By Elaine Bonilla and Heather Horton/se news editor and reporter
Students on SE and South campuses are celebrating National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) by taking on the challenge of writing 50,000 words in one month.
Both campus libraries along with the South Campus writing center are celebrating the third annual NaNoWriMo challenge by sponsoring writing events throughout the month of November.
The main goal is for students and faculty to meet the challenge of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.
South Campus is hosting a kickoff party 5-6 p.m. Oct. 31 in SCLC 0106. The progressive party will move to SLIB 6-9 p.m.
Participants are invited to meet Mondays at 7 p.m. in the SE Campus library.
SE library director Jo Klemm said this national program was started to encourage people to write.
“When you bounce ideas off each other, you encourage each other,” Klemm said.
Along with the weekly meetings, novel writers are encouraged to stay connected through online participation at NaNoWriMo.org. Through the website, authors can track word count to assist with meeting the deadline of writing a novel within the month.
SE is doing things a little differently this year, former participant Edmund Tamakloe said. A number of speakers will explain elements of the writing and publishing process in an effort to encourage novice book writers.
Speakers will also help with the process of finding an agent. The classroom will be available after each weekly meeting if participants would like to stay and write.
“There are many people out there who always wanted to write a book and never got the chance to get started,” Tamakloe said. “This gives them that chance.”
Authors also have an opportunity to join together for a write-in Nov. 14 at the South Campus library. Light refreshments will be served 6-10 p.m., public service librarian Pam Pfeifer said.
SE English instructor Yvonne Jocks has participated in the program for four years. She has succeeded in making it over the 50,000 word mark only once, in 1997. She went on to publish that book.
“That was a time when I’d thought I’d given up on publishing,” she said. “I was writing it just for me.”
The point isn’t to write well, Jocks said.
The point is to throw everything into the project that one can, Jock said. Students should have fun with it and change whatever needs changing as they go along without going back and making what was written to that point match. They should just keep going, she said.
“Giving up is one of the challenges that new writers have,” SE library specialist Rebekah Mansfield said. “It’s about trying to help new or struggling writers make it to the finish line.”
Some of the more famous NaNoWriMo projects that went to publishing are Water for Elephants, Night Circus and The Time Traveler’s Wife.
To celebrate the hard work put into NaNoWriMo, South Campus will also host an award ceremony and a “Thank Goodness it’s Over” party at 5 p.m. Dec. 2 in Drake’s Study Break Café in the library.
