NaNoWriMo Blog - No Plot! No Problem!

Wrapping Up 30 Covers, 30 Days

OLL Interns — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:50:46 +0000

The Board of Covers

The curtain has officially come down on 30 Covers, 30 Days for all of us here at NaNoWriMo, and we hope you enjoyed the incredible show Fwis put on as much as we did. Chris Papasadero proved his graphic design genius in November, pumping out 19 gorgeous, intelligent covers for 19 lucky Wrimos.

1. The Business - Solita
2. Traffic Lights - fadingwinds
3. The Beauty of a Grid - delucaa
4. Meet John Foe - MartianMenace
5. King of the Food Court - slithy-toves
6. Die Peperoni im Heu (The Pepper in the Hay) - Mandarinente
7. Soviet Kid (Lapochka) - cloister
8. Rhythm of a (Reluctant) Desi Heart - crookedmilk (Thank you to Elena Giavaldi!)
9. Hundred Hit Wonder - kattbee
10. So You Think You're a Vampire - jvolavka
11. Destroying Alice - Crunchy
12. Fragrance of the Crepe Myrtle - HMSChocolate
13. Till minne av dig (In Memory of You) - Zahra
14. Nightmares & Cityscapes - JupiterStar
15. Matando Hombres Muertos (Killing Dead Men) - J. Raoul
16. The Staff of Thollecombe Manor - CatsEnjoyPotatoes
17. A World Without Men - Tomorrow
18. He Didn't Take Me to Prom and Other Disappointments - dchadbrown
19. Welcome to Hell - Takato Metallium

Sure, it's not the perfect record I know Chris was hoping for, but I'll say it to anyone who asks: 19 is pretty darn impressive, especially when you consider Chris is running a successful design firm and was writing a NaNo-Novel to boot!

We want to thank all of you, for the passion, creativity and community you bring to NaNoWriMo every November, and for embracing the 30 Covers project in that spirit! I know Chris has had a blast getting to know you and talking in the forums, and--as a first year intern--I've been totally overwhelmed and grateful to be so immersed in NaNoWriMo this past month and the first annual 30 Covers!

We definitely have some kinks to work out in future years, but just think! You can tell your kids that in 2009, the Steelers landed their sixth Super Bowl win, Barack Obama won the Nobel Prize, and 30 Covers launched. Momentous occasions all.

Thank you again, and see you next year!

Two Free Slots in Lani Diane Rich's Revision Class!

Chris Baty — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:19:04 +0000

Lani Diane Rich
UPDATE ON 12/20/2009: We've selected our two winners at random and ~~as soon as we hear back from them and confirm they can take the class, we'll post their names here! If they can't, we'll pick two more winners!~~ they are Angel and Angie! Thanks to everyone who entered! The excerpts were great!

Once upon a time, long before Lani Diane Rich was a New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, she was an aspiring writer and stay-at-home mom living in Alaska. It was October 31, 2002, she was surfing the internet, and she happened across the National Novel Writing Month website.

Lani signed up for NaNoWriMo on a whim, and wrote what would become the RITA-award-winning Time Off for Good Behavior (Warner Books), the second-ever NaNoWriMo manuscript to be published. She followed that up with eight more novels, two of them NaNoWriMo manuscripts (Maybe Baby and Wish You Were Here).

She’s funny. She’s a great writer. And, best of all, she’s teaching an online workshop on revision over at Storywonk.com in January, and she’s offered to give away two slots in her class to NaNoWriMo participants!

Here’s an overview from Lani on the class:

“When you write a novel in the total freedom of NaNoWriMo, what you end up with is the good stuff---that rare, magical you-ness that can be difficult for authors to access when their internal editor is shouting commands and criticism over their shoulders. What you need from a revision process is to learn how to insert structure to make your magic accessible to the readers you'd like to have - agents, editors, or the mass populace. This Storywonk Revision class walks you through the revision process with this in mind, breaking revision into phases that allow you to focus on specific objectives with each pass. The six-week course includes live, weekly, online video classes (recorded for your convenience) and access to a private forum where I provide personal encouragement and answers to your questions.”

