Breaking News

Have a burning desire to hear from your favorite novelist this November? Tell us about it! We are collecting your top pep talker picks over on the blog.

Starting next month, we’ll be asking beloved authors around the world to share their advice and insights on the novel-drafting process in the form of a pep talk for NaNoWriMo 2012.

(Because we don’t ask any NaNoWriMo pep talker twice, be sure to reference the pep talk archive to see who has already contributed in the past!)

We also can’t guarantee that every author we ask will say ‘yes’ (or even respond at all…). But asking a broad range of published novelists whose works we adore is the first and most necessary step in collecting a killer cache of writerly encouragement.

Hope springs eternal!

Excited to see who you vote for,

Lindsey

Happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you from all of us at the Office of Letters and Light!

We definitely want to be your Valentine, writer. If you want to be ours, we made you a special little web badge for your blog, twitter feed or Facebook profile.

Check out our special day-of-love blog post for more!

I only wish I had a web badge for each and every Wrimo that read “I <3 (your username)”…

True story.

Appreciating all 300,000 Wrimos with my whole heart,

Lindsey

And a valentine-themed email from Grant is in your inbox. (You can also read it here.)

If that doesn’t inject enough writerly amour into your week, try out this love-ly yet understated poster. For you, or your honey bunches of oats.

In short, we love valentines, books, and you! And this poster. And our new Script Frenzy intern Shelby, Jessie, and Aliza!

Loving love,
Lindsey

Are revising your novel or working on getting it out into the world? Then this Breaking News is for you!

There are five days left to submit your manuscript to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. If you can write a novel in a month, no doubt you can put that final polish on it in five days. Right? Right.

Tomorrow marks the first day of the second-annual Pitchapalooza for NaNoWriMo participants. You can read more from the Pitchapalooza hosts themselves about how exactly this works over on the blog. Submissions are open from February 1-29. Pitch away, Wrimos!

And finally, a giant thank you to everyone who has filled out the NaNoWriMo 2011 Participant Survey. We crossed the 10,000-response threshhold, which was my fervent hope. Double thanks for that! The survey will remain open for another 24 hours if you’d still like to submit your feedback and haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’d love to hear from as many Wrimos as we can wrangle!

To everyone planning to pitch or submit, and to all who have already made the leap: best of luck, and well done! We’re rooting for you!

Lindsey

Hear ye, hear ye! Wrimos everywhere, we call upon you to share your opinions before it is too late.

The NaNoWriMo 2011 Participant Survey closes on February 1, and we want to make extra sure we have heard from as many Wrimos as possible.

If you have thoughts or suggestions regarding how NaNoWrimo 2011 went, or what you’d like to see in 2012, please share your feedback here.

Many thanks for your time and brilliance,

Lindsey “town crier” Grant

And not in a hungry-zombie way…

No, indeed. We just need you to fill out the NaNoWriMo 2011 Participant Survey if you haven’t already. Your input and suggestions are our most important guide to making next year’s event even better! Please share your thoughts before February 1.

And remember, three randomly selected survey respondents receive a $25 credit to the OLL Store!

In summation, yay survey! Boo zombies!

Happily abstaining from brains,

Lindsey

Happy 2012, Wrimos!

In the new year, we have a bucketful of newsy bits to share with you.

Keep an eye on your inbox for an announcement about the imminent arrival of OLL’s new Executive Director, Grant Faulkner. We’ll be rolling out the red carpet for his first day on January 9.

We’re paying tribute to founder and outgoing ED Chris Baty, and we need your help sending him off with a flourish and plenty of thank-you confetti! Post your video message for Chris today.

We also still need your feedback on NaNoWriMo in our 2011 Participant Survey! It’s open through February 1. We’d love to hear from you as we work on improving NaNoWriMo in its 14th year. As a thank you for your time and input, we’re giving three randomly selected survey participants a gift certificate to OLL’s Online Store. Giant thanks to everyone who has already filled out the survey!

Are you looking for the next creative project or contest to enter? Look no further! The 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award is coming. You can enter your novel beginning January 23!

All good things in what’s bound to be the best year for creative pursuits yet!

Lindsey

Well, Wrimos, the time has come for all of us OLL critters to hunker down in our caves and nests for the traditional holiday nap.

The office will reopen on Tuesday, January 3. Until then, have an excellent end-of-2011 and a happy new year!

