Find Your Community: NaNoWriMo in Beijing

While I wrote my blog how to win NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as a Write-at-Home-Parent, I sat down at my desk to schedule the writing time. I had the idea, the motivation, and for the first time, I had the time.

What I did not have was the community. In Florida I met the Writer’s Atelier crowd through NaNo, but here in Beijing I didn’t see anything scheduled yet. So I asked in a Beijing Writers WeChat group* if anyone was planning on doing it, and an hour later, I created a separate group. After teaming up with two other coordinators, we scheduled regular write-ins.

The group has not grown to 86 people, and other members are scheduling their own write-ins at times more convenient to them.  There are NaNo newbies and vets, and we are having a great time encouraging each other and sharing resources.

Today I went to my first write-in, meeting three other very cool writers in the process. I consumed an entire pot of lemon tea and churned out 2217 words in between getting to know these people who had only been mini photos in a WeChat group until today.

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Between the four of us, we have a science fiction, urban fantasy, thriller and nonfiction workbook to write!

*WeChat is the main form of communication in China.