Daily Q&A

Q: What were you doing when you found out that your NaNo-novel made it to the Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Semifinals?
C.P. Dotson: I was actually asleep. My husband checked the site around 2 AM and woke me up with the news. My response was, "That's freaking

Q: What were you doing when you found out that your NaNo-novel made it to the Amazon Breakthrough Novelist Quarterfinals?
Eileen Edwards: It was really very exciting. The date had been posted since the beginning of the contest and finally March 16th came. Starting at 12:01 AM (PDT) the forum threads

Q: Anna, you're a five-time NaNoWriMo winner and ML, and you host a gut-busting event in March devoted to editing: NaNoEdMo, or National Novel Editing Month. Why does editing on such a tight deadline yield a better manuscript? Is more or less coffee is involved in this event versus NaNoWriMo? What should participants know that only you can tell them?
A: I think most people agree that

Q: Siobhan, you’re spending a year in rural Uganda teaching in a primary school. When NaNo 2008 rolled around, did you know how you were going to reach the 50,000 word mark? Was NaNoWriMo far better or worse for being so far from home?
A: I'd been contemplating the question of how on Earth I was going to reach

Q: Jen, Script Frenzy is a mere four months away! What is the very most exciting thing on the ticket-littered, scene-strewn Script Frenzy horizon? Do you already have an idea for your screenplay?
A: It is hard to pick just one most exciting thing! I am looking forward

Q:Jaime, you won NaNoWriMo for the first time—in the cab of an 18-wheeler! Somehow you managed to drive all over the country, make pickups and deliveries, and write a novel! How did you do it? Did you get motion sickness? Is writing in a rig better than writing at a desk?
A: I drive a Semi with my partner

Q: Larry, what role did NaNoWriMo play in the history of the Six-Word Memoir project? Do you see any similarities between the project and NaNoWriMo?
A:NaNoWriMo has a special place in the history of the six-word

Q: Kitty, you wrote your NaNo-novel on a cell phone. How does that work? Are your thumbs damaged from your efforts? How is this better than noveling on a computer?
A: I actually type faster on my Blackberry—using only my thumbs—than I do on a computer keyboard. On a computer, I already type

Q: Dr Wicked, we have heard from thousand of Wrimos who use (and were led to victory by) Write or Die, a writing tool you created. Why did you make it, and how does it work? Will the electric shock mode be activated any time soon?
A: I made Write or Die because it occurred to me that the reason people

Q: Antwon and Ealasaid, you've both won NaNoWriMo for the past
eight years, and you still found time to fall in love and get married! Is it true that your first date was a NaNoWriMo event? What role did writing novels together play in your courtship?
A: Well, we tend to say that our "zeroth" date was a NaNo event, because we