Best wishes,

Lindsey, Chris A., Sarah, Tim, Chris B., Dan, and Jez

Though the store sale has ended, our 2011 Participant Survey remains open until February 1. Thanks in advance for taking the time to share your thoughts and suggestions with us. If there’s anyone who should guide event improvements, it’s you, Wrimo!

This week,  I am sending out the first-ever NaNoWriMo revision pep talk to our beloved NaNoWriMo 2011 donors. It contains revision advice from author and NaNo participant Ernessa T. Carter for that 86% of participants who didn’t hit 50K.

If you have not donated and would like to get in on these monthly revision pep talks (as well as the October and November pep from Chris Baty and a cast of published NaNo participants), simply donate $10 or more before December 31! Future pep talks will be sent to your email inbox, and the whole series will also be posted on a special donor-only pep talks page.

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated time or hard-earned money, or spread the word about our programs this year. You make NaNoWriMo possible, and we hug you mightily for that.

Yep. Still hugging you,
Lindsey

Hello, December Wrimos!

There’s an email coming your way today with information about an epic store sale and our 2011 Participant Survey! In the event that your spam filter gobbles that missive, or you’re reading this instead of that, here’s the rundown.

The 2011 NaNoWriMo Participant Survey is open and ready for your great thoughts and suggestions. All I want for Christmas is your feedback on how this event went, and how we can improve it next year. (Well, that, and my two front teeth. And a hippopotamus.)

All survey respondents have the option to enter a giveaway for $25 toward the OLL store, too. Hooray for free money!

In celebration of you, a tremendous 2011, and the pure joy of online shopping, we are having a giant sale on all NaNoWriMo merchandise in the OLL Store. Between now and midnight Pacific on Sunday, December 18, all NaNoWriMo items are 20% off. Yeehaw!

Scrounging around for more ‘s’-related news items,

Lindsey

Helloooooo, December!

We’ve been busy bees here at HQ, crunching numbers, analyzing statistics, and trying to remember what we did with our free time back in the days before we wrote novels for fun.

One of the numbers we’ve crunched? Our 2011 Donation Derby Winners! You might have seen some different numbers over the last week, thanks to a glitch in the Matrix, but fortunately, our quick-thinking Derby Queen Emily Bristow captured the correct data at the close of the Derby.

It was an exciting sprint to the end in just about every category. After seven years at the top of the heap, Seattle has been unseated by the Los Angeles region for total donations across all leagues! It was a closely-fought battle, with L.A. at $9245 and Seattle at $9210 at the close of the Derby. Congratulations, Los Angeles, on your amazing accomplishment, and a huge round of applause to the Seattle Ducks for their incredible run!

Let’s take a look at the other winners in the six leagues. (You can learn more about how the Derby works here.)

League Six Total Donations: Los Angeles California, with $9245.
League Six Average Donation Increase: Brimstone Louisiana, with a $20 average increase.

League Five Total Donations: Brantford-Norfolk Ontario, with $385.
League Five Average Donation Increase: Citrus County Florida, with a $7.01667 average increase.

League Four Total Donations and Average Donation Increase: Ireland Elsewhere took both categories with $2605 in donations and an average increase of $24.4321.

League Three Total Donations: Elsewhere in Alberta, with $1485.
League Three Average Donation Increase: Regina Saskatchewan, with a $12.8375 average increase.

League Two Total Donations and Average Donation Increase: Another double win in League Two with Alaska having $2845 in donations and an average increase of $4.39946.

League One Total Donations: Seattle Washington, with $9210.
League One Average Donation Increase: San Francisco California, with a $3.81022 average increase.

Thank you so much to everyone who donated, all our MLs who encouraged those donations and participated in the friendly wagers between regions that boosted fundraising on all fronts, to Emily and Rob for their work on the Donation Derby, and to our winning regions for your outstanding efforts to help bring NaNoWriMo back for another year!

Doing the Donation Derby Dance (like the Hammer Dance, but with more jazz hands),

Sarah

NaNoWriMo 2011 may be over, but we’re not going anywhere! Here in the office, we’re tabulating event stats, sending out post-November emails, publishing new resource pages, planning a store sale, moderating the December and Beyond forums, and crafting surveys.

As you can see below, the “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” page is up and waiting for you! We’ve also posted the Winner Prizes page for anyone who crossed the 50,000-word finish line and claimed their purple winner bar by midnight on November 30.

