November is almost here.  If you would like improve your writing by learning to silence your brain’s writing critic and write first-draft stories without judgment, then NaNoWriMo is the contest for you.  We care only about quantity.  Your writing quality doesn’t matter.  It’s a perfect opportunity for your to practice your English, your writing, and your freedom of thought. 

***Our first meeting AND Annual Photo will be at lunch in room 17 Wed. Nov. 1st.*** 

National Novel Writing Month – Registration Instructions

There are three levels of NaNoWriMo participation at Burnaby North:

1. Secret (just for you!)
2. Recreational (just for fun!)
3. Competitive (fun and prizes!)

1. Secret Participants — If you just want to write a novel for the sheer joy of the exercise and don’t care if anyone knows you’re doing it, then go ahead… be a secret novelist. Just be aware that in order to keep your secret you won’t be able to use “I’m writing a novel” as an excuse for not doing your chores (I’m not saying it ever works, but you can always tryJ), or to participate in the school NovelNights, or to bounce ideas off other crazy novelists.

2 & 3.  Recreational & Competitive Participants — If you want to write a novel the sheer joy of the exercise and to join a community of crazy people sharing wacky ideas and consuming vast quantities of caffeine, you should register as an official participant with NaNoWriMo.  You will also be welcome to join any “write-ins” we host, either in 21 or the Library.  Watch the bulletin & our online classroom space for details.

1. Fill in the online registration form from your Office 365 account AND…
2. Register with the official competition run by “The Office of Letters and Light”. There are two options here:

• If you want to join the official BNS group online, create your own word count goal (50,000 not required here) AND you have parental permission:
  • Register on http://www.nanowrimo.org/ywp
  • Use code RZBEQRFT to join the Viking Novel Nook
    • This site has resources for you to access and forums that are open ONLY to students in K-12 and their teachers.
  • If you are 13 or older AND want to access the regular (i.e. not school version) NaNoWriMo resources and forums AND have parental permission:
    • Register on http://www.nanowrimo.org
      • This site has resources for you to access and forums that are open to anyone in the world. These forums may contain objectionable content.

3. Competitive Participants — Submit your story to the word count validators. If you wish to be eligible for prizes you MUST submit your story (we won’t read it, only check your word count):

• For BNS Prizes email your .doc or .rtf file to jennifer.cowley@sd41.bc.ca with the subject line: BNS nano
• For official NaNoYWP or NaNoWriMo online bragging rights (depending on which site you’ve registered), follow the submission guidelines online for the website.

Ms J. Cowley, NaNoWriMo Club Sponsor