Writing Dangerously

Sara Takubo is more than 20,000 words behind on her NaNoWriMo novel. The PV sophomore needs to have 50,000 words by Wednesday. Her last chance to catch up on her writing was last night at the Night of Writing Dangerously event hosted by Outside In, PV’s literary magazine.

The event was modelled off of NaNoWriMo’s actual Night of Writing Dangerously which was held in San Francisco. Much like the actual event, Lit Mag’s included food, games, and time to write participants’ novels.

NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) is a national writing contest where students, teachers, and anyone else that desires to, attempt to write a novel, specifically 50,000 words, during the month of November.

PV English teacher and Litmag adviser, Mr. Matthew Morone, encouraged his students to take part in the writing challenge. Takubo was one of 68 students to participate in NaNoWriMo in Morone’s Honors English II classes.  

“Most of them have never written so much before, so [NaNoWrimo] really comes down to self-awareness and self- improvement,” Morone said.

Last year, Morone began to implement NaNoWrimo into his ‘open classroom’ setup. Students that participate in and win are awarded ‘mastery’ on all narrative writing standards.

Takubo tried to write at least five days a week at home, but she couldn’t meet the daily suggested word count each day, which is 1,667 words every day of November.

“This night gives me an opportunity to focus solely on my novel, that I usually wouldn’t get at home,” Tabuko said.  

The night began with the game Headbandz where students placed an index card with a wacky phrase on their forehead, and their job was to try to write  a short story involving all the phrases the students had on their table.

PV sophomore Steffani Aisenman then sang her own original song while playing the guitar.

For food, there was Taco Bell and pizza along with a cake made by PV sophomores Elise DeBiasio and Shauna McLean, who also presented about their own blog on healthy recipes, a project for their English class.

PV senior and NaNoWrimo veteran, Jamie Ryu, gave a motivational speech to the students compelling them to persevere no matter what life circumstances are thrown at them.

There was also a raffle for the students who attended. Three books that were once NaNoWriMo winners were given out to three students that won the raffle.The students then got started on writing their novels, and trudged on to complete their 50,000 words.

“Once you get to the end of the month, that’s when nerves kick, and you get stressed that you won’t reach 50,000 words,” said Rima Kaddouh, co-editor-in-chief of Outside In. “But having a group of students working on reaching this goal provides encouragement to work on their novel and get as close to finishing as they can.”