Teaching creative writing isn’t easy. There’s no set...

Teaching creative writing isn’t easy. There’s no set formula, no easy answers. Novel-writing is often messy, complicated, and frustrating—as well as incredibly meaningful and one thousand percent unforgettable. 

This Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to take the opportunity to thank all of the educators in our community for your hard work. We see you out there, guiding wiggly fourth graders through an online writing workshop and giving personalized feedback to your high schoolers, one phone call after another. You make the world a brighter, kinder, and more creative place, and we’re so grateful for all the things you do. 

With endless love and bountiful verbs,

Marya Brennan, Young Writers Program Director,
and all of us at NaNo HQ

Did you know that we supported over 7,000 classrooms on our Young Writers Program in 2019, and over 70,000 young writers worked on novels on our site? And, since our new YWP website launched in 2016, participants have written a total of 1.6 billion words! That’s a lot of new stories set free in the world!

Image description:

A vertical poster design that reads, “My students write novels” on top of an illustration of an open book with a pencil and pen on either side of the words. Below that is the text, “NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program”.