Want one of those two free slots? Just post the first paragraph from your 2009 NaNoWriMo novel in the comments section of this blog! Please include a link to your NaNoWriMo author profile or blog so we can get ahold of you and let you know you won. We’ll pick two excerpts at random on December 20, and you’ll be off to Storywonk revisionland!

Thanks, Lani! Good luck, everyone!

Chris

Donation Derby: Winners in the House!

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:49:53 +0000

We've passed the November 30 finish line, and the checkered flag has come down on the 2009 Donation Derby.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Donation Derby, it is an annual fundraising contest in which all NaNoWriMo regions are divided into six animalian leagues: The Kodiak Bears, The Siberian Tigers, The Komodo Dragons, The Wolverines, The Tasmanian Devils, and The Badgers. (Why these animals? Because they are fearsome and cute, much like Wrimos!) To be as fair as possible, we divided the leagues based on their number of homed, active participants in 2008. Because numbers can vary wildly from one year to the next, the Derby compares last year’s average donation amount to this year’s amount.

Like NaNo, which is essentially a competition against yourself, the Donation Derby is a way for each region to see what they can accomplish from one year to the next.

How does one win this Derby of fundraising, fur, and ferocity? A league’s winner is the region with the highest average increase in donations between last year and this year, as recorded at midnight on November 30th.

If we look at total donations, or even average donation per participant, we’re likely to see the same regions coming out on top every year. To encourage everyone to donate, we compared this year’s average with last year’s. And it worked! We are pleased that donation rates are at nearly eight percent this year. Kapow!

The winners for each league are:

Kodiak Bears- USA :: New York :: New York City

Courtesy of National Digital Media

Siberian Tigers- USA :: California :: Elsewhere

Courtesy of ltshears

Komodo Dragons- Australia & New Zealand :: Australia :: Canberra & the ACT

Courtesy of Amy the Nurse

Wolverines- USA :: Georgia :: Augusta

Courtesy of mannyh808

Tasmanian Devils- USA :: South Carolina :: Spartanburg

Courtesy of philcamill

Badgers- USA :: Texas :: Longview

Courtesy of Nick Lawes

Our congratulations and heartfelt thanks to all six winning regions. In addition to the undying gratitude of all of us here at The Office of Letters and Light, the winning regions will also receive:

- A customized web badge to show off on blogs and regional websites
- A special hand-crafted email from Chris Baty
- Their region's name on a trophy, which will live here at HQ

High-frequency waves of appreciation also go out to 2009's three highest overall fundraising regions:

1) Seattle, Washington
2) New York City, New York (also a league winner!)
3) Los Angeles, California

Finally, thanks to all WriMos in every region who donated this year! We quite literally couldn't have done it without you. With your help, we have badger-kicked all previous fundraising records into oblivion!

Interview with Literary Agent Mary Kole about NaNoWriMo and queries

OLL Interns — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:15:09 +0000

Mary Kole

Mary Kole is an associate agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency, where she represents children's picture books, middle grade fiction, and young adult fiction. Mary was kind enough to answer our questions and share her thoughts on submissions, revision, and that special NaNo glow.

We've heard rumors that literary agents see a sharp uptick in manuscript submissions and query letters on December 1 thanks to NaNoWriMo. Is there any truth to this?

Yes. In fact, several agents joke that December is "NaQuRejMo," which cruelly stands for "National Query Rejection Month." In all seriousness, though, we do see a lot of queries in December. Some of those queries even boast that the project is a fresh NaNo baby. This makes us cringe a little because we love polished projects.

What is NaNoWriMo's reputation amongst literary agents? Are we the bane of your existence? The wind beneath your wings?

A lot of great published novels (like Sara Gruen's Water For Elephants) got their start during NaNoWriMo. But the key word in the last sentence is "start." I bet Sara Gruen put lots and lots of work into her masterpiece, even before she sent it off to her agent. Agents love authors who take their craft seriously, who have great writing habits and who finish what they start. NaNoWriMo teaches participants all of these valuable things and gets them started with a flying leap. Agents, however, don't take kindly to people who submit things that aren't ready to be seen by professionals. We know how hard it is to hold back enthusiasm for your totally amazing blockbuster idea, but we really want to see things that shine, tell a complete story, have amazing writing and incredible voice. Those are things that mostly emerge during revision.