If it’s stats you want, check out our blog post full of triumphant percentages and astonishing numbers! (And if you post there, you could win a spot in the StoryWonk Revision Workshop!)

Stay tuned for more updates about our victorious Donation Derby winners, a massive store sale, and the 2011 Participant Survey!

It’s no NaNo, but maybe December’s not so bad after all…

Lindsey

Whoa. Do you feel different? Heroic, or even a tad superhuman? You should.

We’re so outrageously proud of each and every Wrimo who went on this wild noveling adventure. You lived to tell the tale! (Maybe in next year’s NaNo-novel…)

Check out the December and Beyond forums to see what your fellow Wrimos are up to now that November has ended.

If you were unable to validate your winning novel by midnight on the 30th, please visit the designated Tech Help forums thread to let us know. We’ll be able to manually validate you over the next few days.

Come Monday, the “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” page will be posted, with advice for how to take the next step with (or without) your November novel. And if you’re a winner, be on the lookout for the Winner Prizes page as well. (It’ll live where the Procrastination Station is now.)

We’re already at work on the NaNo 2011 stats dig-down, coming to the OLL blog soon. Stay tuned for those fun and very math-y numbers!

Ta ’til then,

Lindsey

This is always a funny time in NaNoLand, when half the world is already in December and rejoicing, while the other half still writes furiously toward the finish line. Those are very different states of being! I will address both side of the dateline accordingly.

For those of you sitting (or sleeping–good for you!) in December 1, happiest high fives to you! We are so proud of you, and wish you many hard-earned naps.

And to those who are still firmly on NaNo time and writing toward midnight, I won’t keep you for long. I’ll just say this: Go, write, and win! I am right here with you, sprinting for the finish. And all of HQ is hollering their hearts out, cheering you on.

Even though November ends soon (and has already ended for many!), we’ll be showering you with lots more information and goodies into December. There’s a post-event pep talk from Audrey Niffenegger coming your way, along with the December 5 posting of the Winner Prizes and “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” pages. We’re also cooking up surveys galore, and a few more signature NaNoVideos for your enjoyment.

For now, though, I leave you to your celebrating and your word sprinting, respectively.

Sore of finger and hoarse from all that hollering,
Lindsey

In the last hours of this glorious 2011 festival of noveling, we’re celebrating all that you’ve done this month, and the heroic efforts you’re still making. At roughly 30 hours from event-end here in California, previously held NaNo-records are falling left and right.

To cheer you along, you’re getting not one but two messages from HQ in your NaNoMail today: one from me, and another coming soon from Chris Baty. Stay tuned for that!

There’s also a new NaNoVideo featuring my very favorite end-of-November tune, and some searing air drums from Chris A.

And by popular demand, we’re extending the Endless Winner’s Shirt Sale through December 5! Oh, triumphant triumph.

If you have questions about validating, please check the Help section, where answers to the top most-frequently-asked validation questions are displayed.

Alright, word wizards, let’s go become winners.

Ready? Set… Write!

Lindsey

Greetings, NaNoLand!

If you’re in a US-Thanksgiving-celebrating region like I am, I hope you had a wonderful day, and a restful, fun-filled weekend. For my part, I frolicked with my parents and reached some interesting new depths in my NaNo-novel. (The love interest befriended a giraffe, and my heroine learned all about statuaries.)

To everyone in our non-US regions, I hope this was a powerfully wordy weekend for you. You may have noticed that we have mere days remaining in this month-long noveling marathon. Wheeee!

Here in the office, we’ve already had one winner (intern Paige rocked it!) and most staff are well into the 40-thousands. (I am not quite there yet, but I will be soon!)

In honor of the astonishing 2,634,156,859 words that Wrimos have collectively written thus far, we’re celebrating “Back Up Your Novel Even More Day.” It’s a day when we back up our novels. Even more! The only thing worse than never writing your novel is writing your novel and then losing it. Am I right? Let’s back it up!

Stay tuned this week for more pep, video check-ins from staff, and bucket-loads of winners crossing that finish line. Our Unlimited Winner’s Shirt Sale continues through November 30, too!

Ready to rock and roll my way into the 40Ks,

Lindsey
38,850 words

Believe it or not, winning starts in our westernmost regions tomorrow! When we wake up here in California, Wrimos in Australia will  already be validating their novels. Amazing!

