The 50,000 word contest

If you write 1,667 words every day this month, you will write just over 50,000 words by the end of November. And that's enough to make you a winner of the National Novel Writing Month, better known as NaNoWriMo.

Julia Muldoon, a municipal liaison for NaNoWriMo, said the program began in San Francisco in 1999 with about 30 people, and has grown to include more than 200,000 participants in about 500 cities around the world.

In Sudbury alone, more than 100 people have already signed up to take part in this year's event.

“It's all about pushing yourself to do something you wouldn't normally have gone and done on your own,” Muldoon said. “You're giving yourself permission to write, whether it's good, bad or ugly, and you're getting the words on paper. In the end, hopefully you have something with a beginning, a middle and an ending.”

Chris Baty, the founder and executive director of NaNoWriMo, said “When you write for quantity instead of quality, you end up getting both.”

Water for Elephants, a New York Times number-one bestselling novel by Sara Gruen, was formed during the contest.

Baty noted that the month-long literary journey is also a “great excuse for not doing any dishes for a month.”

While NaNoWriMo is a contest, Muldoon said there are no judges. Winning simply means making the 50,000 word goal.

“It's a contest anti-contest,” she said. “You're competing more against yourself and your own procrastination.”

Last year, when Muldoon first became involved in NaNoWriMo, she wrote a 60,000 word “post-apocalyptic fantasy novel.”

After writing it, she realized she was working on three different novels instead of one. She said it was a good learning experience, and plans to pick up some of the plots later on.

Along with having motivation to write, Muldoon said having peer support from other writers helps too.

“Writing can be a really long, lonely endeavor,” she said. Muldoon said she has kept in contact with friends she made last year at
NaNoWriMo, and has also networked with people who can help her get published.

Throughout the month, various “write-ins” and overnight writing sessions are scheduled to bring authors together.

During a kick-off party on Oct. 31, about 30 local writers met up to begin the writing process.

While the purpose of NaNoWriMo is to encourage writers to begin new novels, writers can also add to previous pieces or write a collection of short stories.  

For more information about NaNoWriMo, visit www.nanowrimo.org or contact Muldoon at [email protected] or e-mail Sudbury's other liaison Sylvie Lafontaine at [email protected].

Muldoon reminded writers interested in signing up to fully fill out the registration form, so all logged words can be counted towards Greater Sudbury for challenges and other informal contests.