NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month
Small Bites - 1 Credit Hour - UHON 375

Instructor(s): Jona Kottler

Course Description

So, what is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month is an international celebration of writing, and a shared writing experience. It’s an organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page. Writers challenge themselves to meet a goal--usually 50,000 words in 30 days (roughly 1,666 words per day).

Have you ever wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo and just couldn’t create a space for the daily/weekly discipline it takes?

In this 1-credit hour Honors College course you will meet with other writers who want to accomplish a first draft of a novel. We will read Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo founder)’s book No Plot, No Problem, and do some pre-planning, and then we will write (a lot!!) in November.

Please understand, this is a generative process--we aren’t worried about perfection in these manuscripts, just meeting word counts and keeping momentum.

Texts

No Plot, No Problem, Chris Baty (NaNoWriMo founder)

Requirements

October: meet twice to discuss No Plot, No Problem, and to pre-plan for writing.

November: Write an average of 1,666 words per day, for a goal of 50,000 words at the end of the month. (You don’t have to write the full 50,000 words for credit! It’s a goal!)  Students will update word counts on the NaNoWriMo website and interact with each other online. We will also have several “write-ins” where we all work in parallel on our own projects (and have coffee and snacks!).

December: write a reflection paper about the experience, and discuss parts of the work that the writer feels were successful, meet to read work aloud, share plans for revision.

About the Instructor(s): Jona Kottler

Jona (rhymes with Donna) earned a BA in English from UNM and she is a graduate of UNM Honors. She has an MA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute for American Indian Arts.  Her work has been featured nationally and internationally in NY Magazine’s The Cut, The Guardian, Longreads, and Audible. She has written creative nonfiction, comic books, short and feature films, and is currently finishing a novel.