To celebrate all of the winning novels about to be validated, we are holding an unlimited sale on winner’s shirts through the end of the month. That means we have bottomless stock on all sizes and styles until November 30. You can find more details about this sale in our online store.  Get your triumphant shirt of winning today!

Here are a few important things to note about winning:

-To validate, simply go to Edit Novel Info and select “I am ready to validate my novel.” Copy and paste all 50,000-plus words into the validator box and hit submit!

-If you are validating on a netbook, you may need to zoom out in order to see the “submit” button on the validator. Hit “Ctrl -” to shrink the validator view.

-If you have been writing in Open Office, your word count there will likely be drastically different from our site validator’s word count. Open Office counts curly quotes (these guys: “) as a word, inflating the total word count significantly.

For many of us, winning is still many thousands of words away. Let’s go crank it out!

With my eye on the prize,

Lindsey
29,669 words

Wrimos, there are many things that keep NaNoWriMo going year after year.

There are our heroic donors, who make this program possible; all of you amazing participants, whose enthusiasm and creativity provide the whole reason for the event; and then there are our Municipal Liaisons, who donate their time to plan events, fundraise, answer questions, and cheer on their local participants. And they do it all while writing a novel. Without them, NaNoWriMo would just be a website.

We love our MLs. With our all of our novel-loving hearts.

Please take a moment to thank your ML(s)–with a hug, a forums post, a NaNoMail message, or a bouquet of lollipops.

Beaming gratitude from here to all 650 MLs around the world,

Lindsey

What a weekend! At the Fifth Annual Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon last night, I met so many amazing Wrimos from around the world. It was a spectacular night full of soaring words counts, winners, and spectacular stories from so many folks about their noveling experiences. And it has made me extra greedy; now I want to meet all of you even more than I than I did before!

Possible? Maybe. Let’s talk.

Today, the OLL staff is having a nap to recover from all of the awesomeness (and candy, donuts, and cookies). And I have some catching up to do, word-count wise…

We’ll be back tomorrow in full Week Four force!

Checking airfare for a 45-country multi-stop ticket,

Lindsey

Winner’s Shirts are heeeeeeere! And we are so in love with them. Nothing, but nothing, beats a bear in a party hat. I’ll go to the mat on that.

We suggest getting your shirt now, even if 50K still seems a long way off for you. (It sure does for me…) Already owning the Winner’s Shirt is a top-notch motivator to go ahead and win!

By Sunday night, we should all be rounding 33,340 words. I know; I am behind, too. But we’ll get there together! And if you’re feeling distracted, Sarah has some great advice in her Week Three video pep talk.

Here at HQ, we’re madly scrambling about putting the finishing touches on the Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon plans. I still have an epic amount of mad scrambling to do, so I will leave you with this weekend exhortation:

Go. Write! (And get that Winner’s Shirt!)

Lindsey

Wrimos, donors, and friends, yesterday was an epic day in NaNoLand. We raised $51,645 to help cover the costs of NaNoWriMo and the YWP. Thank you to everyone who spread the word, tweeted and Facebooked on our behalf, and donated to keep our free creative writing programs running strong! You are heroes and heroines in our books. Donation Day 2011 was another great step toward reaching our year-end fundraising goal.

You know what else is wonderful? Author Chris Cleave’s Week Three pep talk. It is sitting in your NaNoMail right now, simply oozing advice and delightful insights. I am such a fan!

And also great? Winner’s Shirts will be in the store tomorrow! These shirts are the very most detailed and congratulatory yet. (Take my word for it. There’s even a trumpet on this shirt!) We’ll post more details when these are available for sale.

In order to get the Winner’s Shirt, I guess we better win, huh?

Back to the writing!

Lindsey

[Update! As of midnight, we've raised $49,192! We still have a few donations coming in, and we'll post final, final totals tomorrow morning. Thank you so much to everyone who donated! Your support will allow us to inspire 300,000 kids, teens, and adults this fall. We hug you.]

Thank you so much to everyone who is helping us reach our $100,000 fundraising goal today! Your donation makes it possible to continue NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program for aspiring writers around the world. We’ll be updating our progress here, and on our Twitter feed, throughout the day!

You can also track our hourly donor prizes and their winners!

