NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

"For the first time, I thought I really might have something with what I'd written."

"I've loved mystery stories since I was a kid--both reading and writing them. But until I discovered NaNoWriMo, I never completed a mystery novel such that I could confidently say: I FINISHED. The result? After discovering NaNoWriMo in 2004, in 2007 I was awarded a Malice Domestic Grant for unpublished writers of traditional mysteries, for a novel I wrote during National Novel Writing Month.

Here's the story: I started a mystery novel in college during a fiction writing class. It was destined to be one of the world's worst novels, so I abandoned it; but I loved two of the characters enough that I couldn't let them go. For my second NaNoWriMo in 2005 I wrote and finished a new novel with these characters. The following year I didn't win the NaNoWriMo challenge, because I instead delved deeper into the same story rather than writing a new one, but I spent that November with the same intensity as the previous year. For the first time, I thought I really might have something with what I'd written. As a fan and writer of traditional mysteries, I knew about one of the premier organizations supporting the classic mystery form, Malice Domestic, so I submitted my work-in-progress to their grants competition that December. I received a phone call a few months later that I'd won.

That exciting call came a little over a year ago now. Since then, I've used the grant to complete research to get the book right (the plot involves a historical mystery in a foreign country), written a draft of book two in the series (for NaNoWriMo 2007), taken some time to learn about the publishing business (getting involved with local writers groups), and am currently finishing edits to the novel this summer. it's been an adventure, and it'll be fun to see where it leads.

This is me:http://www.g2graphicdesign.com/about

And for any aspiring mystery writers, this is the Malice Domestic Grants program:http://www.malicedomestic.org/grants.html"

--Gigi Pandian

Gigi is a graphic designer, photographer, and mystery writer in San Francisco. She has participated in NaNoWriMo for the past four years, successfully completing the challenge three times.

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"The day the Dog Man waved at me last fall was the last day I saw him, and after that I felt as though I had missed my opportunity to meet a potential Mr. Right."

"The title of the novel I started last November comes from a 1974 song that was not a mega-hit, but more like an 'ear-worm'. It definitely sticks in your head when you hear it.

Unfortunately, my laptop had a melt-down in December and I lost most of my story. I've been meaning to start again, but work got really busy and life took over...

Well, my vacation finally started at the end of June, and on each of the first three days of vacation I heard 'my song' on the radio-- different places, different stations. It was just too weird, like a hand on my shoulder nudging me forward. On the fourth day of my vacation something even more startling happened. The Dog Man showed up.

In the beginning of my novel the main character watches a man playing with his dog in a park outside her window at work. She nicknames him the Dog Man, and on several afternoons she contemplates stepping outside to say 'hello', especially after the Dog Man waves at her one evening. Confession: this scenario actually happened to me. The day the Dog Man waved at me last fall was the last day I saw him, and after that I felt as though I had missed my opportunity to meet a potential Mr. Right. I regretted not introducing myself. I wondered if he'd gotten sick of waving and taken his dog somewhere else to play.

On the fourth day of my vacation I was cleaning out my desk at work at 6:00 at night, when I saw the Dog Man again. My heart leapt! I immediately got up and went out to meet him and his sweet black lab, Seamus. I was righting (or writing) my wrong. Seeing the Dog Man was a sign that I should start writing again; it was time for my character to make some moves.

He was just as polite and sweet as I'd written him. It was like meeting an imaginary friend, and I really did feel inspired. We talked for quite a while, and I played with Seamus, just as my main character would. It was a special little affirmation. There's just one thing I would change-- in my novel, the Dog Man won't be married!

And so I write on..."

--Kristie Boman

Kristie teaches middle school in a medium-sized, slow-paced town near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She's done stand-up comedy and written a humor column (briefly) but 2007 was the first time she actually did NaNoWriMo. (She invited her students to write, too, and was amazed at the number of participants.) Kristie didn't reach her goal, but did hit 39,686 words and in the process discovered that she can write over 10,000 words in a day if she has to! She plans to finish her novel before school starts again in August. Kristie loves: the ocean, Pop-Tarts, pizza, dark chocolate, 70's music and Amaretto sours. Her quirks: She drinks milk "on the side" instead of with her cereal, she's never had a cup of coffee (didn't want to be "that teacher with the scary coffee breath"), and she often eats in her sleep.

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"After all, who knows better than book lovers what kinds of books book lovers want to read?"

"Life has a funny way about it. The way things eventually click together like it was planned that way all along. For a dyed-in-the-wool atheist, it's almost enough to make me question my fundamental disbeliefs.

When I was in high school, like everybody else I tried my hand at fiction. But I could never write anything longer than about three pages, so I gave up in the belief that I didn't have that mysterious knack that all those "real" writers had for telling a story that ran into the hundreds of pages. I didn't get how they did it.

