The Writer - 11.2019

writermag.com • The Writer | 17

Camp NaNoWriMo, a virtual

writing retreat for those who

can’t write in November,

launches. In the ensuing

years, it grows to 75,000 par-

ticipants, with sessions in

both April and July, and writers

write any format, revise, and mea-

sure their goals by words, pages,

or time.

NaNoWriMo’s novel-writing

workbook, Ready, Set, Novel, is

published.

Hugh Howey’s NaNoWriMo novel

Wool is published.

“The festival of carpal tunnel that

is NaNoWriMo has been the great-

est thing to happen to me as a

writer. Gentle pressure applied

constantly is an incredible force. If

you work on your writing every

single day, you can accomplish

great things. It’s like climbing a

mountain one step at a time; the

key is never to stop.”

—Hugh Howey

Marissa Meyer’s NaNoWriMo

novel Cinder is published.

“Anyone who has ever written

‘The End’ on a manuscript

knows that, sometimes, inspira-

tion eludes us. No one looks

forward to those lulls in the

writing process, but they are

natural, and they can be overcome. These are the

times when we must proceed on willpower and

caffeine and the unflappable confidence that each

word we write is one word closer to a finished

novel. I can promise that, tough as those times

may be, they often lead to some of our most proud

and beautiful writing moments.” —Marissa Meyer

Rainbow Rowell’s

NaNoWriMo

novel Fangirl is

published.

Elizabeth Acevedo

writes a rough

draft of With the

Fire on High, which is pub-

lished in 2019 to great

acclaim.

NaNoWriMo launches its

revision and publishing initia-

tive – “I wrote a novel, now

what?” – to help people

with the revising and pub-

lishing stages of the novel-

writing journey.

“When you reach the place

on Manuscript Mountain that

makes you consider admit-

ting defeat, and the tools you

have used to get as far as

you have are no longer work-

ing for you, consider using

someone else’s tools. Pant-

ser? Try plotting. Plotter? Try

literally burning your outline

(safely! In a trash can or

something!). Perfectionist?

Try writing the worst scene

you can possibly muster.

Strict beginning-to-end-er?

Write whatever scene is

burning a hole in your brain

and fill in the gap later. What-

ever you do, don’t hold so

tightly to whatever writer

identity you have formed for

yourself that you can’t inno-

vate, change, and grow.”

—Veronica Roth

2012 2013

2011

Camp NaNoWriMo poster designed by Nancy Smith.