Do you have any NaNoWriMo participants in your stable of clients? Do you find them to be perhaps better looking or more charming than your other clients?

All of my clients are drop-dead gorgeous but you know what? The NaNo participants do seem to have that certain something. No wonder! And every November, they only seem to get more luminous... like they're full of letters and light. Coincidence? I myself have dabbled in NaNo. That, I think, is the secret to why I'm so awesome (and to my gracious humility, natch).

Let's say that the first draft of my NaNoWriMo novel completely rocks. What are some things I should be sure to do before sharing it with an agent? Are there any things I should be sure not to do?

I liken a first draft to a skeleton. It's got shape and all the right bones, but it's missing a whole lot of fleshing out. Creating a story arc and finishing a manuscript-length draft is a great skill to learn and an incredible achievement. Thanks NaNo! But revision is an even more important skill. That's the one that requires time, patience and lots of practice to learn. It only takes one try to write a first draft. Most writers then revise anywhere from three to a zillion times before their manuscript is "ready for prime time."

NaNoWriMo is great because it provides writers with resources, forums, profiles, blog guidance, videos and more. There are regional groups and write-ins and a fabulous midnight kick-off party. NaNo is a great resource for meeting other ambitious writers. Use it. If you're not in a critique group already, join one ASAP. The initial writing process might've been a lonely and intense one, but revision is best done with input from other like-minded folk. If you get an agent and then an editor, you'll get notes and feedback from them. It's best to get in the habit of discussing and sharing your work early. Besides, writers usually have a lot of emotions and ego wrapped up in their work. It's almost impossible to see your own stuff objectively. That's why you need feedback from other preferably published or more experienced writers.

Once you're getting feedback from some kind of critique group, get on a schedule that alternates revision with taking a break. A lot of revision work is subconscious. Ideas will strike you when you least expect them. Scenes will spring to mind. Connections will be forged that you didn't notice before. Themes will start to emerge. Give yourself plenty of time to read and rewrite, but also give yourself plenty of time away from the page. Your brain's impressive back burner will continue thinking. The next time you come back to your manuscript after a few weeks or months, I guarantee you'll have ideas and notice things you never did before.

This all involves time and patience, but it's well worth it. Instead of being a casualty of NaQuRejMo, really spend the time. Every time you sit down to write or revise, you'll be growing and learning the craft. And maybe I'll see your NaNoWriMo submission in my inbox... next December! Revision is the real work, but also the real fun, of writing.

Thank you, Mary!

Thanks, and congratulations to all the NaNo participants who've just finished their full-length manuscripts. Wahoo!

NaNoWriMo 2009: All Kinds of Crazy

Chris Baty — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:26:33 +0000

When historians look back over the 00's, November 2009 will be remembered for three news headlines that changed our lives forever:

1) Claims and Risk Management Service Provider Avizent Appoints Shirley Collinsworth to Lead Newly Created Transportation Liability Unit

2) Accuvant Named One of the Best Places to Work in Denver

3) NaNoWriMo Goes All Kinds of Crazy

Seriously.

General Stats Round Up!

(This is just for NaNoWriMo.org---NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program was also absolutely enormous this year, and will have its own round-up).

This year, we had 167,150 participants, up 40% from 2008's total of 119,301.
We wrote a total of 2,427,190,537 words, up 48% from 2008's collective word count of 1,643,343,993.
This averaged out to 14,531 words per person.
We had 32,173 winners, up 48% from 2008's total of 21,683.
This gave us a 19.2% win rate, the highest in modern NaNoWriMo history. (Last year we had an 18.2% win rate; in 2007 it was 15.1%).