8 AM: Rik won a new mug, plus a bag of coffee signed by all staff.
9 AM: Mainá won Lindsey’s CD of writing jams.
10 AM: Gwen won the poster pack! Five posters of her choice.
11 AM: Debra won Sarah’s personal Skype tour of the office.
12 noon: Minna won the 2011 Winner’s Shirt and a handmade Winner’s Certificate, made by staff.
1 PM: Laurel will have a character named after her in Chris Bay’s 2011 NaNo-novel Everybody Paints.
2 PM: Lynn gets the Tom Selleck magnet!
3 PM: Joe won Chris Angotti’s YWP Prize Spectacular, including a “First-Class Novelist” t-shirt, sticker pack (5), pencil pack (5), and a heartfelt acrostic poem using your name!
4 PM: Michelle is the lucky recipient of Blobby’s little brother Steven, a mini-Squishable T-Rex.
5 PM: Corie gets a photo magnet of the Chris Baty doll and his llama, signed by all the staff!
6 PM: Teresa just won a 2011 NaNoWriMo merch bundle, including a journal, sticker pack, key chain pack, and mug!
7 PM Gregory got a personal thank-you card with stickers and surprises from our forums moderator, Heather!
8 PM Ellen won an epic candy care package put together from Cybele’s Candy Buffet!
9 PM Carol will have her novel synopsis and title submitted for consideration for a 30 Covers, 30 Days book cover design! And get a custom cover design done for her by Tim Kim!
10 PM Joseph won a NaNoWriMo messenger bag?
11 PM Kelly won a special video of writing dares from dare-master Tavia!

Thanks so much to everyone who donated!

Happy midpoint of the month, Wrimos. I cooked up some encouragement for you, pep-talk style. Check your NaNoMail or read it here!

Here at the HQ, we are busily preparing for tomorrow’s Donation Day festivities: a $100,000 fundraising goal, hourly donor prizes throughout the day, and more eternal gratitude for your support than you could fit into Hermione’s beaded handbag (and that thing’s got an undetectable extension charm on it!).

If we can fill this thermometer in 24 hours, we’ll be well on our way to paying for NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program!

Accio donations!

Lindsey

That’s right. It’s time to save that novel somewhere safe… again! By now, you should have way more words than you did at this time last week. Which means more novel to lose if your computer (or noveling notebook) gets lost or eaten by ravenous honey badgers.

Let’s back up our novels now!

Mischief managed? Good.

Because I also want to tell you that there’s a new (and very excellent) pep talk in your NaNoMail from Deb Olin Unferth. It’s the perfect antidote for the noveling blahs.

This is a big week in NaNoLand, with more pep talks, NaNoVideos, Donation Days, and midpoints of the month than any week that has come before.

Visit us early and often for the first glimpse at everything fun and new!

Off to make some mischief,

Lindsey

Thank goodness the weekend is here! I know I am many thousand words behind the par line, and will be spending a good part of the next two days sprinting my way back.

By Sunday night, we should all be at 21,671 words. I plan on getting there, and here’s how:

1) Writing rewards. If I hit 17,000 by Saturday, I am definitely going to watch my favorite chick flick. (And if I don’t hit my word count, I’ll admit what movie it is…)

2) Word Sprinting! 1,000 words at a time, with quick stretch breaks in between. If you thrive on prompts and company, try sprinting with @nanowordsprints!

3) Sequestering myself. I am going to take a tip from Chris A.’s video and settle into my maximally productive writing environment to bash out the 8,800 words I’ll need to catch up. (If I don’t hit 21,671 by Sunday, I’ll reveal where that writing spot is!)

Alright, Wrimos. Let’s get into position.

It’s time to sprint!

Lindsey

Hi Wrimos,

First, and regrettably, we have not cumulatively written 9,223,372,034,714,573,147 words this November, as our home page word-count block purports. There is a joker in the calculator monkeying around with the numbers. We have dispatched a team to catch said joker and take away his calculating powers.

What we have done, though, is trounce the records set by every previous NaNoWriMo in site visits, page views, new visitors, and all those other stats that we just love to geek out about over lunch. Keep up the good work! We are rocking this new site.

We’ve just posted a pep talk from Jonathan Lethem. It certainly challenged me to think about how many times in these first 12,000 words I’ve already talked about my character waking up and going to sleep. (As if these are plot-advancing moments in her life!) I hope Mr. Lethem’s advice helps you as much as it has helped me.

And if you’re signed up to receive notification of new NaNoMail under “Edit My Notifications,” you should receive an email with news of this new pep talk (along with any other content you’re subscribed to!) in our fancy new NaNoWriMo Notifications Digest.

