Your Story Matters: NaNoWriMo @ Your Library

At midnight on November 1, armed only with their wits, the vague outline of a story, and a ridiculous deadline, more than 250,000 people around the world will set out to become novelists--some of them right here in New Canaan.

Why? Because November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, the world’s largest writing challenge and nonprofit literary crusade. Participants pledge to write 50,000 words in a month, starting from scratch and reaching "The End" by November 30. There are no judges, no prizes, and entries are deleted from the server before anyone even reads them.

Although NaNoWriMo emphasizes creativity and adventure over creating a literary masterpiece, more than 90 novels begun during NaNoWriMo have since been published, including Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, both #1 New York Times Best Sellers.

This year, the Library will host a meet-up and a write-in to support NaNoWriMo participants. At the meet-up, librarians can help you research weather during Feudal Japan or how climbers prepare to scale Everest to get you through that crucial plot point. The write-in will be an afternoon of communal literary abandon--and refreshments. Meet-ups and write-ins offer a supportive environment and surprisingly effective peer pressure, turning the usually solitary act of writing into a community experience.