Our Top 50 Wordiest NaNoWriMo Regions

1. Seattle
2. Maryland
3. Los Angeles
4. Germany and Austria
5. New York City
6. Chicago
7. Holland and Belgium
8. Twin Cities
9. London
10. Dallas/Ft. Worth
11. Portland
12. Atlanta
13. Denver
14. Austin
15. East Bay
16. Toronto
17. Northern Virginia
18. Boston
19. Melbourne
20. England, Elsewhere
21. Vancouver
22. Houston
23. Sydney
24. Sacramento
25. South Bay
26. New Hampshire
27. Finland
28. New Zealand
29. Philly
30. San Francisco
31. San Diego
32. St. Louis
33. Salt Lake City
34. Detroit
35. Birmingham-West Midlands
36. Sweden
37. Phoenix
38. Edmonton
39. Pennsylvania, Elsewhere
40. Pittsburgh
41. Michigan, Elsewhere
42. Central New Jersey
43. Kansas City
44. France
45. Raleigh-Durham
46. Maine
47. Ottawa
48. Orlando
49. Columbus
50. Australia, Elsewhere

Our Top 50 Wordiest NaNoWriMo Regions by Average Words Per Person

1. Margaret River, Australia
2. Tanzania,
3. Quebec, Quebec
4. Thailand
5. Emsdale, Ontario
6. Daytona Beach, Florida
7. Russellville, Arkansas
8. Moses Lake, Washington
9. Malta
10. Ridgecrest, California
11. Brevard County, Florida
12. Isle of Skye, Scotland
13. Fulton, Missouri
14. Kingsland, Georgia
15. Northern Ireland
16. Sebring, Florida
17. Latvia
18. Kewanee-Henry County, Illinois
19. Northeast Ireland
20. Sudbury, Ontario
21. Chadron, Nebraska
22. Lewisville, North Carolina
23. Cornwall, England
24. Oxford, Ohio
25. Dickinson, North Dakota
26. Plymouth, Massachusetts
27. Micronesia
28. Longview, Texas
29. Chattanooga, Tennessee
30. Richmond, Indiana
31. Central Iowa
32. Lake County, Ohio
33. Emporia, Kansas
34. Marion, Ohio
35. Lewis County, Washington
36. Exeter and Devon, England
37. Oxfordshire, England
38. Naperville, Illinois
39. France
40. Taiwan
41. Elsewhere, South Carolina
42. Key West, Florida
43. Niagara, Ontario
44. Gloucester and Cheltenham, England
45. Tiffin, Ohio
46. North Bay, Ontario
47. Bulgaria
48. McMinnville, Oregon
49. Elsewhere, Idaho
50. Switzerland

Our site traffic was also off the charts. Thanks to a generous educational grant covering our fall quarter, we were able to move to Amazon Web Services EC2, which completely rocked our pancakes, and allowed us to add dozens of servers in the blink of an eye. Which we did. Oh, did we ever. Site slowness was effectively ended. We rejoiced.

In November, we had 4,014,203 visits, up 44% from 2008. We had 25,710,491 pageviews, up 48% from 2008.

Top 50 NaNoWriMo Cities according to Google Analytics, based on Number of November Visits from those Fine Places

City/Visits
1. London 109,608
2. New York 53,280
3. Seattle 46,252
4. Los Angeles 44,234
5. Portland 39,124
6. San Francisco 38,047
7. Melbourne 33,916
8. Sydney 33,042
9. Denver 32,369
10. Chicago 32,237
11. (not set) 30,774
12. Minneapolis 24,113
13. Austin 20,101
14. Washington 19,305
15. Atlanta 18,880
16. Edmonton 17,392
17. Brisbane 16,332
18. St Louis 15,951
19. Sacramento 15,712
20. Houston 15,165
21. Calgary 15,107
22. Don Mills 15,026
23. Dallas 14,907
24. Salt Lake City 14,116
25. Manchester 13,957
26. Tucson 13,732
27. Vancouver 13,619
28. Columbus 13,381
29. Ottawa 13,182
30. Albuquerque 12,797
31. Phoenix 12,673
32. Helsinki 12,558
33. Philadelphia 12,295
34. Eugene 12,293
35. Raleigh 12,121
36. Perth 11,809
37. Indianapolis 11,377
38. San Antonio 11,294
39. Colorado Springs 11,167
40. Auckland 10,884
41. Dublin 10,788
42. Singapore 10,671
43. San Diego 10,639
44. Brooklyn 10,573
45. Pittsburgh 10,351
46. Madison 10,276
47. Honolulu 9965
48. Adelaide 9946
49. Birmingham 9908
50. Kansas City 9893

