This past November, seven students participated in the National Novel Writing Month, commonly called NaNoWriMo. Thousands of people worldwide participate each year. This is the first year the program was a part of RB.

“The goal of NaNoWriMo was really just to have fun,” said Bridget Wilmot, who organized NaNoWriMo at RB, and participated in the program herself.

NaNoWriMo is run by a small nonprofit organization called the Office of Letters and Light. The purpose is to write 50,000 words, which equates to about 175 pages, in thirty days. Many students at RB decided to participate because they saw it as a substitute for Facets, the school’s creative writing club, which was cut due to the failed referendum.

“I decided to do this because Facets was cut. I still wanted students to have a way to express themselves and have a chance to meet and exchange ideas with other writers,” said Wilmot.

Among the seven participants at RB, senior Abigail Perez-Gonzalez and sophomore Kate Alaks both finished their novels within the month.

“I didn’t really have a plan when I first started writing. I just wrote whatever came to me,” said Alaks, “I would love to be a published author someday.”

“My teacher told me about NaNoWriMo and I thought it would be fun and challenging. It was difficult to write nearly 2,000 words per day, but it was very rewarding,” said Perez-Gonzalez, “I wanted my novel to have a lot of action.”

The total word count for the previous month amounts to over 3 billion words. In addition to this, NaNoWriMo has seen a record number of participants since its creation.

“I think people chose to participate because they wanted to challenge themselves and become better writers,” said Wilmot.

Wilmot plans to continue with the program next year. The organization welcomes all who want to participate.