NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

"But I got inspired by the whole experience, joined http://www.elance.com., got tired of my sucky job and started ghostwriting other people's books."

"After living in my van for 18 months with a dog and my cat (I'm 52 —it wasn't an interim college thing) trying to write my life's story, I gave up and got a job and an apartment and entered my first NaNoWriMo last year. I didn't finish.

But I got inspired by the whole experience, joined http://www.elance.com, got tired of my sucky job and started ghostwriting other people's books. I finished 12 ebooks for a total of 50,000 words, and then another—my first freelance book of 20,000 words on business(boring)—in a month! Yeah!

I now have five more books in the pipes (contracts), a really, really good agent, and am ghosting books for two celebrities. Cool. Now that I know I can actually start and finish A BOOK, I know I'll finish my own book this fall!

Oh, and I started a blog about the demon spawn at my old work place (http://www.danvilleva.blogspot.com), got fired, and celebrated 'cause I'm making more money than I did as an undervalued, unappreciated, much bullied whistle-blowing news hack. Life is good. When one door slams someone opens a window. Stand still and wait for the breeze."

—Becky Blanton

Becky lives in the south, speaks fluent redneck, and loves anything fried. Last year was her first NaNoWriMo—which her employer sabotaged with overtime once he found out she was doing it—but what the heck? He's a demon spawn anyway and she knew it. Just helped her decide to vacate the cubicles of hell faster.

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"Madness is kinda like labor pains. You remember that it happened but you don’t really remember what it really felt like."

"First off let me make it perfectly clear, I am NOT a writer. I never wanted to be. I am a professional costumer. I’d rather sew than sleep. Other than email, an occasional blog post, and letters to my aunt, I never thought about writing. I went to school when they taught phonics instead of spelling, and slept through English classes in high school. The written word was not my friend.

Then in October 2002 my daughter, who is interested in writing, challenged me to sign up for NaNoWriMo. Now, I am one of those folks who can’t resist a challenge—the stranger the better. So in the spirit of family competitiveness, I signed up. I then went through the November from hell. I managed to beat her to the finish line, but only just. I swore to that I would NEVER do such a crazy thing again.

Madness is kinda like labor pains. You remember that it happened but you don’t really remember what it really felt like. Come October 2003, I got an email from Chris inviting me to come try it again. I spent a month writing the most mind numbingly boring piece of drivel, which should have just gone to data heaven and stayed there. I mean seriously, 1000 words on how to make a ham sandwich? This one could put drug companies out of business as a cure for insomnia. Once again, I swore I wouldn’t do it again. After all, giving up a month of sewing, for me, was just daft.

My husband took to teasing me about it, but I was steadfast in my refusal to sign up again. Then in October 2004, I was parked waiting for someone, just sitting in my car looking out the window at an oddly shaped leaf. My eyes kinda unfocused and it looked like the leaf had become a statue in the middle of the open field below. I found myself wondering why that statue would be there and what it would mean and before you know it, I had signed up to write a novel again.

In 2005 I was working on costumes for two different local theatre productions, had a cast on one arm and, you guessed it, was also writing a novel in November. I would walk into rehearsals and announce my word count while fitting people. But another thing happened along the way: I found myself telling folks what I was doing and why I was wearing strange shirts (I’ve gotten myself a t- shirt every year). I was actually trying to talk other people into doing this. What is interesting to me is that my characters started doing things I didn’t expect from them and I had to keep typing just to find out what was going to happen.

The year of 2006 was a hard one for me. I spent over seven months in various hospitals. I started my novel that year, with a plan to have a bunch of old ladies fire bomb hospitals. However, I ended up having surgery part way into the month and didn’t manage to hit 50K. It is pretty hard to type when taking strong pain killers, though I learned a lot of interesting stuff about Thermite and other crazy things. My husband is an engineer and often answers pretty odd questions from me.