Top 50 NaNoWriMo Countries according to Google Analytics, based on Number of November Visits from those Fine Places

Country/Visits
1. United States 2,818,077
2. United Kingdom 314,267
3. Canada 282,009
4. Australia 117,785
5. Germany 64,368
6. Netherlands 52,598
7. Finland 29,774
8. Sweden 25,940
9. New Zealand 23,171
10. France 23,163
11. (not set) 18,304
12. Ireland 14,818
13. Norway 13,691
14. Japan 12,583
15. Philippines 11,383
16. South Africa 10,983
17. Singapore 10,717
18. Spain 10,626
19. Belgium 10,518
20. Denmark 10,193
21. India 10,172
22. Austria 8800
23. Mexico 8542
24. Italy 7572
25. Switzerland 7173
26. South Korea 6592
27. Malaysia 5731
28. Brazil 4657
29. Portugal 4450
30. Israel 3907
31. China 3513
32. Indonesia 3280
33. Poland 3205
34. Hong Kong 3085
35. Romania 2826
36. Hungary 2568
37. Argentina 2535
38. Russia 2427
39. Puerto Rico 2366
40. Estonia 2347
41. Latvia 1957
42. Turkey 1945
43. United Arab Emirates 1796
44. Czech Republic 1743
45. Chile 1652
46. Greece 1629
47. Thailand 1465
48. Iceland 1136
49. Guam 1127
50. Taiwan 1111

Yay, stats geeking!

So, if this was your first time, how did it go? If you're a returning Wrimo, how did this NaNoWriMo feel different from previous years? Did the bigger crowds make for a more exciting event? Or just bigger crowds? Did you meet any interesting characters at write-ins? Did your region move up the list of wordiness? We'd love to hear your thoughts, impressions, and highlights of NaNo 2009!

Chris

30 Covers, 30 Days: Coda

OLL Interns — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:06:05 +0000

You thought we were done, but like the Energizer Rabbit, or a horde of zombies, or Arnold Schwarzenegger, we keep coming back. On the day of the deadline, November 30th, Chris made a comeback that would rival Mickey Rourke's and posted five more covers. Observe the visual splendor:

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (1)

Matando Hombres Muertos (Killing Dead Men) - J. Raoul

After bearing witness to a mob hit, a reluctant parking lot guard follows what his conscience dictates and makes an anonymous call to the local authorities. A day later, he is kidnapped and taken to an unknown location, where he is humiliated and tortured for hours. He readies himself to occupy a nameless grave in the desert but a tremendous blunder during the transportation of his body saves his life. Left for dead due to the nature and context of his predicament, he is discovered and a surgeon truly committed to his job ignores the consequences and saves the guard.

A happy ending? Hardly, for the man who saved the guard’s life had yet to know the full repercussions of saving a dead man. Ramsey is now a target of the Masseria family and their broad net of corruption, as well as a political tool to boost the career of an idealistic governor and end the careers of many others. On top of that, seeking to hurt their rivals and gain part of the border's prized turf, the drug trafficking cartel known as Los Duques has entered the conflict, protecting the marked man in pursuit of their own interests.

The general public knows no faith, no hope. There are no prayers or pledges for the soul of Nick Ramsey, only morbid interest upon knowing that he shall die soon at the hand of whoever reaches him first. No one hopes for his survival; they can only wonder who shall eventually kill him.

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (2)

The Staff of Thollecombe Manor - CatsEnjoyPotatoes

"The real mystery here is not that of the murderer's identity, but of why a Manor with only one inhabited room occupied by an old, dying man requires the full complement of a butler, a housekeeper, a cook, countless maids, a nanny, a gardener and a hall boy."

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (3)

A World Without Men - Tomorrow

One hundred years into the future society is being rebuilt and women have made a science that will change society forever - they are bringing men back to life seventy years after the war that killed every man in existence. With the oldest male in society at five years of age how will life change for these women? And can they stand their world changing just as much as it did seventy years ago?

