My Nonprofit Reviews
sunstarmoon
Review for National Novel Writing Month, Berkeley, CA, USA
I've loved writing books since I was in elementary school. I'm in high school now, and that love hasn't gone away, which is why I'm so grateful for the Office of Letters and Light and the amazing programs they provide. When I finished my first National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I felt really accomplished. At the beginning of the month, I doubted that I would actually be able to write 50,000 words in just 30 days. I ended up writing over the 50,000 word goal and having a rough draft of a complete novel! I have been a participant since 2008, gotten over 50,000 all three years I've done it, and am now working on getting one of those three novels published. NaNoWriMo's sister contest, Script Frenzy, was also a huge help. I started doing Script Frenzy in 2009. In my 2009 NaNoWriMo novel, I could already tell a difference: I was a lot better at writing dialogue (since that's what a script is mainly comprised of)! I wrote screenplays of books that I like for both years and contacted the author of one of them to see if we could get a movie based off of the script I wrote. Unfortunately, it did not work out, but it taught me some things about the world of screenwriting. I plan to write my own original stage play this year and hope to be able to produce it at my school next year. Although I have not participated in the Young Writer's Program, I've known a few friends who have, including my sister, and it was great. We talked about the novels we were writing, bounced ideas off each other, and encouraged each other to keep writing.
One of my very favorite things about the Office of Letters and Light, however, other than NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy, is the staff. I receive weekly emails (called pep talks) from guest authors, the municipal liaisons in my region, and the program director. They're always really positive, encouraging me to keep writing, letting me know that they're having the same problems am I with my plot, my characters, and my word (or page) count. The guest author emails are especially fun because sometimes they're from authors whose books I've read, so reading an email from them?! Super exciting!!! Especially when they wrote it to help ME. My point is that the staff at NaNoWriMo make it really personal. I've never met any of them in person, but if I did, I would feel completely at home talking to them because I feel like they're my friends, like I know them as people.
The Office of Letters and Light is an amazing organization, made up of wonderful, creative leaders and incredible programs that only benefit and inspire the people who participate in them.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
There are lots of great results from their annual programs. From NaNoWriMo, I get a huge feeling of accomplishment, a nifty certificate, a winners T-shirt, a free proof copy of my novel, a boost in my self-confidence, and (my favorite) a rough draft of a 50,000 word or more novel that I wrote, on my own time, in 30 days. From Script Frenzy, I've learned more about script formatting and the time it takes to write a 100 page (or more) script. It makes me appreciate playwrights and screenwriters a lot more.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
The only change I would make is to give them more money! That way, the writing programs and packages they've started making can spread to more and more schools across the nation. I, personally, would love to be able to work on my novels and scripts in class, as part of our curriculum or for a grade in a literature class. They would also be able to upgrade their sites (ex: make them run faster, have more forums, etc.). And, my favorite part, they would be able to send out more pep talks from guest authors!
