A Different Kind of Camp
- Library Zest Team
- Jul 10, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 28, 2020
Every year thousands of aspiring writers take part in a digital event, NaNoWriMo. What does that stand for? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.
It's an opportunity for anyone, young and old, who wants to write a novel to do so. National Novel Writing Month is a nonprofit organization that provides tools, structure, community and encouragement to help people, all people, find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds.
The main event takes place in the month of November. Thirty days. Fifty thousand words -- the length of the average three hundred page novel. NaNoWriMo started in 1999 with their headline writing campaign. They became a nonprofit organization in 2006 with the goal to offer programs to support writing fluency and education. Their popularity has grown and now a number of published best selling authors make use of the writing challenge to work on a new novel; some even participate in live stream events through social media to offer encouragement, tips and tricks they've learned over the years and advice to new writers.
Staff at their headquarters in California.
During the months of April and July, NaNoWriMo has smaller less daunting writing challenges called Camps. Writers can choose to write a whole novel or give themselves a specific challenge, like a word count or number of pages written in a day. The website nanowrimo.org hosts over a million active writers and acts as a tool for writers to manage how much they've written. They can connect with others in their community to share ideas, offer writing support, and digitally meet people who are interested in writing too.
Libraries and other community-based centres offer spaces called Come Write In Spaces to provide quiet areas for writers in the community to work, connect with other writers, and even host events with local authors to get some tips and advice. The website features a section called Pep Talks where award-winning and best selling authors share their insights. Many writers want to know what to do once they've written their first draft and nanowrimo.org can help. There are tons of articles and even downloadable content to help you organize and plan out your novel, edit your manuscript, and even how to approach a publisher.
The Young Writers Program is a unique feature for children and teens who are eager to write as well. Whether it be a novel or short story or even a comic book, the Young Writers Program offers tools and resources that are age appropriate with help for parents too. There is also support for educators grades K-12. Some of these resources and tools include prep guides, characters guides, world building guides, help building dialog, help planning how to transition from one scene to another and so much more.
When you sign up, you can connect with other writers and create a Buddy List, check in on the writing forums and get help from writers from all over the world. Share motivational tips and earn badges as you write. The Essa Public Library plays host every year during the month of November to writers from our community. We have quiet spaces available, digital and print resources for use, laptops and printing services. We even host local authors to share their insight with budding writers. Our collection also features many resources that you can borrow to help you write. Below is a picture of just a few of the books we have in our collection to help you write.
For more information about Camp NaNoWriMo happening right now in the month of July, visit the National Novel Writing Month website here. To access all of the great resources we have at the Essa Public Library, visit our website.
—Dawn Travers
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