Last year (2007) my region of Scotland had only one ML, so I decided to volunteer to be the second ML for the region. I had no clue what I was doing. But I found myself writing pep talks, emailing folks every day and generally trying to get everyone involved. The local theatre was being remodeled so I had an unusually quiet month. I decided to set myself the truly insane challenge of writing 5000 words a day for the entire month. There were a lot of funny moments. A friend had sent me a pack of snack size Butterfingers from the States. I would put one on the table beside my laptop, type like mad and pet it every time I’d check my word count. When I hit my goal for the day, I would eat it. My husband was very amused to watch this. He really doesn’t quite get the chocolate incentive program.

One day I was intensely typing a conversation between two minions, who where just about to tell me why my super villain wanted to blow up the planet, when out of no where my husband yells “FISH.” My train of thought went right out the window and I threatened to feed him peanut butter and jelly with root beer the rest of the month. I never did find out the villain’s motivation. However, I actually went over my goal and ended up with 151,905 words (not including pep-talks, email and such). I also did a road trip after NaNo to meet many of the folks I’d been interacting with along the way.

What NaNo has done for me is to show me the amazing power of seriously challenging yourself to do something you ordinarily wouldn’t even think of trying.

I still don’t want to be a writer, but it is fun to say that I’ve written 5 ½ novels. I have no audience, including me. I don’t even go back and spell check. But that is okay, because other folks have other dreams.

Knowing within myself that I can do something I would have considered impossible makes me look at life in an all new way. It makes me know that telling folks they really can do something and giving encouragement, matters. It is great when they succeed, you can stand up and cheer with them. I look at the world differently and find myself asking questions about how and why things are the way they are. I’ve always liked story telling. I just never expected to do it on a computer.

A dream is a powerful thing. Never be afraid to try for the impossible."

—Anastasia

Anastasia lives on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. She's done NaNoWriMo 6 times and won 5. Her home is on the sea and she loves to kayak. Anastasia lives with a very patient husband and 2 very spoiled cats.

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"Who knew my editor would be this thoughtful, highly verbal but not precociously literate eight-year-old?"

"Last October I received a reminder email from Chris, reminding me that I’d wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo in November, telling me that it was time to get ready. I did, and in November I joined the fray, so to speak. I told everyone I was going to do it, to create some pressure, and I dug around in my journals to find the story, and on November 1, I took off. Unfortunately I had to travel for about a week that month and didn’t have time to write my 1667 words a day. In the end I wrote only 25,000 words. After November ended, I didn’t look at it again for about five months. I felt stuck, no idea where I should go next with it. In April my 8-year-old granddaughter asked me to read my novel to her. Sure that she’d be bored with it, I read a couple of pages aloud and stopped. She looked at me expectantly and asked, 'So... is the story going to start now?'

Assuring her that it started in the very next paragraph, I gulped and wondered if it really did, or if I had spent way too much text on the background information. She asked me to read more, so I did, stopping after every few pages, asking if she’d heard enough yet. She insisted I keep reading. When I tired of the read-aloud, she asked if she could read it on her own for a while, until I was rested and could continue reading. Keep in mind that this is not a children’s book, or even a young adult novel, although it contains nothing objectionable to either age group, so far.

When I finally finished reading it to her, she stopped and thought for a while. Then she asked me what was going to happen next. I admitted that I had no idea, and she said she knew what the protagonist needed to do next. 'Here, let me write it down for you, so you don’t forget.'

On a napkin she wrote that the protagonist needs to go to town on an errand and meet with someone. Her advice made good sense. It will allow me to include a new setting and some new characters to a story that threatens to become permanently stalled.

Throughout my story one of the characters has a blog which is receiving some angry comments, the writer of which has not been revealed yet. After telling me what the protagonist should do next, she asked me, 'Who is writing those blog comments? It seems like it is this girl character, Tracy, but I think it should really be her boyfriend Jordan, instead. It fits his personality better and would be better for the story. Surprising, and it would make sense.' She wrote that down for me also, and told me to go write for a while, to see if I could find the thread again.

