On November 20, 2016, I joined writers and teachers from around the world—as near as the Bay area, and as far as Qatar—for the 2016 Night of Writing Dangerously, a fundraiser for the nonprofit National Novel Writing Month. The event took place on the top floor of the Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown San Francisco, with a noir costume theme.
Everyone brought their laptops to work on their novels-in-progress, and together, we participated in writing challenges, ate a catered dinner and NaNoWriMo cupcakes, enjoyed a candy, coffee, and tea buffet, and novel-themed cocktails. Throughout the course of the night, I wrote over 3,000 words of my newest science fiction novel, and made friends with many like-minded literary lovers.
More importantly, our write-a-thon raised money for National Novel Writing Month’s Young Writer’s Program, a nonprofit organization that encourages the teaching of creative writing in junior high and high schools, and provides educational materials for teachers interested in empowering their students with the creative freedom to imagine their own worlds.