NaNoWriMo

It's a big word. It's a confusing word. It gets the best of us saying, "NaNo--what?!" It causes even the greatest of authors to shudder with horror. (Or laugh aloud in joy, depends.) It's... NaNoWriMo.

What is NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writers Month... (the first 2-3 letters from each word, not just NNWM. NaNoWriMo is just more fun to say.) But what IS it? It is a program that challenges writers nation and world-wide to write a novel in a month. The month of November, to be exact.

NaNoWriMo challenges writers, authors, and anyone with a novel in them to write that novel! For the adult program, (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) these writers must attempt to write 50,000 words in ONLY the month of November. 50,000 words, as far as I can tell, is about 200-400 pages long in a printed book. For the kids, us young writers get to choose and set our word count goal. Whether that's 10,000 words, or 45,000... whatever the number may be, we have to try and write that many words... in a month.

Why would anyone do such a crazy thing? Well, to be honest, I don't know. Maybe because it's a lot of fun! (With the right mentality, believe me, it is!) Or, maybe because it's a cool bragging right! Not many people can say that they've written an entire book in a month! Or maybe, for some, it is simply something to cross off of their "Wanna do" list.

As for me... I don't know why I did NaNoWriMo. I suppose because it sounded like a fun challenge. Maybe it was for the bragging rights. I don't know. But I did it... and I'm very glad that I did last year! Between the end of the 5th grade, to Christmas Break during 7th grade, I was rewriting one of my unpublished books out there. (It's still in the works.) When I finished, (on the winter solstice, actually!) it was over 550 pages long. Unfortunately, as I began to read back on this book during this school year, 8th grade, I discovered that my writing skills had become a lot better than when I had written them. I discovered that I needed to re-write the entire 550 page manuscript, one chapter at a time. I was extremely fond of this book, and wanted it to be the best it could be before I turned it in to a publisher. Wait... what does this have to do with NaNoWriMo you ask?

Well... nothing really. This just goes to show how NaNoWriMo changed my life. If it weren't for this crazy program, I would still be re-writing this long book. Because of NaNo, I was inspired to write another book. Eventually, my NaNoNovel was published, thus making me a 13 year old author. The Dreamers was the novel that I wrote in ONE MONTH last year. (I know, I still can't believe it!) It inspired me to take a break and write something else. Because I DID write something else, I have had a wonderful ride this fall and now winter season. (Thank you NaNoWriMo!)

For you writers reading this post... you really should look into NaNoWriMo! The adult NaNo link is above, the kids page for NaNo can be found at http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/. I found this program to be a ton of fun in 2010. Think of it this way: even if you don't complete the novel in a month... aren't you that many hundred or thousand words further along than you would have been if you HADN'T participated?

This year, so far, (the 28th of Nov.) I haven't yet passed 10,000 words. I'm being honest. My goal is 30,000 words. I still have to multiply my word count by 3 in order to meet my goal. In two days. I'll definitely be in Boise's "Last Minute Brigade".   : )

Dream on! Write on!
Sam Kullen
&
Oliver Dahl

Holiday!

Hello, Dreamers of the world!

I apologize for not posting in a while, and not even posting consistently & regularyly. Now, for the holiday season, (already, can you believe it!?!) I will post once every two weeks. Every other week. And... hopefully consistently afterward at the beginning of the respective week. I look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully, you, I.

In addition to the holiday season, it is NaNoWriMo again! For those who don't know... NaNoWriMo is the program in which I wrote The Dreamers... a program that challenges writers all over the nation and world to write a novel... in a month! This proved to be a LOT of fun last year, (Trust me, you have to have quite a bit of insanity in you for it to be fun... let alone to participate!) So... I am doing it again this year. My word count goal is quite a bit higher than last year, and I am giving myself more of a challenge. This Wednesday, November 16th, I will be signing books for a NaNoWriMo Midway Day party to help celebrate being halfway done with NaNoWriMo. (Though in my case, NOT my book! I still have a few tens of thousands of words to go...) This year, I am writing a book entitled, Beneathe. Yes. It is spelled funny on purpose. : )

This book takes place underneath the city of Paris, France. Under the Eiffel Tower, the sewers, the trains, the catacombs... there is an unknown world inhabited by strange creatures, in strange lands. Ian Grant gets thrown into this setting by a cereal box. He won a trip to Paris sponsored by the cereal box company, and soon finds himself deeper than anyone before into the mystery, danger, and horror of this world. He is enslaved, freed, challenged, and sent on quest after quest to save this world... and his life.

I am very exited about this book. (Thank you SO MUCH to Evan Lenn, who gave the original idea for this story to me. I hope to use it well!) This will definitely take a lot longer than a month to write. Maybe the first draft... but the final draft will take several months, if not years. There is so much that can happen in this book... It could be hundreds of pages long! (Over 500, at least!)

Thanks for reading! I hope you will look forward to future posts as much as I do!
Dream on!
Sam Kullen
&
Oliver Dahl

Top 50 Idaho Authors 2011!

The Dreamers has won its first award! This weekend, October 28-29, the Idaho Book Extravaganza will take place. I entered one of its contests in which Idaho authors compete for the title of "Top 50 Idaho Author." Since I was going to be at the event anyway, I decided to try. Less than a month later, I learned the The Dreamers had gotten me that title. Hooray! I am very proud of this accomplishment.

Dream on!
Sam Kullen

&

Oliver Dahl

Blog Update

Hello everyone, just posting to let you know that The Dreamers Adventures has been updated. Several new pages have been added, including "Videos", "Events", "What People Think!", "Upcoming Projects", "Where Else?", and "Publishing." I will go through each of them to briefly describe what is contained in them.

Videos- This is where book trailers, author readings, and other promotional videos can be found for your enjoyment and entertainment.

Events-Want to meet the author? Do you want your copy of The Dreamers signed or personalized? This is the place to go.

What People Think- This is the place for reader feedback. Have something you want to say about The Dreamers? email it to oliverdbooks@hotmail.com, or leave it as a comment under a post, and you might see it here!

Upcoming Projects- The Dreamers isn't my only book (or series!) I have many more books planned and in the process! Want to learn more? This is the page for you.

Where Else?- This is a hub to all of my social networking places, as well as links to pages about me, and where you can get the book.

Publishing- Are you a young writer trying to get published? Are you tired of "writing" tips, when you are done writing your first book? This is where you need to go.


I hope that these pages add to The Dreamers Adventures, and that you will enjoy them. If you have any questions concerning these, leave a comment below.

Dream on!
Sam Kullen
&
Oliver Dahl

Sneak Peek on The Nightmarers!

Today I finished writing The Nightmarers. Editing will take a while for sure, but for now... the writing process is complete! Since the story line may change, I won't go into any detail about it's story line, but I will tell you the basic idea. Sam rebuilds the Dreamers, and soon they have replenished the missing numbers. Soon, however, they discover another world... another Dream Realm. While exploring, Sam discovers that The Dreamers aren't alone... that there is another group like them. And the Dreamers they thought were lost in the battle with Malfix aren't as lost as they had once thought....

I am really excited about The Nightmarers, and I hope that you are, too! As a teaser, I just bought the cover image today. (It's pretty awesome if you ask me!)

What do you think? It looks pretty cool! I'm pretty excited for this to come out. I hope you guys are too!
Also, The Nightmarers trailer is complete. Enjoy this as well!





Dream On!
Oliver Dahl