This November the OC will be taking part—with classmates and over 300,000 writers around the world—in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s a fun, innovative creative writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in just 30 days.

Novelists begin writing November 1 and must finish by midnight, November 30. The goal for NaNoWriMo’s adult program is 50,000 words, but our students will be participating through the Young Writers Program—which allows students 17-and-under to set reasonable, yet challenging, individual word-count goals.

NaNoWriMo will require students to write as frequently as possible. Especially with your reinforcement, this hard work deepens student investment in the process (and their finished products). At the end of November, educators and participants also report improved self-confidence, creative writing skills, overall writing skills, and time management.

Our class will be using the online components of the Young Writers Program, you may want to review this step-by-step guide. Participants have individual profile spaces, plus access to forums and a private messaging system. These site features are not public, and can be viewed only by other young writers. In addition, all are monitored by NaNoWriMo staff for inappropriate content.

Happy writing!

Visit the NaNoWriMo website at http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/