NaNoWriMo: Day one in Northern Virginia

November 3, 1:02 AMDC Publishing Industry ExaminerWendy Coakley-Thompson

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MLs Kristin (aka Kamikaze Mission) and Jules (aka Bookwrm)

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, started Sunday at 12:01 a.m. During the month of November, contest participants, or Wrimos, attempt to dash out a 50,000-word novel in thirty days. Wrimos align themselves with geographically desirable home regions when they sign up on the NaNoWriMo site. Typically, Wrimos, adopting a username similar to a military call sign, participate in the chosen region’s online forums.

There are 648 Wrimos in the Northern Virginia region. On Day One, municipal liaisons (MLs) Jules and Kristin hosted a Kickoff Meeting at Burke, Virginia’s Pohick Regional Library. Forty-five Wrimos from all over Northern Virginia – some from as far away as Maryland’s Prince George's County – packed a small room with a picture window view of the wet dreary Sunday. Sugary snacks, soft drinks, and other munchies tempted occupants from strategically placed tables nearby.

Jules and Kristin, both six-year NaNoWriMo veterans, explained what the Wrimos, eagerly perched before humming laptops, could expect from the experience. The region functions as a writing support group. The MLs police the online forums. Per Jules, they also help Wrimos through times when they may feel “up against the wall, over-caffeinated, sleep deprived, [especially by] mid-November when you start to feel like a cave troll. We’re here to get you out socializing, fired up and ready to go… keep pushing until November [ends].”

Wrimos then introduced themselves and talked briefly about their writing projects. Overwhelmingly, most of the Wrimos present were exploring some hybrid of the fantasy genre – "urban fantasy," "sci-fi fantasy," "dark fantasy." The personal stories of some of the Wrimos themselves, though, prove to be as interesting as any novel. Like that of Lisa, aka Liadona, a sunny young mother from Reston. In the peaceful and prosperous 1990s, she worked on MTV reality shows, most notably The Real World and Road Rules. Now, she’s a stay-at-home mom on disability, choosing to view her situation as ideal for fulltime writing. She wants her work on an agent’s or an editor’s desk before her fortieth birthday next month. On Day One, she’d already written over 2000 words of her NaNoWriMo novel.

At the other end of the spectrum was Bill, a thirty-four-year-old computer programmer from Sterling. This is his third NaNoWriMo; he finished in 2007. He’s not in it to publish a novel; he’s looking for what he calls “a creative rejuvenation.” The NaNoWriMo experience “has helped me to appreciate the novels I’ve read and gave me a new appreciation of how difficult writing is.”
 

As the kickoff wound down, Wrimos found others who lived closer to them, or were like-minded in terms of genre, and arranged to connect as part of a smaller group. The crowd in the room emptied down to a trickle. Watching the Wrimos leave, one is left to wonder how many of them will, come November 30, be in the estimated 18% who make it across the finish line…
 

See also November kicks off National Novel Writing Month