NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

We're on our way to reaching $100,000 in donations today, but we are not there yet! Our intern Amy caught Chris and I practicing in the hopes that we do make our goal by midnight tonight.

If you'd like to see the full performance on NaNoVideo, be sure to chip in before 12 AM on November 24! I'd hate for Chris' musical stylings (and my red-hot dance moves) to go to waste.

Who can resist this?

Fellow wrimos, this is an opportunity that, under any circumstances, cannot be passed up. Yes, it is indeed... tacos with Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo and the madness that is November! Well, okay, he didn't exactly found the month of November, but he did give us all a reason to be excited about that 30-day wasteland between Halloween and Christmas (Thanksgiving, er, notwithstanding). Now let me tell you a little story about the history of this coupon...

Once upon a time (re: last year), a lucky wrimo named Tupelo won this golden ticket for lunch at a taqueria with Chris. She was, of course, overjoyed, but she held onto the coupon, saving it for what she dubbed "a taco emergency." Well, the opportunity never came. Soon afterwards, Tupelo joined the Office of Letters and Light's shipping crew, and found that she could have tacos with Chris whenever she wanted.

Now unlike most (traditional) fairy tales, Tupelo's happy ending means that she can spread the joy to one of you! So she's auctioning off the coupon on eBay, for anyone who may be desperate to meet & eat tacos with Chris. Now let us tell you, Chris is one accomplished man: he is the dashing author of "No Plot? No Problem! How to Write a Novel in Thirty Days," an athletic hackysack-er (don't let anyone tell you it's not a sport), and a dangerous lover... of Tim Tams and other sugary treats. We can't see why anyone wouldn't want to share a taco lunch with him.

So head over to eBay to bid on this golden opportunity! Bidding ends on Sunday, November 29th. Happy bidding!

Hey, everyone! Chris is still determined to do as many of these as he can; make sure to get out to the forums to cheer him on and encourage him to power more covers out! We've got three stellar ones for you today:

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One

Hundred-Hit Wonders - kattbee
A group of exceptionally good-looking, wealthy high-school graduates with very little musical talent among them forms a band with the intention of getting rich and famous covering 'one-hit wonder' songs. Of course, they hit the big time straight away, shooting to stardom with a pretty decent cover song and sign a record deal. During their world tour, a fellow musician sweeps the lead singer off his feet, and then dumps him because he seems very shallow to her. The lead singer realises he would be a better person if he learned how to sing and wrote a song. The rest of the band thinks he's nuts and carries on with their partying and living in the fast lane, so he leaves the band, causing them drop off the face of the charts and become indeed one-hit wonders (what irony!). In the end, the protagonist succeeds in all his goals -- writes a song and sings it well, gets the girl, and reconciles with his band, which becomes a real band and cuts a new album with all original material (maybe one cover.)

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One (2)

So You Think You're a Vampire - jvolavka
Erica is a young woman with a dull but decent life; she goes to work, she comes home, she spends time with friends and family. She doesn't have a boyfriend because she's "just not interested in dating right now." She lives with her friend, Cassandra, in a downtown apartment near their jobs and goes about her daily life with little variation.

Then Cassandra makes an announcement: she has decided that she is a vampire and that she must find The Others.

Unwilling to let her friend spiral uncontrollably, Erica sets out to prove to Cassandra that she isn't a vampire and that They aren't looking for her.

30 Covers: Week Four, Day One (3)

Destroying Alice - Crunchy
27-year-old vagabond Landon Russell has a special ability: he can see and talk to ghosts. While most heroes would go out of their way to fulfill these spirits' wishes, Landon doesn't care for their unfinished business and pleas for help. After years of avoiding and yelling at the dead to leave him alone, he meets the most troublesome of all: a 19-year-old girl named Alice Sutton. But instead of telling last words to loved ones, taking revenge on whoever caused the death, or even attempting to revive back alive again, she demands a strange request no spirit has ever asked before: to destroy her dead body.

Hope you enjoy! And good luck racing towards that finish line! You can do it!

Each year, we here at The Office of Letters and Light eagerly await our annual shipment of Tim Tams, like grizzly bears gathering stream-side before the yearly salmon migration. (Delicious, chocolaty salmon migrating from Australia.)

As of today, the wait is over.

Not only have we received a massive package of the delectable originals, we have also been graced with new and previously untasted varieties, including the legendary White Tim Tams (peeking out at the top there).

Thanks to ReiKnight for boosting our morale, our word counts, and our sugar intake. Rest assured that we will all be practicing our Tim Tam slam technique during writing breaks.