The kicker about all this for me is that she is absolutely right. Her ideas are excellent, and I intend to follow them. Now we talk about writing quite a bit, and she often urges me to go work on the novel so she can read some more of it. She is hungry to continue with the story. Who knew my editor would be this thoughtful, highly verbal but not precociously literate eight year old? We seem to have discovered an emerging talent!"

—Lynn Jacobs

Lynn lives in Northern California, and 2007 was her first time doing NaNoWriMo. She hopes to reach 50K in 2008! Lynn is a teacher, writer, mom and grandmother. She loves all those roles!

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"By December 1, they had 1.5 finished NaNos (hers was 50K, his almost 25) and a serious romance."

"It was a dark and stormy night—no really... it was! November 1, 2004 was cold and rainy in Seattle. But the inclement weather was not enough to hinder the novelist wannabees of western Washington from congregating at the Lion's Den in Bothell. Amanda was one of the first people to arrive. Bringing with her a palm pilot with IR keyboard which contained the more than 3000 words she had written just after midnight, she felt prepared but looked awful. (Did you miss how she'd stayed up until she'd written 3000 words after midnight?) Andrew was the last person to show. He had come straight from work and wanted less to type at his novel than to take pictures and chat with the other Wrimos. His laptop computer got much less mileage that night than his DSLR. In fact, he wrote only four words but took more than a hundred pictures.

She thought he was cute—if a little annoying (she hates cameras). He thought she was cute—although he had mistaken the redhead's golden highlights for real blond hair. By that Thanksgiving they were hosting dinner together. By December 1, they had 1.5 finished NaNos (hers was 50K, his almost 25) and a serious romance. In 2005, Amanda became Jr. ML for the Seattle region, and finished another 50K. Andrew was right there and brought in 30K. Andrew proposed on the ice at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, NY on December 23, 2005. On February 14, 2006 the two bought a lovely craftsman cottage north of Seattle and began to plan their wedding.

In 2006, Amanda was the Senior ML and the couple helped put on the first ever pay-per-word sponsorship NaNoWriMo fundraiser. Amanda ended November with another 50K win and her fiance crossed the finish line alongside her with his 1st 50K.

Andrew and Amanda were married March 11, 2007 at Old Christ Church in Pensacola, FL. In the wedding party were three NaNo bridesmaids, including world champion fundraiser Jamie, and AbigailJoy who dared Andrew into NaNo in the first place. Maid of Honor Tara was the person who introduced Amanda to the concept of NaNoWriMo.

The Cherrys have been an inspiration in their region for word count, fundraising, and now romance. Fellow Wrimos Chris and Sora who met at a write-in in 2005 will be married next June in Seattle. Go Ducks!"

—Andrew and Amanda Cherry

Andrew and Amanda hail originally from Long Island, NY and Pensacola, FL respectively. Each came to Seattle, WA after college; Andrew for a job and Amanda to be with a sick friend. On a dare and a lark (again respectively) they joined the ranks of rookie NaNo writers in 2004. They were married March 11, 2007 and still reside in the metro Seattle, WA area. He is a a software developer for Microsoft and she is an actress. Both have been Wrimos faithfully since 2004; he with a pair of wins and she with a perfect record. Amanda, two-time word count champion and 2007 fundraising champion in the Seattle, WA region, will be a 4th year ML in 2008.

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"And in February 2008, we called Kelli again to ask if any of the students might be interested in having us publish their novels."

"On her way to work last November, Open Books Marketing and PR Director Becca Keaty heard a story on NPR about a group of juniors at George Henry Corliss High School who were participating in NaNoWriMo using donated AlphaSmarts. That day, she called teacher Kelli Rushek (who by then had also been featured in the Chicago Tribune along with a few of the students). A week later, 20 of them boarded the El and made the long trek to the Open Books offices for a write-in session.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/openbooks/sets/72157603154213918/

As the month progressed, we kept in touch with Kelli and the kids. At midnight on November 30, we toasted them (along with everyone else in the room, and in words we might not quite recall now...remember that by then some of us, including Stacy, were going on our 37th hour of writing). And in February 2008, we called Kelli again to ask if any of the students might be interested in having us publish their novels.

