Contact details:
Website address: http://nanowrimo.org, http://www.tonano.ca/
Twitter: @ToNaNo
Facebook Group: NaNo – Toronto Region
Regional forum: http://nanowrimo.org/regions/canada-ontario-toronto
Goals/mission:
• “National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.”
• Participants in NaNoWriMo sign up to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. “50,000 words is a challenging but achievable goal, even for people with full-time jobs and children. This is about the length of The Great Gatsby. We don’t use the word ‘novella’ because it doesn’t seem to impress people the way ‘novel’ does.”
• The local team of Municipal Liaisons (MLs) organize write-ins and other social events for local participants, helping foster an inclusive local writing community that is open to any and all interested writers.
Notable past and current activities:
• The Toronto chapter of NaNoWriMo has a number of traditional events which occur every year around and during November.
• October events include multiple ‘Inspirational Evenings’ for those beginning to plan out their novel. Every year this includes an AGO trip and a walk through Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
• November events are generally write-ins. Popular ones include:
- Subway write-in: NaNoWriMo writers take over a subway car and write for the duration of the trip from Downsview to Finch and back.
- Overnighter write-in. (Church of the Redeemer at Bloor & Avenue)
Ways to get involved:
• Sign up to participate in NaNoWriMo!
• Come out to a write-in Fridays at 7:00 p.m. at the Davisville Starbucks all year round.
• Anyone is able to run an unofficial event during the month of November through the forums, or suggest an official event to the ML or mod team.
• Donate! Either to the larger organization or to the Toronto ML team.
Information compiled by Helen Marukh.