National Novel Writing Month starts tomorrow. NaNoWriMo is a 30 day event that challenges people of all ages to write a novel of 50,000 words or more within the month. RBHS NaNoWriMo club is preparing for its month-long novel writing challenge.
“NaNoWriMo Eve as we like to call it,” is on Oct. 31, junior Megan Watts said. “We will all be dressing up as main characters from either this year’s book or last year’s [book].”
Writing a novel and concentrating can be challenging. Junior Javan Whitney-Warner, vice president of NaNoWriMo club, said it’s important to make time to write, and even then it can be hard to focus.
“A lot of the time, unless it’s designated writing time,” Whitney-Warner said. “Usually I just have to get up earlier in the morning than I do any other time.”
NaNoWriMo gives people the opportunity to accomplish something they would otherwise not be able to.
“It’s gotten me to finish large writing projects because outside of NaNoWriMo I find it hard to finish stuff I write,” Whitney-Warner said. “But within NaNoWriMo, I have to finish it.”

Staying focused can be difficult while trying to tackle school and writing. It may be hard, but not impossible. There are many methods that these young writers use to stay focused.
“Put on something you’ve watched a million times that you know you won’t focus on,” sophomore Madilyn Hollinger said. “You’ll hear it [in the background], but you won’t hear it until something pops out at you. And that sometimes gives me inspiration [while writing].”
Incorporating writing into everyday activities can be hard, but having a goal to reach can help aid the end objective of reaching 50,000 words, Watts said.
“Write 1,667 words a day in order to meet the 50,000 words,” Watts said. “If you fall behind it’s harder to regain that lost time.”
Writer’s block can be a problem, Hollinger said. Not only does it prohibit a writer from continuing their book, but it can also be discouraging. Giving up would be the easy thing to do, but there are ways of curing writer’s block.
“With writer’s block ,it’s easy to want to give up because you can’t think of anything else to do, but eventually I always come back to something,” Hollinger said. “I put on music that relates to the emotion of the story.”
Finding music that relates to a story can be difficult, but using apps such as Pandora can be beneficial.
“I have about 40 different [music] stations,” Watts said. “I hit shuffle, and I let it go.”
Not only does NaNoWriMo give people the challenge of writing a novel in a short amount of time and help them to think in ways they may not have before, it also brings groups of people with a similar interest together for a common goal.
“It’s helped me to be more creative,” Hollinger said. “It’s kind of opened my eyes a little more to how writing can shape certain people, and how a group as big as we are can all connect.”