http://open-books-press.org

From the incredible Open Books volunteer corps, we found at least one editor for each novelist. Illustrators volunteered to do the covers; the amazing Eric Erickson, a local photographer, saw the announcement and did two photo shoots to produce professional author pictures of each writer. We went to Corliss every week to meet with the students, share their editors' comments, and provide encouragement and help. And on May 30, six months to the day after NaNoWriMo 2007 came to its triumphant close, we celebrated the Corliss novelists with a grand gala book event at 57th Street Books, where they read from their published novels to a standing-room-only crowd and signed copies for all their admirers.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/openbooks/sets/72157603963699939/

Did the experience have an unforgettable impact on the Corliss novelists? Do they think that, if they can write a published novel, they can do almost anything (including be the first black female President of the United States)?
Absolutely.

http://blip.tv/file/928171

Some of the Corliss novelists are writing sequels to their first books. Some joined us (and 120,000 other people) at the Printers Row Book Fair to read from their novels at a special session. All are enjoying a well-deserved summer break.

And where will they—and we—be five month from now?
Right back where we started, writing furiously for NaNoWriMo 2008.

—Open Books

Open Books is a nonprofit bookstore, literacy community center, and volunteer corps dedicated to raising awareness about illiteracy, improving reading skills, and spreading the love of books in Chicago and beyond. Their Executive Director Stacy Ratner (Pico on the NaNoWriMo forums) is a six-time NaNoer, so in 2007 they hosted weekly write-ins plus a grand 36-hour final write-a-thon for Chicago Wrimos. For more information than most people would ever want plus a slew of lovely photos, pay them a call at: http://www.open-books.org

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"That's how NaNo 2007 felt, like a birth with the fetus being a seventy-five page labor of willpower and plain old Brooklyn stubbornness."

"The fantastic thing about willpower is that you don't know what it will accomplish before you set down to a task. Amassing your will is a surprising process, usually fraught with procrastination, aggravation and a number of other -ations that I need not go into. Needless to say, it comes out of nowhere, swallowing your time and energy and the byproduct is usually something amazing or wonderful. That's how NaNo 2007 felt, like a birth with the fetus being a seventy-five page labor of willpower and plain old Brooklyn stubbornness.

When NaNo came about in 2007, I was on the brink of bankruptcy. As a college student I simply hadn't had the time or the luck to find a job that would accommodate going to classes and making enough to survive. I managed to skate through thanks to the loving help of my family, but after a string of no-go jobs, I was trapped. I was taking fifteen credits in college, racing to the finish line of a bachelors degree, and I was fully sure I would never be able to survive the hole my finances had become. In my mind, everything was hopeless. After all, why go to all the trouble of getting a degree in film when everyone knew that only big-name people in Hollywood made money in film, and money was what I needed. What was the point of a degree if I couldn't pay my bills? What was the purpose of being creative then, if you couldn't put money towards credit card bills when necessary? I was trapped and sinking fast.

A job came out of nowhere in the last few days of October. It was a daunting retail position, probably the most challenging of my life, and it paid enough to get my life on track. The trouble was that it meant juggling nearly thirty-five hours of work a week with fifteen credits in college, plus any sort of social engagements. As I was just starting the position, a new co-worker reminded me that NaNo was coming up. I was sure there was no chance I would get to it. The fact is, NaNo was (in my mind) for people who had time! Still, I had to take a crack at it and for the first few days and weeks I stumbled and fell and tripped over a plot I was sure was trash. I just kept on chugging on days when I came home from work and my feet ached so terribly I couldn't take it anymore. It was with this sort of exhaustion in me that I got to the last week of NaNo with nearly twenty-five thousand words left. I wasn't going to make it.

