16 | The Writer • November 2019
More than 100,000 writers sign up for
NaNoWriMo for the first time.“You write on the good days, and you
write on the lousy days. Like a shark,
you have to keep moving forward or you
die. Writing may or may not be your sal-
vation; it might or might not be your
destiny. But that does not matter. What
matters right now are the words, one
after another. Find the next word. Write
it down. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.”
—Neil Gaiman, NaNoWriMo pep talk,
2007NaNoWriMo had 21,683 winners in
2008 – an 18.2% “win rate” of writers
who wrote 50,000 words, the highest
percentage since 1999.“When in doubt, make trouble for your
character. Don’t let her stand on the
edge of the pool, dipping her toe. Come
up behind her, and give her a good hard
shove. That’s my advice to you now.
Make trouble for your character. In life,
we try to avoid trouble. We chew on our
choices endlessly. We go to shrinks, we
talk to our friends. In fiction, this is
deadly. Protagonists need to screw up,
act impulsively, have enemies, get into
TROUBLE.” —Janet Fitch, 2008
NaNoWriMo pep talk.Come Write In, NaNoWriMo’s program to support
writing groups in libraries, is born. Now, more than
1,200 libraries and community spaces take part
each year.NaNoWriMo launches 30 Covers, 30 Days, an
annual challenge that features a professional book
cover design for a randomly chosen NaNoWriMo
work-in-progress every day in November.The NaNo Rebels forum is formed in 2009 as a
space for participants who were bending (and
breaking) the rules of NaNoWriMo by writing non-
fiction, revising, or who knows what.“Forget the book you think you need to write to get
recognition, respectability, or praise. These things –
if they happen at all – don’t come if you look for
them. I want to encourage you to seek answers to
your big, specific, personal questions in the form of
fiction. If you want to write about finances, being
brokenhearted, or simple loneliness – things you
aren’t sure are important topics – let me give you
permission to go ahead.” —Min JinNaNoWriMo crosses the 200,000-participant line: 200,
participants write 2,872,682,109 words, with 37,479 winners
blowing through the 50,000-word goal.“And that’s why I love NaNoWriMo. It gets you started. It
gives you the impetus to finally start and/or finally finish.
Knowing there are thousands of others out there trying to do
the same, who are using this ridiculous deadline as cattle-
prod and shame deterrent, means goddamnit, you better do it
now because you know how to write, and you have fingers,
and you have this one life, and during this one life, you should
put your words down and make your voice heard, and then
let others hear your voice.” —Dave Eggers, 2010 pep talk2007
2008
2010