College led me through flirtations with architecture, engineering, and computer science before my loathe of math and ease with term papers led me to a degree in technical writing. That in turn led me to a career in the software industry, which lord knows could use more good technical writers. And there I labored lo these many years.

Until 2005, when we hired a new fellow into our group. At a team meeting, he stood up to introduce himself: "I'm Nathan, I've done blah blah blah"--and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't much paying attention to and don't really remember--"and last November I blogged a novel." That last part caught my attention. Later he told me about NaNo and how he kept himself motivated by posting his daily words (not just his word-count!) to his blog so others could read along.

He encouraged me to give it a try. I, of course, thought the idea was ludicrous. After all, I couldn't write anything longer than about three pages. But the idea stuck with me, and as November approached, the idea morphed in my head into something else: a charity project. It occurred to me that if several people in the team were to write novels during November, we could put them into an anthology which we could then use to raise funds during the company's annual charity drive the following year.

I mentioned the idea to Nathan, who thought it was dandy. I floated it to the rest of the team, and the silence was deafening. But, having opened my big mouth, I felt obligated to at least give it a try. I jumped into November 1st with complete expectations of failure in an attempt to novelize a role playing game I'd been in several years prior.

And then a miracle occurred. The words came. I learned more in November 2005 about creative writing than in every English class in my entire life, combined and raised to an arbitrary power. The game got pared down into a tight, coherent plot with central protagonists, a mysterious adversary, three-act structure, the works. Taking a page out of Nathan's playbook, I blogged my progress too. A few loyal friends read along. And they liked it. 30 days, 100,000 words, and 300 pages(!) later, I was hooked.

Nathan did another NaNo that year, and we met a third person at our company who was also participating. Between the three of us, we had enough material to pull off the anthology project, and in the company's 2006 October charity drive we raised about $4000 which--at Nathan's most excellent suggestion--we donated back to NaNoWriMo. Somehow, we even managed to get Chris to come give a talk during the charity drive to help out, although how he had time to do so in the month before NaNo remains a mystery to me.

Naturally, I NaNo'ed again in 2006 and 2007, all the while thinking that maybe I should have been one of those real writers after all.

And things started to click together. Our team hired a guy named Gary who happened to be a Wrimo. He, Nathan, and myself learned that we all had similar life goals as far as writing and publishing go. And having been exposed to the confluence of writing and community that is NaNoWriMo, I had one of those ideas that changed my life.

In February of this year, I took the plunge. I left my job to start a publishing house called Long Tale Press (http://www.longtalepress.com). Nathan and Gary have both signed on as partners, and together we're trying something different than the standard publishing industry setup. Rather than let agents and editors say which books to publish, we're going to let the community of bibliophiles--Wrimos and avid readers alike--tell us what's worth publishing. After all, who knows better than book lovers what kinds of books book lovers want to read?

I don't know if it'll work. I hope it will. I have a lot riding on it--and I'm not above blaming Chris entirely if it falls flat! Certainly, without him I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing with my life right now. But I have faith that it will, I believe deeply in the talent and creativity of everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo, and those who write in their basements, rec-rooms, and attics but have yet to learn about this wonderful, amazing literary roller-coaster ride. And I believe that a lot of those people just need a place where their work can find its audience, without first having to be stamped with the official Agent and Editor seals of approval.

So when you come into December with a fresh manuscript in your hot little hands, please come give Long Tale Press a visit. We might be just what you're looking for."

--Jason Black

Jason is a three-time NaNoWriMo participant and three-time winner. He lives in Redmond, Washington, with his two young children and one very understanding wife. His hobbies include--wait, noveling takes up all his free time. That'll have to do. Up until recently, Jason was a technical writer guy at, he believes the phrase is, "large software company in Redmond, Washington." And except for NaNoWriMo, he probably still would be.

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"It wasn't even a five-subject, and it contained a whole world..."

"I remember first learning about NaNoWriMo. Somebody I watch on http://Deviantart.com posted a link in their journal, detailing how they were going to write a novel in November. Now I'm thinking, How can you just up and decide to write a novel one day? How do you just say, 'I'm going to start writing a novel today and finish it in thirty days?'

It didn't make any sense to me. I'd always thought that good books just kind of flowed. You'd want to write them so they'd practically write themselves, with no planning, no thinking ahead, no outlines, no character exercises... I thought a good story would magically manifest itself into word perfect and ready for publishing. Even SPELL-CHECK wouldn't stop me!

Oh, I was a fool!

The first year was so tough on me. I hated everything about my cliched piece of crap story by chapter three. It was another one of those, 'Oh, gothic gay kid is discriminated against, omg! Feel bad for him!' type of stories you find on Fiction Press penned by thirteen-year-old girls, a dime a dozen. It was terrible. I knew it was terrible.

