This month Village Academy eighth grade students are participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Founded in 1999, NaNoWriMo challenges writers of all ages to complete an entire novel in November. For one month, participants are encouraged to write freely and creatively, without stopping to edit.

Young writers set their own word count goals, and set aside time each day for writing. Though Language Arts Department Chair and teacher Ms. Danielle Filas has set a goal of 8,000 words for her students, some students are writing up to 30,000 words this month.

The lofty word goals open the channel for imaginative ideas unimpeded by the writer’s own self-critique. “The challenge to write so many words frees students from what I call their ‘evil inner editors,’” Filas states. “For the month of November, the name of the game is to write with reckless abandon. There is simply no time to wonder if something is good enough, funny enough, interesting enough.”

The Village Academy eighth graders are already seeing the benefits of their work, which range from novels based on personal experience to zombie thrillers. Like many of her classmates, student Meghin Reinitz is surprised at how easy it is to write about something that interests her. “I though it would be a lot harder to get to 8,000 words,” she says of her experience during NaNoWriMo. “Once you start writing, you just can’t stop.”

Filas and her class will be hosting their own NaNoWriMo “Write-in” on Sunday, November 18, 2012, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., in the Village Academy cafe. Participants in NaNoWriMo are invited, and will be offered light refreshments and a dedicated space to work on their novel. This event is free and open to the public. For more information about NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program, visit: www.ywp.nanowrimo.org.