National Novel Writing Month: Fascinating Facts Friday

Yes, this week I'm a bit obsessed with my decision to join National Novel Writing Month, or what is affectionately known as NaNo or NaNoWriMo. Since it was on my brain, it seemed the perfect subject for my Fascinating Facts Friday feature.

 

About NaNo

- 50,000 words in 30 days... it's that simple. It's not meant to produce an edited, ready to publish novel. Instead, it gets writers writing.

- Chris Baty, along with 20 other writers, started the challenge in 1999. It's now run by The Office of Letters and Light, a nonprofit company. Their company motto: We believe in ambitious acts of the imagination. For year-to-year NaNo History and growth, visit their History page.

- In 1999, they had 21 participants and six winners. In 2011, they had 256, 618 participants and 36,843 winners.

- Number of words logged during the 2011 event: 3,074,068,446.

- Sara Gruen drafted Water for Elephants during NaNo. For other success stories, visit here.

- Top 5 NaNo cities (according to Google Analytics)

1. New York
2. London
3. Seattle
4. Toronto
5. Sydney

I'm so excited to be a part of a program dedicated to writing all over the world.

Happy Friday!