Finally, if you’ve donated and are still missing your halo, we want to be extra sure you get it! Please fill out this “Missing Halo” form. Thank you so much for your donation, and for your patience!

Sending our big Day 10 novel-love!

Lindsey

Writers, over the past seven days we have gathered the gold coins of character elements, jumped on the magic mushrooms of plot development, dodged the Goombas of our inner editors, and hurtled ourselves into the next level of this noveling adventure.

Well done. Take a breather and congratulate yourself on everything you’ve accomplished thus far! If you’ve written even one word, you’re in the game. And if you’re still standing on the sidelines, jump on in! It’s fun in here.

Week (cough… Level) Two brings with it all new rewards and challenges. Here are few tips to help you fly through it, hopefully astride a rad dragon of wordiness:

• Read this week’s staff pep! It awaits you in your NaNoMail. (And stay tuned for another published author pep talk later this week!)

• Draft some creative juice off of the amazing NaNo-novel covers over on the blog as part of 30 Covers, 30 Days! The art is amazing, as are the plot synopses.

• Keep up with the daily NaNoToons. (You may find that you relate to them astonishingly well.)

• And, as always, keep attending those local write-ins that MLs are planning in neighborhoods near you. (A NaNoWriMo sticker, often found at these write-ins, is equivalent to about a million magic mushrooms…)

If you have a question about the site, please read our Help section thoroughly before writing in. Office Captain Tim is up to his neck in emails, and, while he wishes he could get back to each and every one of you right away, he’s unable to answer any questions that are already addressed there in the Help section.

Before I send you off in search of Week Two’s many wonders, I want to thank you for tolerating this extended nod to Super Mario Brothers. (I was not allowed to play video games as a kid and so should not be allowed to act like I know what I am talking about as an adult… you’re very kind to indulge me.)

Ready to ride the Week Two dragon! Who’s with me?

Lindsey

Here at HQ, we’ve had an epiphany regarding writing garb, and it has to do with this new NaNoWriMo pullover hoodie.

We tried a Snuggie, and we tried a Slanket; we even investigated this new phenomenon called the Forever Lazy. But nothing came close to the comfort, wearability, and fashion of this sweatshirt.

It is, quite simply, the most wonderful thing in the world! And it is available now.

Wearing one right now,
Lindsey

Or, if you’re on the other side of the ol’ IDL, it’s November 8!

Whether by external hard drive, CD, USB drive, Google doc, Dropbox, carbon copy, voice dictation device, or facsimile, we encourage you to pause the noveling action long enough to save a copy of your November masterpiece. (Our recommendation? This very handy USB bracelet. Haha. Hand-y.)

We don’t save your novel on NaNoWriMo.org in any way, so we want to be sure you’re safeguarded against all forms of novel-destroying disasters. Now, and forever more!

This is the first of four planned novel back-up days this month (though probably the only one demonstrated via puppet show).

Off to celebrate with a back-up. Olé!

Lindsey

Hiya, novelist!

We are cruising into weekend #1, which is a great time to get ahead on your word count (or get caught up, in my case).

We have some extra-fun noveling inspiration to go with your weekend as well. (Sound the trumpets!)

Erin Morgenstern, NaNoWriMo participant and author of The Night Circus, has written an amazingly wonderful pep talk for you. Check your NaNoMail now for that magical missive, or revel in her excellent advice here!

The Young Writers Program is churning out epic pep by the bucketful. Sit back and enjoy insights from Gayle Forman, Ally Condie, Lauren Oliver, and Robert Lipsyte. (And see who’s still to come in the month ahead!)

If you haven’t already, be sure to join the region closest to you. Chances are, your local volunteer Municipal Liaison is also sending out noveling encouragement and updates about regional gatherings. (Watch Sarah’s Week One NaNoVideo about the value of the write-in!)

And if that isn’t enough pep to motivate you through this weekend and beyond, Chris Baty is also sharing weekly November pep talks with all 2011 donors. A donation of $10 or more will get you all four of his extra-special (and occasionally strange) writerly musings.(If you donated and are not yet receiving the bonus donor pep, please let us know!)

Now go forth, be wordy, and have a novel-tastic weekend!

Lindsey

Did you know that, in addition to the regional writing events that Municipal Liaisons have planned, there are bookstores and libraries in communities around the world opening their doors to noveling Wrimos this November?

