Katie Best
Opinion Editor
November isn’t just home to Thanksgiving and “no shave November”; it is also home to a new sensation that has been sweeping the nation: National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo is an online writing competition wherein one must write a 50,000-word novel in one month. While this task may seem like an easy feat for professional authors, many young writers are taking the challenge to write and complete this 50,000-word deadline. This year’s total number of competitors is undermined, but a whopping 167,150 people signed up in 2009. Yet, in the past two years, only 20 percent of the people signed up for NaNoWriMo have actually finished their stories on time.
I am willing to take this challenge for the month of November. It may seem crazy, but then again, I never claimed to be sane. I am determined to be a part of the 20 percent that finishes the nearly impossible amount of words. By doing this, I am risking my free-time, hand and finger muscles (from typing) and of course, my grades.

Wednesday, Nov. 3
Technically, I am supposed to be speaking French because it is French immersion day, but as this is my first NaNoWriMo blog post, I will write in English. Now, before I begin ranting about NaNoWriMo, there are several things I am going to need in order to finish my 50,000 word novel:
1. Creative ingenuity. In order to even begin writing my NaNoWriMo story, I have to have a creative idea. By the end of this writing frenzy, all my ideas will be used-up and dried-out. Let’s hope they prevail throughout the competition.
2. COFEE. There is no way I am going to survive writing this much with out an insurmountable quantity of coffee. Whenever I’m writing, a hot cup of java will be at my side.
3. Time. This is practically a given. In order for me to find time to write all 50,000 words, I will have to find the perfect balance between school activities, homework and NaNoWriMo.
Furthermore, when I was calculating the amount of pages on Word documents, I will be writing roughly 400 pages of unedited, uncensored fictional genius. Well, once I come up with a story idea, that is.
I’m already behind on writing my story considering I don’t even have an idea, and NaNoWriMo started two days ago.
I’m in for a hell of a month.