![\"NaNoWriMo](\"http:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/4659193439_bf4d803e25_m.jpg\" "\\"NaNoWriMo")
<\/a>Does your child yearn to be a writer<\/a>? \u00a0If you know that, you’re way ahead of the game. \u00a0(Lots of us keep that dream a secret!)<\/p>\n No matter how much you’d like to see that dream come true, writing can be a difficult dream \u00a0to support. \u00a0On one hand, it is a fairly solitary activity. \u00a0On the other, we all need feedback and opportunities to improve our craft. \u00a0And as a parent, it’s hard to know what your role should be: \u00a0Reader? \u00a0Editor? Proofreader? \u00a0What kind of feedback is helpful?<\/p>\n NaNoWriMo<\/a> may be just what you and your budding author need.<\/p>\n If you asked “NaNo…who.HUH???” you’re not alone.<\/p>\n NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month<\/a>. It can be described as: a challenge to write a ‘lousy first draft’ of a 50,000 word novel in the month of November, a virtual community for writers, an opportunity to practice discipline…. and a whole lot of fun. Although\u00a0I have participated (and won<\/a>) for several years I do not consider myself among the “truly obsessed” who start at on 11\/1 at 12:01 in their local time zones.<\/p>\n There’s room for people like me: a participant, donor and fan. I write. I chat a little. I answer questions and offer encouragement to newbies. \u00a0I have fun. And every time I “officially validate” my word count (and win) I believe that it will be the last time. Until the next November rolls around.<\/p>\n I can’t seem to stay away: \u00a0it’s a challenge, it’s fun and even though I’ve not yet published a novel, I know the exercise makes me a better writer.<\/p>\n What has this got to do with your kid? The one who is headed to the top of the New York Times’ Bestseller List? NaNoWriMo offers a Young Writers<\/a> version, with a variety of options. Young Writers set their own word count goals. Some kids participate with their schools, others as independents. Check it out…. \u00a0the Young Writer’s Program <\/a>is a great way to fan the flames of literary passion and if you start now you may just be able to get your school to participate.<\/p>\n But be careful — you might just find yourself getting up early to keep your kiddo company AND get your own 1667 words in before you start each of your November days!<\/p>\n P.S. Can’t wait? \u00a0There’s Script Frenzy in April and CAMP (!!!!) in June and August. Ready… Set… WRITE.<\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Does one of your kids want to write? Not sure how to support this quirky, solitary dream? We’ve got resources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[303,309,465,582],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-2993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-four-foundations","tag-life-lessons","tag-literacy-2","tag-school","tag-volunteering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2993"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=2993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n