Today, we signed up our 480th Come Write In library. In Iceland! We are so excited to be building relationships with so many book-loving community institutions.

Check our updated lists of participating bookstores and libraries to see if there are partners in your community.

Or, if virtual write-ins are more your style, join the 10,000 Wrimos noveling  @nanowordsprints. Participate in the conversation, now 75,000 Wrimos strong, on Facebook. Or follow us on Twitter and connect with the 50,000 Wrimos tweeting alongside us.

Where ever you may be, whether you prefer online or in-person connections, we’ve got a spot for you.

Hope to see you there!

Lindsey

From what I’ve seen on Twitter and Facebook, in NaNoMail, and on the forums, it has been quite a busy and productive first day in NaNoLand! In case we haven’t told you recently, we’re so thrilled to be writing with you this November.

As I mentioned in the “Hello, November” video, you can expect to see a lot of encouragement and support coming your way throughout the month. We want to be extra-sure you know where to find it!

I’d like to direct your attention to an important tool on the site, familiar to many of you, that we’re using this year more than ever before: NaNoMail.

There, you’ll receive message from your local Municipal Liaisons, notes from fellow participants, notifications of new writing buddies, as well as news and encouragement from us here at HQ! (In fact, your first pep talk is waiting for you right now.)

If you’ve signed up for notifications of regional messages from your ML (which I highly recommend–it’s efficient and pretty!), you’re already receiving emails with those regional updates posted to NaNoMail. (And if you’d like to subscribe to those messages, simply head on over to Edit My Notifications to sign up for email notifications of regional messages.)

We are also working on a very fancy and useful Notifications Digest that will alert you via email when the site content you’re subscribed to is updated. Content like pep talks from staff, or from our all-star cast of published authors (which will be delivered to NaNoMail as well!).

We’ll keep you updated on the status of that digest. In the meantime, head on over to NaNoMail and get pumped up!

Eating a mountain of leftover Halloween candy,

Lindsey

In mere hours, the whole world will have flipped over into November 1 and thus, NaNoWriMo.

Whether you’ve plotted your way to this moment, or you are flying by the seat of your pants into the great blue beyond of your plot, you’re ready. When it comes to bashing out the first draft of your novel, there is no time like the present.

As questions arise in this noveling process, whether about the guidelines of NaNo or how-tos for the site, I encourage you to consult our handy Help page for answers, and reference the Tech Help and Site Bug Report forum for known issues.

And if it’s good old fashioned encouragement you need, well, we’ve got buckets of that for you as well. Stay tuned over the next couple of days for pep to appear in your NaNoMail, and for new NaNoVideos to appear on the homepage!

Also coming soon to NaNoWriMo.org: halos for all of our beloved donors currently missing theirs (thank you, and we apologize for the delay!), as well as word count widgets, the API, word count scoreboard, and the Donation Derby.

No matter where you are when you read this (on a subway platform, in a snow bank, working, falling asleep at your computer), I want you to join me now and shout at the top of your novel-loving lungs, “Let the wild rumpus start!”

If it hasn’t already, it will soon enough…

(And thank you, Maurice Sendak, for the timeless joy of that excellent proclamation.)

Let’s get ready to rumpuuus!
Lindsey

In the remaining hours and days before November has us in its thrall, you’ve still got time to do your chores and shopping, resolve any predisposition for cleanliness, accountability, and reachability, and make it know to the world that come November 1, you’ll be busy writing your novel.

Time allowing, we have a few suggestions for some other fun stuff you might squeeze in to help you get ready to write:

• Watch our animated short about NaNoWrio’s parent nonprofit, the Office of Letters and Light. (It gets me fired up to write every time I see it!)

• Set up a sponsorship for your noveling adventure. Just like getting sponsored for a walk-a-thon, you can ask friends and family to donate on your behalf in support of your courageous creativity!

• Add some local writing events to your calendar! There are write-ins and meets-ups planned in regions all around the world. Find the neighborhood nearest you and note the next gathering.

• While you’re out running errands today or tomorrow, collect some writerly treats for yourself and save them as rewards for when you hit your first few word count goals in the next week. In addition to chocolates, a nice writing pen, or a juicy magazine, you might find some fun prizes in our online gallery of writing goodies.

I can hardly wait to get started! We’ve got pep talks, videos, Procrastination Station topics, blog posts, Facebook conversations, and so much more ready and waiting to shower upon you in the month ahead.

