2007 Press Release
Illinois::Naperville Press release
Have you ever dreamed of writing a novel?
November is National Novel Writing Month, a free annual event helping to motivate writers to start and complete a 50,000 word novel in thirty days. In 2006, over 79,000 people worldwide participated. Nearly 13,000 of them successfully crossed the finish line. Last year in the Chicago Western Suburbs region (centered in Naperville) 56 out of 188 participants achieved winner status and won a free paperback copy of their novel (a prize sponsored by lulu.com).
Our region finished 55th in the world (out of 344 regions) in total word count, ahead of Montreal, Vermont, Nebraska, France and Madison, Wisconsin.
This fall, the 95th Street Library will be hosting a two hour kick-off event 7-9 pm, November 1st and write-in events 1-4 pm each Sunday in November. There will also be a party December 8th for all participants and three October events to help people prepare to write their novels in November. Come visit http://naperwrimo.org for schedule information. Come fulfill your dream of becoming a novelist. See http://www.nanowrimo.org and send your questions to naperville_il@nanowrimo.org.
Here is some more information in the form of a FAQ:
Q: What does this cost?
A: Absolutely nothing is required. Donations to cover the nanowrimo.org website and administrative costs are accepted but are not necessary.
Q: What do the winners get?
A: A PDF file proclaiming them NaNoWriMo winners if they manage to complete at least 50,000 words in 30 days. More importantly, the happiness of completing at least 50,0000 words of a novel. In addition, Lulu.com has been giving winners a free paperback copy of their completed novel.
Q: 50,000 words in 30 days seems foolhardy...
A: Actually, it turns out to be roughly 1,670 words per day, which turns out to be manageable. There are some exceptionally prolific writers who produce four times that amount... but many just barely get over the hump. The NaNoWriMo website and online discussion forums provide a lot of support; and we are organizing some weekly meetings locally for participants to use for writing and discussing their work.
Q: Do I have to publish my novel?
A: No. Some participants share their novels with other participants for critiquing; a few participants have had their NaNoWriMo novels published. There are no requirements here.
Q: What about my privacy?
A: While you do have to provide an e-mail address in order to register, the NaNoWriMo forums give participants fine control over what information is made available to others. E-mail address and identity information can be concealed and the NaNoWriMo team has a strong privacy policy. E-mail addresses are not shared or sold and you have to explicitly sign up to receive e-mail announcements from the NaNo team during November.
Q: How do I sign up?
A: Sign-ups can be done through the http://www.nanowrimo.org website beginning October 1, 2007. The NaNoWriMo contest proper begins at 12:01 November 1st. There will be a kick-off event 7-9 pm that evening at the 95th Street Library.
Q: Who coordinates things for the Chicago Western Suburbs region?
A: We (Tim Yao, Michelle Pfeiffer-Borucki, Meredith Brasher) are volunteer municipal liaisons for the Chicago Western Suburbs region of NaNoWriMo. We are enthusiastic participants of previous NaNo's who want to help others find the joy of completion that we've found. We organize the kick-off writing session, weekly writing sessions and the TGIO party at the end.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to contact us at naperville_il@nanowrimo.org