I pulled out all the stops, too. I didn't use contractions, I had chapters with song lyric inserts, I described a lot more than I needed to (I spent like 200 words describing some kid's pants, Lord help me). I stayed up one night and wrote 10,000 words 'cause I'd let my story go to hell, and if I wanted to make it I had to bust my booty. Last day of NaNoWriMo I stared angrily at my computer screen and practically PUNCHED the save button. 50,0001 words.

The computer, heavily virus infected at the time (whenever I'd turn it on, my desktop wouldn't load, and it would start playing weird techno music I had never downloaded) erased everything almost instantly. Oh, how I ctrl+Zed! I ctrl+Zed like it would've made a difference. I stared teary eyed at the remains of my NaNoNovel....and loaded up my last save, the last copy I emailed myself, at 35,000 words. Infuriated, I pasted it like six times into a notepad file and submitted it - and promptly felt miserable and went back to bed, which I had sure as hell earned.

I didn't think about that novel again for a long time, as it brought me great frustration. I never once thought about quitting, which was the funny thing. This novel infuriated me because I hated everything about it- but I had it ALL planned out, and there was no way I was going to let this thing beat me. I sat down, angrily attacking my keyboard every night, and goddamn it, it was worth every keystroke!

Second year, this last one, was wicked. I had more fun than I'd ever had on a creative endeavor. Relaxed, I didn't plan ahead- I just knew I had three characters I wanted to do something with. I took deep breaths, brewed coffee, and did this thing right. I never had a plot. I had moments of great desperation where I thought about quitting - it was going nowhere- but I did not. If I'd done it last year, I could do it this year...

I remember how proud and joyful I was when I saw that word counter reach 50,000 - the way I must have been smiling at my monitor when I saw my toolbar loading up the winners page. I remember how cool it was to completely enter another world and let time fly by in my high school classes, simply because I'd opened up my notebook. There was a whole world in there. It wasn't even a five-subject, and it contained a whole world...

I want to do NaNoWriMo every November for as long as my wrists don't give out. There's nothing that can stop me. I'll write in on napkins next year if I have to. I'll dictate it to keyboard-ready friends over the phone. There was one incident where, at the walk-in clinic with my sister, I grabbed a brochure with no blank pages and just wrote like 3,000 words all over it. It was terribly hard to read and type up, but I did it, because I couldn't stand the thought of wasting any time.

Rewrites? No way! These two books aren't going anywhere. I had fun, and I'm happy with the way they are now, sitting unfinished and beautiful in a folder on my C:\ drive. Next year, maybe, if I do well enough, I'll commit myself to a rewrite, but for now? I'm still riding the high.

Heck, I even saved all the episodes of WriMoRadio to my music folder, so whenever I'm feeling uninspired, I put one of them on and it takes me back to the way I felt in November, totally revved up on caffeine and ideas, and I'm able to push myself those few extra hundred words...

NaNoWriMo makes my years brighter. I have something wicked awesome to look forward to. The community is wonderful, warm, and welcoming. I just bought No Plot? No Problem!.

Next year I'm going to bring the pain... and, hopefully, go to regional meet-ups, that would be awesome too, but I'm mostly focusing on the bringing the pain thing. Next year's novel will be better than ever!

Thank you Nano ( : "

--Kaelyn

Kaelyn is a fifteen year old student in New England who has done NaNoWriMo twice. She enjoys heavy metal, old school video games, reading, writing, and doodling. Also, she really, really loves Basset Hounds. The next one Kaelyn gets she's going to name McCartney, but she's going to call it Macca for short. Haha get it, like The Beatle.

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"But, something else happened that was more amazing than the best of write-ins (*gasp*). I met my wife."

"In 2006, I signed up for NaNo hoping to stop being one of those 'one day' novelists. And, it worked. I finished my novel (just barely) as I had planned. However, that 50,000 word story wasn't the only thing I got out of the deal.

Early in November, I was looking for a group of writers who could meet for write-ins in Springfield, IL. At that time, we didn't have our own region (I'm responsible for getting the region the following year), so we were clumped in with everyone else in the Illinois: Elsewhere region. So, I took it upon myself to contact a few people to see about starting a writing group. I searched for Springfield users and sent a few NaNoMail messages. For some others, I used their personal contact information (AIM, e-mail, what have you). It was mostly silence from the other end. I think three people responded in all and there were no write-ins.

But, something else happened that was more amazing than the best of write-ins (*gasp*). I met my wife. Yes, I met my wife because of NaNoWriMo. She was one of the few people who responded and even though we weren't having a write-in, we kept talking. We discovered that we had so many similar interests. Later, we realized that she moved into my home town a few years after I moved out and then moved out a few months before I moved back in. Her father was my mother's pastor. Her parents went to my Eagle Scout ceremony, which she was also invited to, but chose not to go (it's okay, I was invited to see Annie, in which she was the lead role, but chose not to in the end). There were dozens of places where we should have, by all means, met. And yet, we didn't until that November evening.

