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writermag.com • The Writer | 15

2003 2004


2005


Rumors spread that Tony Danza
signed up to write. Was it the To n y
Danza? (NaNoWriMo is still seeking
confirmation.)

More importantly, the first known major
NaNoWriMo book deal occurs: Time Off
for Good Behavior by Lani Diane Rich.

“NaNoWriMo makes you work at such a
pace that you outrun that inner critic giv-
ing you crap about your craft, and you
start to just revel in the magic.”
—Lani Diane Rich

NaNoWriMo part-
ners with Room
to Read, the inter-
national children’s literacy program, rais-
ing over $7,000 – enough to establish
and outfit children’s libraries in three
Cambodian villages.

No Plot? No Problem!, the NaNoWriMo
“Bible” written by founder Chris Baty, is
published by Chronicle Books.

“All of us harbor secret hopes that a
magnificent novel will tumble out of the
sky and appear on our screens, but
almost universally, writing is hard, slow,
and totally unglamorous. So why finish
what you’ve started? Because in two
weeks, when you are done, you will be
grateful for the experience. Also, you
will have learned a lot about writing and
humanness and the inestimable value
of tilting at windmills.” —John Green

NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers
Program is born. Each year,
more than 100,000 kids and
teens participate, and
NaNoWriMo supports
approximately 10,000 class-
rooms with free novel-writing
resources, workbooks, and
curriculum aligned to the
Common Core.

NaNoWriMo trivia:
Erin Morgen-
stern’s beloved
bestselling novel
The Night Circus
begins as a sur-
prise tangent to
Morgenstern’s
2005 NaNoWriMo novel, and
then is “sprawlingly drafted”
during NaNoWriMo 2006
and 2007.

“I like to think of NaNo-ing as
excavating. You uncover dif-
ferent things at the 30K mark
than you do at 10K. Things
that felt like desperate, ran-
dom nonsense on page 72
(the abandoned broken
pocket watch, a partially
obscured tattoo, that taxider-
mied marmot on the mantel-
piece) are suddenly important
and meaningful on page 187.
Everything could hinge on
the fate of that marmot. Or
the marmot may be a red
herring. Or perhaps the mar-
mot is just a marmot. You
have to keep writing to find
out.” —Erin Morgenstern

NaNoWriMo officially
becomes a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit.

Sara Gruen’s
NaNoWriMo novel
Water for Elephants
is published.

“I can do this. WE can do this. However
far behind you are, take comfort in
knowing that there is somebody else
out there in the same boat, and look for
that next fun scene. And then the next.
And if that doesn’t work, set someone
on fire. In your book, of course.”
—Sara Gruen

2006


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