With great anticipation,

Lindsey

Hiya, Wrimos!

We’re still getting all the final implementation in place for event start on November 1. (It’s so close I can already smell the adrenaline and coffee and word padding.)

The latest addition? Writing Buddies!

You’ll see that this menu item has now gone live under My NaNoWriMo. All of your buddies from years past are still porting over from the old site as we speak, so expect to see them populate in your buddy list over the weekend.

I’ll be posting more site updates throughout the weekend, so stay tuned! And have a very happy last-weekend-before-the-noveling-madness.

Lindsey

With less than a week before the noveling begins, there’s plenty you can do to set yourself up for November success!

• Update your author and novel info with details about yourself and your November novel!

• Join your local region and join the conversation in the regional lounge, a forum for writers in your area!

• Like the NaNoWriMo Facebook page, and follow us on Twitter. (You can also follow @NaNoWordSprints if you’re looking for virtual writing companions in November.)

• Head over to the OLL Blog for daily staff, intern, and guest writer perspectives on myriad topics, literary and otherwise!

• Log some time in the online store. There’s nothing like a shiny new writing prize to get you going next week.

• Give your brain a rest from all this learning and doing and watch some NaNoVideos. (There’ll be a lot more where these came from in the month ahead!)

• Visit the Young Writers Program to see what our young authors are up to.

• Grab your web badges for posting on your blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account.

• Catch up on the NaNoWriMo History before we make history again in 2011!

That’s quite a lot of things to do in the next five days! I’ll let you get to it.

Oh, and before I forget, don’t you forget to congratulate yourself on doing this crazy bananapants literary marathon. You’re already a creative champion!

Congratulating you with all my might,
Lindsey

Hello Wrimos, new and seasoned, near and far, planners and pantsers alike.

Now that we’ve launched this shiny Rails-built beast, there are a lot of important updates that will help you navigate NaNoWriMo.org to its best effect:

• Have a question? Check out newly updated–and very red–Help section to find the answer! (The week’s most frequently asked questions get updated at the top of that page, too!)

• Our fabulous team of 650 Municipal Liaisons are hard at work planning more events than you can shake a stick at! We’re still working on the new-and-improved regional messaging system; until MLs can contact you directly, be sure to stop by your regional lounge to see what they have planned for you!

• Don’t have your halo? Let us know! (Want a halo? A $10 donation gets you one!)

• Your Writing Buddies from years past are still migrating over from the old site to the new. Your Buddy list will appear in your profile, completely intact, before the event starts.

• Your Writing Buddies are bringing your NaNoMail from the past year with them; those messages will appear as if by magic in your inbox by November 1.

• See anything broken or wrong-looking? Please visit our Tech Help and Site Bug Forum. Known issues and updates on functionality are listed there. And if your issue isn’t listed yet, you can add it!

Thanks for reading! You may now resume your regularly scheduled pre-November activities. (And enjoy them while they last. 12 days until the insanity starts!)

Anticipating insanity,

Lindsey

To all returning Wrimos, welcome back! We’re so excited to see you. And to all first-timers, a giant long-distance high five for committing to this wordy November adventure! You probably can’t feel it, but I am giving each and every one of you a hearty, loving slap on the back.

I’ve been consulting star charts, the farmer’s almanac, tea leaves, ancient runes, my dream-interpreting book, and the pattern of my cat’s meows, and all of them (well, except the meows) point to the same truth: This is bound to be the biggest and best NaNoWriMo yet. True story!

As many of you know, we’ve relaunched the site on an all-new framework. Where once there was Drupal (hissss), there is now Rails (huzzah!). We think you’ll find the site infinitely more useable and speedy (and all-around shinier and more fun) than ever before.

There are bound to be some funky hiccups in these first few days though, so if you see anything that looks broken, please check the Tech Help and Site Bugs forum for known issues. If the problem you have encountered isn’t already listed, you can add your bug report there!

One important thing to note! Speaking of funky hiccups, all NaNoMail one-year-old and newer will show up in your inbox this week. We uh… cough… left that out of the migration script. Just know it is safe, and will be delivered to you very soon.

Okay, important note concluded.

Three cheers for NaNoWriMo 2011, our auspicious 13th year of creative abandon.

Hip hip, hooray!

Lindsey
NaNoWriMo Program Director