#nano intern

1. Take part in NaNo’s online events.

Maybe this is a little unfair, considering I was hosting Virtual Write-Ins. But whether it’s a VWI, Community Meetup, or even an Author Webcast, all these events helped me connect more with the amazing community NaNo has to offer.

My past NaNo attempts were pretty isolated and I was used to writing on my own.

I quickly learned, however, that writing with other people is the best thing in the world. Writers are strange and quirky, but we understand each other more than anyone else. We were able to support each other and give advice that genuinely helped.

There’s also so much community outside of these events too! Shout out to the DFW Rhinos Discord, where I did most of my writing sprints. Each sprint ended with congratulations from fellow writers.

Seeing everyone’s progress in real time is an amazing experience. It inspired me to keep writing too.

When I say any success during NaNo feels like a shared one, I truly mean it.

2. Consistency is the key!

As much as I tried to keep close to a daily word count goal, it was more important to write every single day. Building habits is hard, I’ll admit that.

I tried really hard for NaNo though. I did my best to write the same time every day, usually before work. Sometimes though, writing at night gives you the same feeling as writing an essay an hour before it’s due.

While my time of day wasn’t consistent, I quickly became accustomed to writing every single day. If I truly couldn’t sit down and write that day, I’d type one single word on my phone and count that.

Of course, I will always stress that you should be taking care of yourself first. If you can’t write every single day, that’s fine. Maybe you start by writing every two days or every week. If you can’t write at all, that’s cool too! You’re the one that matters first.

3. Be public about your writing.

Talk to your coworkers about your writing. Talk to your friends about your writing.

I made sure to put my word count in my Discord status and Twitter display name. Everyone was going to see my progress, even if they weren’t a writer.

I was very annoying about my NaNo project, yelling to my friends every time I reached a significant number. They didn’t mind though. They were glad to cheer me on.

The more people you tell, the more cheerleaders you have. Don’t underestimate the power of a cheer squad.

4. Return to your writing roots.

I’m very much aware that a traditional NaNo challenge involves coming up with a new novel idea. Except when you’re running around trying to prepare for November, prepping for a new novel can slip right out of your mind.

Initially, I was disappointed that I couldn’t work on a brand new novel.

Then I realized I had something I could work on. Something I’m very familiar with.

There’s a novel I wrote for my very first NaNo. I never finished it, but I’ve been revising the world and characters for years. I always thought the plot was too difficult for me and I wasn’t ready to write it.

I’ll be honest, I still wasn’t ready when I started writing that new first draft. I felt comfortable though, writing for old characters that I grew up with. The more time that passed, the more I started to enjoy the discovery process. You can do as much planning as you want, but you’ll still end up learning so much about your characters in the writing process.

Return to your old writing friends, the old ideas of your childhood, and maybe something will lead you to success. I’m proud that this is the project that led to my win. Isn’t it poetic? To win NaNo with the novel that inspired you in the first place?

In a lot of ways, maybe these tips are for the super specific version of me that existed last month. Still, I hope they can help a little bit, no matter who you are.

I’m thankful for meeting everyone on the NaNo staff and for all the cool writers I got to interact with. NaNo is truly driven by the principle that every story matters.

I got to experience a few of those stories. I can’t wait to hear more. And dear reader? That includes yours.

Lots of love, Josie

I don’t think either of us realized how important NaNoWriMo would become to my writerly experience. Over the years, the people behind NaNoWriMo carried a certain mythos in my head. They were a sort of shadowy league of novelists, empowering others to write 50k every November. I remember reading as a wee middle-schooler about how the first NaNoWriMo staff got carpal tunnel from signing people up, and, as such, were unable to participate in NaNoWriMo. 

“That’s hardcore,” I said, and resolved to give myself carpal tunnel. (No, I have not yet succeeded, and have realized since that it’s a terrible goal.) 

And the people on the staff ten years later prove to be every bit as hardcore as I imagined. But not in the damage-your-wrists kind of way (so far), but in the resilient way, the one that keeps an organization running when it seems like every obstacle is in its way. I can’t think of a better staff to have experienced the election with, to have worked with during COVID, to run around trying to murder each other in viral sensation Among Us. Yes, they are not perfect. But every time they made a mistake, they used it to move forward, to ask themselves, How can we be better as an organization? 

How can we be better as an organization? How can we be better as staff, as writers, as people? Ten years of NaNoWriMo means that I’ve convinced quite a few people to try it and I always tell them it’s critical to be passionate about their NaNoWriMo novel. Working behind the scenes, however, has shown me how important it is that passion comes from both ends. The reason NaNoWriMo feels special, the reason I keep coming back to it, is because of how much its staff cares about the organization. So long as that stays the same, I can’t see NaNoWriMo going anywhere but up. 

I didn’t win NaNoWriMo this year, but that’s okay! I’ll be back next year, back on the regular Wrimo side. I’ll see you all there.

Sandra first learned of NaNoWriMo in 2010 and has completed many first drafts since. (She does not speak of the earlier ones.) When she’s not writing, she reads a lot of LGBT science fiction, watches animated shows/movies, and thinks about food. All the time. She loves food, so, so much.

