My Nonprofit Reviews

The Office of Letters and Light brings great opportunities to people all across the world. Through their programs (NaNoWriMo, ScriptFreznzy, and the Young Novelist's Program), they're opening the door into creative writing for a multitude of people who might never have taken the chance before. With their guides and staff, they bring encouragement to new writers, cheering them and and helping them accomplish their creative endeavor.

I first found them through NaNoWriMo, a month long novel writing contest, back in 2007. I had just graduated high school and while I loved to write, I had little confidence in myself. I wasn't getting anywhere. When I found NaNoWriMo, I gave myself an ultimatum: If I enter this and I don't finish, I need to pull back and focus on what I really want to do with my life.

Over the course of the next month I wrote my novel. It was hard. Between school and writing, I didn't get to sleep until well after 2AM every morning. But the fun part about NaNoWriMo is you know you're never alone. Other people are out there struggling to write too. You can see that through the forums the OLL staff set up. And every week, there were pep-talks sent out from published authors and the program's director, Chris Baty himself. Without these two things, I might have given up in week two.

But I didn't. I won. Participating in NaNoWriMo gave me the confidence in myself I needed to keep working toward my dream. Close to four years later, I'm still writing. I've completed the creative writing program at my local college and I'm working on my fourth novel. I'll always be grateful for the Office of Letters and Light for being there to help me when I needed it.

More Feedback