Then I went through my realization: NaNo was created, not for those who had the time, but for those who didn't have the time. This was for those who couldn't find time to write, who lost track of their goal to put pen to paper, and who needed a boot-to-butt to get to the business of writing. With the scant time remaining, I carved out the twenty-five thousand, turning out the last 12,000 words in a matter of less than six hours. By the time I was finished, I didn't even remember how I'd written so much, but I'd conquered my own mountain in NaNo that November.

Now I'm still at the same job, still finishing out school, still busy, but that one push in 2007 got me to realize how hard it is to find the time to write... and how vastly rewarding it can be to actually do it. This year's going to be more of the same, only this time I'm taking eighteen credits at college while I try to train for a career in law enforcement in the future. Personally, I can't wait for the challenge."

—Shoshana Kessock

Shoshana is a two time NaNo winner (2006 and 2007), Brooklyn film student and writer, who works retail when she's not slaving away at being a gamer and storyteller.

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"My inner editor is of the tyrannical nit-picking type who lies awake worrying if s/he discovers a single typo in an email AFTER it has been sent."

"Fifty thousand words sounds like an awful lot at the beginning of the month, but when I'd crossed the finish line on or about day seventeen, I was a bit surprised. Not that the story was good, or anything! It was a terrible, disjointed collection of vignettes with no cohesive plot, and even after thirteen more days of work, nothing really got resolved. The characters were only an inch or so deep. Worse, it was full of typos. (My inner editor is of the tyrannical nit-picking type who lies awake worrying if s/he discovers a single typo in an email AFTER it has been sent. 'Horrors! Now they'll think I'm not perfect!')

But it was a fun month. Having learned about the existence of the AlphaSmart in October, I ordered two of them, secondhand, off eBay—one for me, one for my then 11-year-old homeschooling daughter who had decided to write a novel for her English homework during November (she paid for her own AlphaSmart with babysitting money). These handy, portable little word processors have turned out to be just as convenient and useful as people say they are. During November, I enjoyed carrying mine with me while grocery shopping, visiting the doctor, sitting through a child's music lesson, mailing a parcel at the post office—waiting time that had formerly dragged became vivid and productive when my novel was there to keep me company. Twenty minutes of standing in line at the post office, for example—more boring than the grocery store, since the only literature within reach is of government issue—seemed no time at all when I could hammer out the details of another chapter in my story. By the way, whoever designed our town's post office must have been sympathetic to the needs of novelists: there is a railing with a broad, flat wooden shelf just at elbow level running the length of the waiting area. While others were using it only to rest their parcels on before mailing, I found it to be a wonderful, extended desktop for a keyboard. Every time the line moved up, I just slid my parcel and my AlphaSmart along with me and kept typing.

Possibly the three most interesting results of participation in NaNoWriMo were these, for me:

1) I get to tell everyone I wrote a novel, which is, of course, why many of us participants do it in the first place.

2) After winning, I suddenly realized I had it in me to finish a novel I'd begun writing as a gift for my two older daughters several years ago. It couldn't POSSIBLY be worse than my NaNoNovel, I reasoned, so I hauled it out and began typing again, having transferred the last of November's finished work into the computer to give me space to start afresh on my AlphaSmart. Nowadays, that's what I work on while my younger kids are digging sand castles at the park.

3) When April rolled around, I was all ready to try my hand at a real play with ScriptFrenzy. The experience of participating in, and winning, NaNoWriMo had given me courage to venture even deeper into the world of writing for the theatre. None of my previous plays had been longer than about twenty pages, but hey, anyone who can write 50,000 words of a novel can easily come up with 100 pages of a script, right? Sure enough! 108 pages, and THIS time the story hung together and had a beginning, a middle and an ending!

All I need now is an idea for NaNoWriMo 2008..."

—Barbara

Barbara is a 51-year-old married mother of six (four grown-up, but the 12 year old did NaNoWriMo last year when she was still 11...and won), writer (mostly emails), artist and craftsperson. NaNoWriMo: winner, 2007. ScriptFrenzy: winner, 2008. She likes sassafras trees, mockingbirds, crickets, tap-dancing, and T-shirts with appropriate witty sayings on them.