Chyina Powell, Editorial Intern

When I was asked to write a farewell post to end my internship with National Novel Writing Month, the first thing I thought was, “I don’t want to.” And I thought this for two reasons:

I didn’t want the internship to end.

I had no idea what to write!

That being said, I decided to just jot down some of the things that came to mind, like how I came to work with NaNoWriMo this fall and the cool things I was able to experience because of it.

2020 has been a very weird year for everyone, but in the mess and mayhem, there have also been opportunities. This was the first time EVER that NaNoWriMo decided to hire remote interns and that meant that I could apply to work with an organization I had been a part of for years! And oddly enough, I was chosen to become the Editorial Intern. Perhaps it was due to my love of showtunes or overall weirdness, but whatever the case may be, I was able to work with some really amazing people. Not only the other staff and interns, but with the participants and guests as well. 

It was truly amazing to see just how creative and imaginative each and every NaNo and YWP participant was throughout the fall. Reading some of the forum posts, soliciting blog posts reminded me of just how important community is to writers. Participants bouncing ideas off of each other, congratulating each other for meeting word count goals and being chosen for 30 Covers, 30 Days, encouraging each other when things don’t work out the way they planned. 

I was also privileged to see what happens behind the scenes, how one small team can make November memorable for people all over the world. Everyone who has a hand in making NaNoWriMo what it is, from the staff to the interns to the MLs and forum moderators are spectacular people. They made this internship experience feel comfortable and welcoming. And even though I am on the other side of the country from the other staffers, I didn’t feel like I was left out of anything. In fact, the staff (at least in my opinion) made sure that we interns felt like we were a part of the team, asking our opinion and giving us the opportunity to work on really cool projects.

So, I would like to thank everyone from the participants to the staff to everyone who partnered with NaNoWriMo this year, during a global pandemic, for making this one of the best internships I have ever had and reminding me just how fun writing can be when you have people there supporting you every step of the way. 

And for those of you who never would’ve imagined that an opportunity could have risen out of such a dismal year, I urge you to see the bright side of things. Before this pandemic, I never could have imagined working with NaNoWriMo (I had no inclination whatsoever to move to California) but look at me now! Remember that no matter what, you can turn a bad situation into something positive, something magnificent. And maybe it’ll be you I watch next fall in a Virtual Write-In!

This was a great opportunity and I loved every minute of it. And with that, I say farewell (although I would prefer not to!)

Tell people.

Tell everyone. Say, “Hello, my name is Hannah (or your own name) and I just wrote a novel.”

It won’t seem real if you don’t. It will be too easy to close the file and move on.

Stay in touch with the Wrimos that you’ve written with.

Form a writing group that meets weekly or bi-weekly, and either write together or create a workshop together. These people that you’ve met are jewels, treasure them. Friends that write are the best friends to have, because they understand the drive inside of you, because they have it themselves.

Send a piece of your novel to someone you love, right now... but tell them not to say anything about it to you for a month.

Tell them to read through it, and write down everything they think in an email, but to press Draft instead of Send. Everything is too fresh, you aren’t ready to hear what other people have to say yet. You still have to wrap your head around how you feel.

Then, thirty whole days of thinking and mulling later, when January is just creeping up and you’ve gone on to convince yourself that you didn’t actually write a novel, and, if you did, it definitely wasn’t any good… there will be a message in your inbox, from a friend, talking to you about your novel, and telling you what they think, and celebrating your accomplishment. Suddenly all the voices will start speaking again.

Print the thing out.

It is much more seductive when it is a fluttering stack of pages on your desk, rather than as a document in a folder on your desktop inside your laptop. Buy some pens. Spread the whole thing out on your floor. Go to town. Cut things up if you have to. Make a physical story board. Tape it up on your wall. Pass it every day and think about it, until whatever it is that is tripping you up starts to make sense. Force it to continue existing.

Pick a sentence or paragraph that you love unabashedly and write it down.

Hide it somewhere in your room—either folded up in your wallet, pinned to the side of your mirror, tucked into a pair of socks.

You’ll forget and then one day, during the most ordinary of moments, you’ll be reminded. And if, perhaps, at that point in time, you had doubted your novel, you will be reminded of what you created.

Remember that all books started out as drafts, and rarely is it more than a sentence or two from a first attempt that makes it to the reader unchanged. You have that sentence. Now, go write.

Stay in touch with NaNoWriMo.

November may be over, but the awesome staff that puts it on is here year round. They exist to help you write your stories.

January and February are focused on editing and revision.

And then, just as you begin diving into that process, Camp will start, and you have a whole month to commit to some other insane writing project, or to commit to editing your novel.

Read.

You just spent a month writing. Now it is time for you to read. Read articles, read novels, read poetry, wash your mind in the words, phrases, cadences, ideas, imagery of other people. Lose yourself in reading—I find that it is when I am writing that I am able to most enjoy the literature of others. It holds me tightly, it doesn’t let me go. And it will re-light that weary flickering candle of November into a glowing flame.

Keep writing. It is who you are, after all.

Hannah Rubin is a writer and designer based in Oakland, CA. She used to intern at National Novel Writing Month, and still misses all the candy. See her 2014 30 Covers, 30 Days cover here.