Good morning, fellow Wrimos! It's Week Three, which is kind of hard to believe, am I right? Hopefully, you are safely at the halfway point in your novels. If so, congratulations! If not, come over and sit at my table. We can commiserate and spur each other on; there's still time!

Take a page from Chris from Fwis, of the indomitable spirit and generous friends: Elena Giavaldi, an extremely talented graphic designer in her own right, has stepped in to create the eye-opening cover below:

30 Covers: Week Three, Day One

Rhythm of a (Reluctant) Desi Heart - crookedmilk

Avantika Chaudhari might be Indian by name, but she is a true Singaporean by heart. She chopes her seat, uses Singlish fluently and can even swear in Cantonese pretty fluently. She ain't any Indian Avanktika in school, but is the popular social butterfly Ava, who is pampered to the extremes by her very Indian, very Desi parents.

Then, an wedding invitation comes from her father's family in Delhi, India, and Ava finds herself unwillingly whisked away into a world of rickshaws, lassi and ... bhangra?!

Enjoy! And don't forget to check out the forums and give Chris and Elena their well-due props, speculate over whether the cover selection process includes aliens or baseball bats, and dare Fwis to reach for even greater heights.

Ahoy all! Congratulations on making it through the second week of NaNoWriMo! Don't worry, the real world understands that you are creating whole universes in your novels. It'll still be here when you get back. Power through! (Are you sick of my flagrant use of exclamation points yet? I hope not!!!!)

Chris from Fwis presents:

30 Covers: Week Two, Day Three

Lapochka (Soviet Kid) - cloister

A young woman searches for her father through clues hidden in underground Russian comic books from the Cold War.

I'm a big fan of this one, it feels robust, you know? Check out the forum if you get the time this weekend. Any big plans? Write-ins? Let me know!

Tim

We hope writing is going well! Make sure to check us out on twitter to keep up with the latest news about NaNoWriMo, and give Chris a "Fight on!" cheer at his website.

30 Covers: Week Two, Day Two

Die Peperoni im Heu (The Pepper In the Hay) - Mandarinente

One day Matilda the cow finds in her rack for fodder a red pepper. This odd vegetable fascinates Matilda . It seems to her to be a greeting from a strange and totally alien world. Matilda absolutely wants to find out where this plant comes from and betakes without knowing it, a long and adventurous journey.

We hope you're enjoying this project! We've been name-checked over at Design Milk, which is kind of cool. Have y'all ever picked up a book because of its cover in a store? Which one?

Happy second week of National Novel Writing Month! I bring you a little impetus to keep you chugging forward: more novel covers! Go to the forums to keep cheering Chris on; he's attempting a novel in addition to the 30 Days, 30 Covers project, on top of continuing to shepherd Fwis towards graphic design rock stardom. By the hammer of Thor!

30 Covers: Week Two, Day One

King of the Food Court - slithy-toves

Old timers come to him for coffee
Pretty girls talk to him for rest
Plastic trays and paper plates
All the people here got dates
With the King of the Food Court

Pretty awesome. What are your favorite covers so far?

- Tim

Good afternoon Wrimos across the globe! Today is November 5th and the covers just keep on coming. Hopefully, so do your words! In a perfect world, you should be at just over 8,000 words. I, personally, am at just over 1,000. Unfortunate, but we will persist! That's what Congress-man would want us to do:

30 Covers: Day Four

Meet John Foe - MartianMenace

Charles Wilson Schmitz, newly-elected Representative from Missouri's 2nd District, discovers shortly after arriving in the Nation's Capital, that he's developed superpowers! Deciding to put his new talents to (literally) good use isn't going to be easy though - especially with a public career to maintain and a real villain lurking in the wings. Can he keep a secret identity while followed by political pundits, lobbyists, and the media? Can he save the day, get the girl, and still hold on to his elected office? This looks like a job for . . . Congressman!

Again, get to the forum during a writing break and bend Chris-from-Fwis' ear!

Welcome to your daily edition of 30 Covers, 30 Days! You can check out a neat interview one of our very own Wrimos did with Chris from Fwis if you click right here.

30 Covers: Day Three

The Beauty of a Grid - delucaa

When he inherits a locked box that has no key from an unknown relative, an adopted young man must travel across the country in search for his real parents in hopes that they will provide the answers about not only the box, but his childhood of which he has no memory. While battling his obsessive compulsive disorder along the way, he encounters characters from all walks of life and gets a glimpse of the real America in this poignant tale of adventure, redemption, and self discovery.

Get over to the forums if you get a chance and let Chris know what you think!

And we hope noveling is going great for all of you! Mine's coming in fits and starts, but I think I'm on the verge of finding a groove. How're you guys doing?

- Tim