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"He had snuck into our computers and stolen our words."

"When my middlest daughter came home from high school talking about Nano-neeno something or other and asking if she could please please do it, I had to consider my answer. Kathryn was in grade 12 last year and on top of the normal pressures of her final high school year, she was trying to recover from a head injury and whiplash from a serious car accident. To invest in a month of writing on top of grade 12 courses seemed ridiculous. She was barely making it to school 2 days a week because of pain, headaches and dizziness. But it was only September and I did not have to commit my answer until November so I gave a 'hmmm maybe.'

By October it became clear that this was an important goal. Kathryn and her best friend were having character planning meetings over McFlurries or sitting outside by a river, or in a corner of the high school under the stairs. And when she could not get out of bed, she was still excited about the setting of her book or Googling supporting historical or geographical details.

Who knew the NaNoWriMo bug would be contagious? By mid-October my youngest daughter was doodling ideas and I had begun checking out historical novels for some.... uh... research of interest. November first, we all three were on board. It was exciting and fun comparing notes over dinner. When one of us was faltering, another would bring out the thesaurus or start throwing out outrageous ideas until the writer gave in to our well-meant support and started writing again.

For Kathryn, alas, her computer hard drive died in week three. Although her amazing Dad was able to bring it back from the dead before the deadline, she was short by several thousand words. No tears though. She is proud of her story and looking forward to another bout of writing in the future. I had done my minimum a week before the 30th. But Robin, my 16-year-old, was fighting it to the end. Having done much of her writing by hand, she was madly smashing her fingers into the keyboard trying to enter the requisite count before midnight. You could feel the electricity; it was so exciting how close she was. And.... she made it. We all wooped. It was a family effort.

But that is not my story. On Christmas morning we all gathered to open stockings and my husband, the very sneaky and crafty man that he is, presented each of us with a hard cover book. He had snuck into our computers and stolen our words, bought antique books and carefully removed the pages, and printed our stories page by page on quality paper. With a paper cutter and binding kit, he'd carefully glued our precious works of art into personalized covers that he entitled with gold leaf. I tear up just thinking about it. Oh, the stories are not finished and not edited and for myself, on days when I could think of nothing to write, I wrote little blurbs and burps that are now hanging out the back end waiting to be cauterized... but we love them all just the same.

Kathryn graduated with top marks in creative writing, math and philosophy but I don't think she will measure her last year at home by the marks she got in grade 12. She will look at the three books on our bookcase written by herself, her sister and me and remember the year we all did NaNoWriMo."

—The Lawrence Girls: Justyna, Kathryn and Robin (but my husband Bob should take credit for the story)

Her little family lives in Richmond, Ontario (a village near Ottawa in Canada).

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"Writing was something for me to muse about while I tread water out in that cruel ocean."

"When I was fifteen, only less than a year ago, while other teenagers went out to gatherings and clubs to party the night away with their friends, I was at home, fighting for my life in a way that no one should have to. I had an enemy that I couldn't even see. Nobody hurt me. Nobody manipulated me. My enemy was inside me, and every single day was a battle to survive.

It was depression.

The days seemed twenty times longer than they should have been. I felt exhausted all day but couldn't sleep at night. I withdrew into myself. It grew so bad that at nights I'd sit for up to an hour on the kitchen floor, the knives above me in their block, tempting me so much. Sometimes I held them and examined them. Sometimes I even tested how sharp they were.

Life, I believed, was pointless. Not like the knives up there on the bench. While some people would shrug that thought off and go on with life, it threatened to consume me. I wanted to live for something, but I told myself I wanted to die.

Yet I kept going. The days seemed so dark, and in my memory they still are, but I can remember one thing - one of my best friends, Taya, pulling me through each day, talking to me, comforting me, giving me tiny tools to survive. Giving me something to float with on the cold sea before the rescuers came.

In stories, main characters usually have one person (usually a love interest) who stumbles across them and saves them. I wasn't so lucky. The only person who could save me was too far away to do more than throw that rubber ring to me. She could do nothing but watch as I clung to it.