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (4)

He Didn't Take Me to Prom and Other Disappointments - dchadbrown

High school sweethearts reconnect after 35 years and see if the magic is still there beneath all the emotional baggage.

30 Covers: Another Final Batch (5)

Welcome to Hell - Takato Metallium

Every God and Goddess has to go to school. Hades is no exception. For third years at Olympia Academy it's 'that year' - the year they discover what they'll be presiding over for the rest of eternity. For some it will be a year they will never forget, and for others it will be a year they would rather not remember...

When Hades, and subsequently the school, learn that he will be presiding over Hell, he is shunned. Soon it seems that even his brother Poseidon has abandoned him. The only ones who don't do this are Loki - Hades' roommate, a mischievous exchange student from Scandinavia - and Bastet, a level headed cat Goddess attending the Academy from Egypt. Both whom eventually become the future Ruler of the Dead's best, and only, friends.

A ski trip to Mount Vesuvius during the winter holidays soon uncovers a much more sinister plot. Persephone is being targeted by an unknown force; completely unaware of the danger she's in. With the help of his friends, Hades must prove his innocence in the downfall of Pompeii and warn the school in time to rescue Persephone from the unknown threat. Or does he have to dive in headfirst with only Loki and Bastet keeping him afloat and hope for the best?

Check out the forums to let Chris know what you think! And give the guy a round of applause, folks, he did an incredible job.

Thanks, and congratulations to all of you for surviving another NaNoWriMo! A true accomplishment.

The Night of Writing Dangerously: Noir-tastic

OLL Interns — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:58:00 +0000

On November 22nd, Wrimos from around the world gathered in San Francisco at the Julia Morgan Ballroom to participate in A Night of Writing Dangerously: Write-a-thon 2009!

We've got to start by observing some hardboiled noir tradition: It was a dark and stormy night...

(Between you and me, though, it was a clear and gorgeous night. Atmosphere! Artistic license!)

As one of your friendly registrars, I got to wait behind the closed doors to the entrance while our awesome, costumed Wrimos gathered in the lobby. Kind of an epic moment when those doors flung open and Wrimos came strutting in in all their finery.

We had Wrimos from all over the United States and even some from whole other countries—two all the way from Australia!

In your own words:

trishfoto National Novel Writing Month, Night of Writing Dangerously! #nowd From Montreal, to Vancouver, to Seattle, to San Francisco. I am here!
7 days ago from web

stetted In the beautiful Julia Morgan Ballroom in SanFran. Getting ready to write! And drink! Woo! #nanowrimo #nowd
7 days ago from web

Wrimos were greeted with some rad Write-a-thon tote bags filled with goodies. If there was ever a tote bag that signaled the wearer was not to be messed with, it’s this bag.

nowhereme Thank you #NoWD for providing me with free beer while I write my novel! And guiness none the less!!
7 days ago from txt

Our awesome staff and volunteers put together some incredible donations to be raffled off, ranging from gift certificates, to painstakingly crafted paper cranes, to our favorite novels.

Most incredible of all, though:

That’s right. I can confirm for you now that what you’re looking at is a doll of the one and only Chris Baty. A Mini-Chris, if you will. I have to believe that, out there, in one of the millions of parallel universes, there is a universe both awesome enough and weird enough that its toy warehouses cannot stay full of crates of this doll.

Also, yes, that is a Viking helmet.

ClaudiaVice Night of Writing Dangerously: world's biggest laptop party? I think so
5:32 PM Nov 22nd from txt

A small section of the candy buffet, provided by the amazing Cybele. For a more detailed description, you can check out her Candy Blog! Mouth-watering may occur. You’ve been warned.

mighty_mudha SUGAR HIGH! yay for lots of sugar :) #nowd
7 days ago from web

candyblog I've really enjoyed sharing all this candy. It's so fun to watch people go up to the buffet and pick out each morsel like a treasure.#NOWD
7 days ago from web

