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Name The Office of Letters and Light
First Post August 2010
Location Berkeley

The Office of Letters and Light organizes events where children and adults find the inspiration, encouragement, and structure they need to achieve their creative potential. One such event, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), takes place all November—which means it starts today! NaNoWriMo challenges you to write a 50,000-word novel, from scratch, in the month of November. Participants exchange advice and writing tips on the web and through group write-ins held in coffeeshops, living rooms, and libraries all around the world. Last year, 200,500 people took part!

Oh, NaNoWriMo. I did NaNo for two or three amazing, crazy, fast-paced years. Producing 50,000 words in 30 days seems like insanity, and it really is. The first year was the only year I finished, and the novel I wrote was….decent? Decent. For a 15 year old. I self-published it on Lulu and gave it to my friends for graduation, who all adored it.

Doing NaNo really showed me that writing really is opening a vein and pouring it on the page.

If you’re considering doing it, I encourage you to wholeheartedly.