Download this letter as a PDF for your family or the families of your students.
Dear Parents and Family Members,
This November, your child or teen will be taking part—with classmates and over 300,000 writers around the world—in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It's a fun, innovative creative writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in just 30 days.
Novelists begin writing November 1 and must finish by midnight, November 30. The goal for NaNoWriMo's adult program is 50,000 words, but your child or teen will be participating through the Young Writers Program—which allows students 17-and-under to set reasonable, yet challenging, individual word-count goals.
NaNoWriMo will require your child or teen to write as frequently as possible. Especially with your reinforcement, this hard work deepens student investment in the process (and their finished products). At the end of November, educators and participants also report improved self-confidence, creative writing skills, overall writing skills, and time management.
If your child or teen's class will be using the online components of the Young Writers Program, you may want to review this step-by-step guide. Participants have individual profile spaces, plus access to forums and a private messaging system. These site features are not public, and can be viewed only by other young writers. In addition, all are monitored by our staff for inappropriate content.
We're proud to welcome your child or teen as a participant in NaNoWriMo! If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with us.
Enthusiastically,
Chris Angotti
Young Writers Program Director