Lindsey and Sarah, our valiant master of ceremonies, at the podium; the 50,000 word bell sharing center stage. We had 18 winners at the event! Congratulations to: WICKidEGO, Seykolova, ReneeDrake, Ixy_Pixy, DrBSP, ChrisK0, lazym, Kylene, katster, Ethereel, QueenofOdd, tameri_etherton , Jen Gunderson, RoseThorns, Slytherinqt, Modified Bear, Cooper3, and atoma

allhallowssteve Several people already ringing the bell as they reach the 50,000 word mark. I will not be one of them, but I'm happy to clap for them. #nowd
7 days ago from Tweetie

It was great to see tables bonding over word counts and troublesome protagonists. One of the most amazing things about NaNoWriMo is seeing a true community forming around writing, complete with cheering, commiserating, and oddball traditions:

Keatingface NoWD is so amazing! Sitting at the coolest table, written more than 2k already! Word Sprinters are insane. pics to come.
7:10 PM Nov 22nd from web

nisib It's so cute. Everytime I give my dude a word count, he uses his best Sean Connery accent to announce "you're the man now dawg!" #nowd
7 days ago from web

ClaudiaVice And then Erin explained to the one mom at our table what a rufie is. #nowd
7 days ago from web

mapthemind #nowd Another word sprint, this one is 15 minutes. Thank god for these, it's the only thing getting me closer to my goal.
7 days ago from web

fshk Dude, someone wrote 2000 words during a 15 minute sprint. I wrote a 1084. These are the best sprints ever, but people here are INSANE. #nowd
7 days ago from TweetDeck

We had word sprinters racking up some mindblowing numbers. Sprint winners received a grave and coveted honor:

Wars have been fought over glory such as this.

mighty_mudha lack of flowerpot hat makes my head feel cold.... #nowd
7 days ago from web

We did have a few hitches; though we’d taped down miles of extension cords and boxes full of power strips all over the ballroom, Wrimos had to dig deep for that technical savvy and general ingenuity to rig up some quick solutions to electricity issues. Just another hurdle leapt, ma’am. Another hurdle leapt.

DrinkyChimp The power went out at our table! Freakout! It's all running just fine now after some judicious plug-wiggling. #nowd
7 days ago from web

To reward such hard work, like an angel from some pastry-laden heaven, descended:

ClaudiaVice DONUT NURSE. #nowd
7 days ago from txt

Donut Nurse. Psycho Donuts. Deeply disturbed. Deeply delicious.

NaNoWriMo Crazy delivery of donuts for #NOWD from @PsychoDonuts. 1 called Bananarama is custard filled & covered in banana chips. Genius!
7 days ago from HootSuite

jennyjewell I think they might be trying to kill us with all this yummy sugar. Is this a trick to steal our novels and claim them as their own!? #nowd
7 days ago from web

CoreKnell Dozens of donuts just arrived at #nowd - Am beginning to think we are being primed for a slaughter. Thanksgiving in next week. Coincidence?
7 days ago from TweetDeck

Haha, I love how the responses to all the sugar got progressively more skeptical. The noir was getting to all of us. Don’t worry! We use our small allotment of power for good, not evil. It’s the NaNoWriMo way.

And finally, it wouldn’t be a proper Night of Writing Dangerously without the keynote speech by the ever-illustrious, imposingly-statured, man behind the doll himself: Chris Baty.

yarnagogo yay! @chrisbaty speaking now! #nowd
7 days ago from UberTwitter

DrinkyChimp Chris Baty = Necessary Genius #nowd
7 days ago from web

kristenrudd thought @chrisbaty was about to cry giving his pep-talk at the #NOWD. He got a little verklempt, y'all. #nanowrimo
7 days ago from web

jujuwiz Yes, that's why we love Chris Baty. It's pretty awesome to hear from someone with that much passion for what he does. #nowd
7 days ago from Echofon

NaNoWriMo Chris Baty delivered his keynote for the Night of Writing Dangerously. Closing line: The world needs your books. So keep writing. #NOWD
7 days ago from HootSuite

As the night wound down, Wrimos put the pedal to the metal and made those word counts rise:

nisib Just tried to pass off "annoyedly" as a word. #nowd #nanowrimo
7 days ago from web

katster "They were blacker than the blackest black hole." I'm so brilliant! #nowd
7 days ago from TweetDeck

MissKitty680 #NOWD Speeches were made, donuts were had, some goals were met, others abandoned & the candy buffet is no more. Alas NOWD 2009 is over.
7 days ago from TweetDeck

Alas and alack, the Night of Writing Dangerously had to come to an end at some point. When all was said and done, of the 115 people who turned in their "Words Written Tonight" slips, RoseThorns was the victor, with a word count of 11,952 words. The table words wars total was 543,724 words(!) between the 108 who participated in the table wars.