That friendship grew into a relationship and May 13, 2008, we tied the knot. I owe a lot to NaNoWriMo.

And because of its importance in our lives, we're life-long participants (although, not always winners! oops!). Thank you so much, guys. For everything. You really do make dreams come true, even when the dream isn't literary success. I'll see you in November."

--Jonathan Ingram

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"She supported me in so many ways, from buying me a typewriter instead of new shoes for her job, ensuring I always had paper, and not bothering me when she saw me stabbing those keys."

"It seems that I have been writing all my life.There isn’t a moment growing up where I remember not writing stories about lions, and witches, and dragons. I even hold memories in my heart of trying to convince my friends to write a story with me when they slept over.

The best thing about this passion though was my mom. She supported me in so many ways, from buying me a typewriter instead of new shoes for her job, ensuring I always had paper, and not bothering me when she saw me stabbing those keys. This was sometimes used to avoid chores but that’s between me and you…

When I was fifteen she unfortunately got sick and followed a path I couldn’t. Somehow it didn’t seem right to write after her death and I stopped. For over seven years I didn’t write more than letters, although judging from the thickness of the envelopes I knew that I was expelling all my creativity into connecting with those I loved.

It wasn’t until the fall of 2006 when a friend passed me a note in our tax classed with this website and the following message “I am a writer and you are a stay at home mom, I challenge you to try and beat my score,” that I remembered I wrote short stories. I went home before November the first and took out an old box in the garage and took out the countless pages that I had thrown in there after my mom’s death.

I have to be honest, I was astonished that I had that amount of talent at such a young, inexperienced age. I then came back home, signed up and prepared myself for my first year as a NaNo contender. I didn’t win according to the site but I did win deep down, for I was able to one more sit at my desk and pound away at those keys. And every time I sit down to write I remember my mom, this site, and look at my calendar wishing it was November once more."

-Rose

Rose is a writer from New Mexico.

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"By the end of our conversation, I now had one person that would put sleep and sanity aside for one month to embark on this amazing journey..."

"NaNoWriMo is fun, but it is barrels of fun when you write with a group. Intent on both finishing a 50,000 word novel and dragging a friend or two across the finish line, I began recruiting people a few days before November 1st. Rewarded with mostly blank stares, the finish line seemed farther and farther. But, keeping my head held high, I continued relentlessly towards my goal of beginning and finishing NaNo with friends by my side, because what's the purpose of finishing without someone to share it with?

Well, it was the week before NaNo, and I was knee deep in outlining. Every chance I got, I pulled out my notebook and scribbled like a mad man. And when anyone came near, I asked their opinion on whether or not I should incorporate a vicious man/llama to get the main character to go into the abyss of doom. It was then I met Amanda. Quiet, kind of to herself, I felt she would be the perfect person to ask if my main character should have a wooden leg. Thank goodness I did, too. By the end of our conversation, I now had one person that would put sleep and sanity aside for one month to embark on this amazing journey we now had before us. Before long, one person became two, which then became four, and then we had a nice sized group that made the vow to attempt the journey. Cheers abound, we set off on our journey bright and early that November 1st.

We met frequently during school, meeting up in our small alcove in the school's library. Eventually, we managed to get the librarians to reserve the spot just for us! So, even when the library was full of loud, obnoxious teenagers, we had our tiny get-away between the last row of non-fiction and the first and only shelve of biographies. We had a table with four chairs and two comfy chairs next to the window that opened up into the school courtyard. Many a word was written in that alcove, and many a fun time was had. There was even an incident with a leg appearing inside a window across the yard. Not an entire body, but just a leg.

November marched on, and as did we. We were nearing our goal, and we were helping (read: dragging) each other along the way. One day, I was walking to class a tad bit late due to the fact my main characters wife needed to die, and I couldn't decide whether it should be a simple fall down the stairs due to a drunken stupor, or a slow painful death due to a super-virus that was slowly making it's way across the globe. While walking to my class, a teacher stopped me and asked if I was the one that was organizing the novel writing group. I replied with a modest, yet hurried, yes. She then took my hand and shook it. With a bewildered look, I just stared back. She then said 'I just wanted to shake your hand. You've made people who felt like they didn't belong anywhere in their life feel like they finally belong somewhere.'

Needless to say, I was late for class."

--Dylan Staley

Dylan is a 15 (16 on July 18th!) year old high school student from the capital city of Louisiana. This past year was his first year participating in NaNoWriMo, and it will NOT be his last. Also, Dylan's favorite genres are fantasy and realistic fiction, and his favorite farm animal is a chicken.

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