The room is filled with the din of keyboard keys, the ding of a defiant typewriter coming to the end of its line, and the occasional burst of laughter as someone leaned into a read a line. To the casual observer, the conference room at the Salem Public Library would look like nothing more than a bunch of writers working away on their laptops, or scribbling away with pen on paper. However, this group is different.
It's November, and for over 200,000 writers worldwide, it is NaNoWriMo time, where daring writers take the month to write 50,000 words on a novel. And for members of the mid-Willamette valley, meetings such as these offer a chance for NaNo'ers, as they are called, to gather, share their stories, goof off, and get some much needed time into their word counts.
NaNoWriMo firststarted in July of 1999, when a group of 21 writers in the San Francisco Bay area decided to try something new, and set out to challenge themselves to write a short novel quickly, allowing in the rush of trying to meet a seemingly impossible deadline for the ideas to flow freely and without censorship. The next year, the group came together, choosing to move the event to its new home of November, and opened a website. From that day forward, the number of participants have steady grown into a worldwide phenomenon, with over 2.8billion words written during the 2010 event alone.
Moreover, as the event has grown, so too has the yearly meetings with the Salem NaNo region. What once was only ten people sitting at a table in a room at Chemeketa Community College, the growing popularity of the event means the Salem Region, once only one of a handful in Oregon, now boasts nearly 900 members, with hundreds coming to the many write-ins hosted throughout the month of November.
On Saturday November 5th, after a quick introduction by Jamie King, the Salem Area Municipal Liaison (a volunteer who organizes a region's events), and a few games to break the ice and get the silliness flowing, the writers were off. Each was quickly lost in their own stories as they worked to catch up to the daily word count goal (1,667 being the average daily word count one must write to stay on target.)
Periodically, Jamie would stand out, and shout over the clack of keyboards to announce that they would be starting a word war, where everyone tries to out type all the rest in a burst of ten-fifteen minutes of writing. The mood in the room changed immediately; as everyone took a quick break to let, their hands have a rest before the sprint. It did not take long into the first Word War to realize how seriously the gathered writers took it. Everyone fell silent, and were focused solely on beating the others, or at least, beating their own record. By the end of it, when people slumped back in their chairs, massaging their wrists (especially those of us who handwrote during the challenge), many walked away with a sizeable portion of their daily word count finished, and three (one each for laptops, typewriter, and handwritten) walked away with a prize.
However, why would someone want to put themselves through such a grueling challenge as NaNoWriMo?
Jamie, the long time Salem Area ML summed it up as such: "I was very interested in the idea of being able to write without the constraints of having to worry about editing and the consistency and quality,"
To the average student who is so intent on getting a good grade on their papers, this approach to writing may seem foreign. The idea of rushing an idea out, and working on the number of words over the quality of what they are saying can seem like a scary thought when you are used to being graded on the content, and not simply the length. However, even our professors here at LBCC see the benefit of throwing caution to the wind, and setting ideas down on paper without censorship.
Writing Professor, Karelia Stetz-Waters, who is doing her first NaNoWriMo this year, spoke of how stepping away from her usual rigidly structured plans for a story and just jumping in with abandon was in some ways freeing:
"It allows me to explore the ideas and solutions that would occur to me on the spot that I may have discovered later in the process, but could now weave into my story as I write it, and see what interesting new paths they opened as I continued to write."
Now, as November continues to wind down, the last push to reach the coveted 50,000 words gets into high gear, those who have taken part are hopefully finding their voice (and a good solution for sore hands), and chugging away at their word count. For some writers, they may love what they have written, and look forward to dig down and edit it as winter continues to settle upon us (There is National Novel Editing Month in March), or those who loathe their novels, and want to burn it, or hide it away from. Either way, each word written is one more word proving that anyone can write a novel if they take up the challenge.
For now, for the group gathered in the conference room of the Salem Public Library, they just want to get in another few words before Jamie calls the end of the Word War.
At a Glance:
2010: 200,500 participants and 37, 500 winners
Number of official NaNoWriMo chapters around the world: Over 500
Number of K-12 schools who participated in 2010: 1,800
Number of words officially logged during the 2010 event: 2,872,682,109
This years word count as of November 18th: 1,777,694,313
Those wishing to join the fun can signup for a account at www.nanowrimo.org
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