carrying me,” she said. “She read nursery rhymes, Winnie the Pooh books, Flicka, Stormy and comic books aloud. Then after I was born, she never stopped reading to me until I showed her I could read on my own at age 3.”
Griffin said her dad took her to the library every weekend and to Candy’s Bookstore, a local shop that sold used books.
“He made certain our borrowed books and purchased books stayed separate at home, and once the store closed, we started getting book catalogs by mail,” she said. “He would have me circle all the books I wanted each month. Then he would buy three books for me and three for him from each catalog.”
Griffin said her dad never told her which books he ordered for her out of the hundred she circled.
“Each month, three boxes would arrive by mail, bringing each of us nine books,” Griffin said. “My siblings did not share his love of reading like I did. It was always like Christmas each month.”
She is one of two middle children in a family of four siblings and always felt shut out by them, as they would talk over her when speaking to their mother.
So as soon as Griffin learned to write, she wrote letters to her mother, rather than speak. Her mother always wrote back, and it was like a game, she said.
In grade school, she said she and a classmate wrote plays together during math.
“Our fifth grade teacher disciplined us when we got caught,” Griffin said. “In the sixth grade, however, Mrs. Pfaffenberger caught us, and rather than discipline us, she grabbed two books and read the poetry of James W. Riley and Edgar Allan Poe to us. I was a goner from that point on. Storytelling was always something I loved.”
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National Novel Writing Month: nanowrimo.org
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