What seemed like the darkest night of my life, I finally called for help. I went upstairs at three in the morning and asked my mum for a hug. She saw how distressed I was. She took me to the doctor, who recommended us to specialists. I was put on medication. I had a relapse on New Year's Day this year when I decided 'to hell with this!' and sliced my arm up with a broken glass, but aside from that, it was a smooth ride. While a lot of depression patients still fight their battles years after diagnosis, I'm already free.

I've been off medication for two months and only once have I ever thought that I might need them again - and that was a brief thought. Since then, I haven't looked back. I've turned from a pessimist to an optimist - to such an extent that it's starting to annoy people. ;)

Looking back on it, I realize it's NaNo that brought me here.

I was thirteen years old when I discovered it; thirteen and bored. Writing had become something that was only on the side for me. Dreams of being the next J.K. Rowling had been replaced by reality's 'Don't you dare even think you can do that' attitude, along with, 'You can't do it.' Writing was a dim candle that almost blew out. I never finished anything I started, but when I discovered NaNo, I decided, 'What the hell!'

NaNoWriMo turned it into a raging bonfire. It grew from a hobby into a full-blown passion. I met the Sporkers (and later the best friend who saved my life). Writing was something for me to muse about while I tread water out in that cruel ocean. The sole star in the sky. One day I'd be a writer, I told myself while I was out there. The depression said otherwise, but that didn't stop that star shining.

NaNo saved my life. It saved me from myself. I can't even imagine what would have happened to me back in those long months if I didn't have writing, or my best friend T with me. I don't think I would have gone to Mum for that hug. I'd have done a lot more damage that New Year's Day. If I wasn't dead, I'd be close to it. I've learned to live again, I'm starting to thrive, and I'm daring to dream big again. I won't be sitting in anyone's seat. I won't be the next anything. I'll set the new standards. Just you wait.

Chris Baty saved me that day he suggested writing 50,000 words in a month. A lot of people wouldn't have voiced the idea even if they had it. They'd have wanted to save face.

But voicing it could save so much more.

Thank you, Chris. <3 So much.

Oh. New standards or not, I'm still going to nudge Rowling out of her seat. ;) Just you wait."

--Zora Wood

Zora Wood currently lives in Sydney, Australia with two pet ferrets, two crazy birds and an abundance of cliches. She rides kangaroos to work, and has done and won NaNoWriMo every year since 2005.

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"Yes, indeed, I am now the copywriter for a major international organization because my boss noticed me typing my NaNo story at lunch."

"Who has time for work when it's NaNo season? Not me! A humble call center employee, I would sit at my work desk, typing little notes and scenes from my story between phone calls, and banging out 1000 words during my lunch break on my ancient computer. My co-workers would come in to eat lunch, and occasionally ask questions about why in the world I was trying to write a novel in 30 days, but mostly they left me alone.

But lo and behold, someone noticed...and I got promoted! Yes, indeed, I am now the copywriter for a major international organization, because my boss noticed me typing my NaNo story at lunch. The first issue of the newsletter that I co-wrote will be going out to more than 40,000 people in a few weeks, and I write a weekly e-newsletter that is sent to hundreds of thousands.

Also, this past November, I was active on the Viddler NaNoWriMo group. Many of us from the group have stayed in touch via Twitter and Skype. One night, while chatting, we decided to meet up, and six weeks later found ourselves in San Francisco! Five of us were able to go on the trip, and we're already planning our next trip. We spent four days touring the city, hanging out, enjoying the weather, and just having a blast being together. The highlight of the trip was visiting the Office of Letters and Light (we spent about ten minutes outside the office just geeking out over it!)

So not only has NaNoWriMo been an insane amount of fun, but it got me a great new job, and a circle of friends that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world."

—Joi Weaver

Joi lives in southern California, has participated in NaNo four times, winning three years. Last year she had a 20-day streak in which she averaged over 5k words a day.

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