FutureBoy Also, thanks to all (esp. @jessworld) for fantastic b'day brunch. With candy/donuts/pasta at #nowd, total calorie count=total word count.
7 days ago from web

chrisbaty Thanks to everyone who came to the Night of Writing Dangerously! What a great night. Candy hangover commencing...now #nowd
7 days ago from web

Thank you to all the amazing people we here at National Novel Writing Month got to meet at the 2009 Night of Writing Dangerously. And here’s to 2010, and hoping to meet even more Wrimos next year!

30 Covers, 30 Days: A Last Hurrah

OLL Interns — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:16:46 +0000

It's the last day of November and that means the dreaded midnight deadline is only hours away. Pencils are about to come down, and Chris made an incredible and valiant effort this past holiday week, churning out three end-of-November covers for y'all.

To see all the covers Chris from Fwis has completed to date, you can check out this thread in the 30 Covers Forum, or take a peek at Chris' Cover Design Blog.

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (1)

Fragrance of the Crepe Myrtle - HMSChocolate

Crepe myrtles are flowering shrubs or trees native to East Asia, flowers are born in summer and autumn in panicles of crinkled flowers with a crepe-like texture. Colours vary from deep purple to red to white, with almost every shade in between. Some are very lightly scented. The myrtle is a symbol of love, mirth and joy.

For him, she was his beloved flower of love, mirth and joy. Yet without him, she lost that mirth and joy, though always still full of love. Reunited, they must find the mirth and joy that was lost along the way.

Set in the 1700s in the golden era of the Qing dynasty of ancient China, a prince is kidnapped as a prisoner of war. Follow his wife as she goes on a journey to recover him. But even when she finds him, is he still the same person? Can she still find the man she loved somewhere inside the changed man she finds?

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (2)

Till minne av dig (In Your Memory) - Zahra

Sweden, present time: 17 year old Alexander has only one mission in life: to protect his baby sister Ebba from their abusive father. So when Ebba gets sick with cancer, Alexander wants to help by donating his bone marrow. But he discovers that he can't donate because he and Ebba are not siblings.

Alexander fights to find the truth about himself, but also to keep his life, because their father has decided that if Ebba dies, he'll make sure Alexander does, too. A story about how your world turns upside down when someone close to you is ill, about abuse, and about not knowing who you are...

30 Covers, 30 Days: Final Batch (3)

Nightmares & Cityscapes - JupiterStar

Once upon a time, the only way into the realm of dreams was through insanity or magic. But at some point in time, the real world became even more nonsensical and mad than dreams, and now people slip through into this world by accident every day. Darvan is a descendant of one of those accidents and has dedicated his life to helping the lost ones as his own mother was never helped.

But Darvan's got bigger problems on his hands than his usual lost ones...like a faerie prince from the outer realms who's been attacked and infected by a new type of nightmarish were-curse. Or the sons of the two richest feuding crime families in the world being accused of the bloody massacre of their parents. Or the woman whose child has been missing for years now, only to keep reappearing at the scenes of Darvan's cases...

This is the entity known as The City. Welcome home.

Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm for this project! I know Chris has had an amazing time embracing this challenge, in huge part because of the incredible community of Wrimos involved. Keep writing for all you who are racing towards that 50,000! And congratulations to all of you who are already NaNoWriMo Winners!

Preview the $100K Song and Dance!

Lindsey Grant — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:23:50 +0000

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.

Going Once, Going Twice... Tacos with Chris!

OLL Interns — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:35:22 +0000

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!