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Getting Creative About Writing

Jericho, Vermont - November 25, 2009

On your mark...

Get set...

Type!

With the opening of a notebook and the click of a pencil, 65 people were off and running at the Browns River Middle School in Jericho.

All are participating in the Turkey Trot 10K.

"As soon as she sent the email I knew I wanted to do it, so I said yes, sign me up," said Lex Mongan, a sixth-grader.

Unlike most 10Ks, these participants don't even have to pick up their feet. Rather than run, the goal here is to write 10,000 words in a month: the equivalent of 40 to 50 pages.

"I think the wall is right now. Many of them are tired. Many of them are like oh man, this story just stinks. But they're still going at it and they know there's the finish line," school librarian Joyce Babbitt said.

More than 120,000 people across the country are participating in National Novel Writing Month festivities.

The annual event challenges people to write novels in 30 days or less-- a seat-of-your-pants approach to writing that emphasizes quantity rather than quality, encouraging writers to take risks.

"I signed up for it at the beginning and whenever I told someone they were like-- you showed up to write a 10,000 page novel? And I'm like... yeah," seventh-grader Christian DeCoster said.

Molly Abbey is participating with her 10-year-old daughter.

"It's great. There's times when I've reminded her and she says mom, you don't have to remind me. I know I have to do it," Molly Abbey said.

Daughter Flannery says she's beating her mom.

"She pushes me to write but I have more words than her."

"Riley here loves dogs. He's always been writing dog stories," Babbitt said. "Brianna over there is writing a fantasy novel. Kate is writing about her life, diary of a wimpy house wife."

All participants will receive a free manuscript of their finished product. A record of achievement for a job well done, and for some, perhaps just the start of a long writing career.

"I'm just excited to know it doesn't end here. It just continues on," Babbitt said.

Keagan Harsha - WCAX News