By Lori Perkins
With all that has been taken from us this year, the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is the one thing we can all do for ourselves (and maybe others) where we can channel our creativity into something that will chronicle our times, distract us from these insane times and give us a creative focus when nothing else seems to be able to do that. I really believe that NaNoWriMo is more important for creative people this year than any other year.
Those of you who know me know that I believe in NaNoWriMo. It didn’t exist when I was in high school and college writing my first novel. I am sure I would have gotten to The End (instead of writing two 100 page novels that petered out mid-way) if I had known I was part of a national wave of writers working on their 50,000 word first draft. *
I also believe that NaNoWriMo books are good books—books worthy of publication with a little spit and polish. I know a lot of people think they are throw-away books, but Riverdale Avenue Books had a NaNoWriMo contest in 2014 and we published what I consider to be one of the best science fiction titles I’ve ever read. Untrustworthy by JR Gershen-Seigel is an LGBTQ Hand Maid’s Tale. It is so good that I had to ask the author if she had really written it in 30 days, or if it was a work shopped trunk novel she had submitted for the contest.
The point of that is that I really want to encourage NaNoWriMo this year. So, I begged my wonderful staff of freelance editors and interns to commit to reading NaNoWriMo submissions this year, and Riverdale Avenue Books will be having a NaNoWriMo contest again. Submission details to follow.
And Romance Daily News will be supporting NaNoWriMo all month long with as many encouraging articles as we can print.
If you would like to intern with our editorial team this year, or would like to write a guest column about your NaNoWriMo experience, please send me an editorial note lori@romancedailynews.com.
* NaNoWriMo began in 1999 when 21 San Francisco writers pledged to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days in July. The next year, November was the chosen as the month, and 140 writers participated, most of who were not from San Francisco. The following year, 5,000 people joined. In 2017, a little under 500,000 people joined the NaNoWriMo website, but many authors write a NaNoWriMo novel without registering.
Here is the official website where you can sign up and get helpful advice. https://nanowrimo.org/
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