While British author J.K. Rowling took five years to write her bestselling first novel, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” a Westbrook couple is hoping to beat that time for the completion of their first novels by a wide margin – Four years and 11 months to be exact.

Lanna Lee Maheux-Quinn and her husband, Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn, of Foster Street have set out this month to complete their first novels in just 30 days.

The couple is taking part in National Novel Writing Month, an effort that began in 1999 where participants begin writing on Nov. 1 with the goal of completing their novel by the stroke of midnight on Nov. 30.

Maheux-Quinn, found out about National Novel Writing Month, known to participants as “NaNoWriMo,” while surfing the Internet, and immediately got excited about writing a novel that she had been thinking about for some time. After she decided to commit to writing a book in 30 days, she convinced her husband to do the same.

“I’ve always wanted to write a novel,” she said. “And I thought it would be something we could do together.”

Davis-Quinn said he thought the idea sounded interesting when his wife told him about it. “I said, ‘that sounds cool,'” he said.

Maheux-Quinn signed up for the project on the Web site as soon as she was able to. Davis-Quinn took a little longer to make the commitment, signing up just before the Nov. 1 deadline.

The rules for National Novel Writing Month are simple. Participants commit to write a 50,000-word novel beginning no earlier than Nov. 1 and they must have the work completed by midnight on the last day of the month. At the end of the month, participants submit their completed work to judges to verify their word count. There are no prizes or guarantees that their work will ever be published, but everyone who completes their novel in the allotted time is considered a winner.

While there are no guarantees of publication, seven books written by National Novel Writing Month participants have been sold to publishing houses since 2001.

This is the first time either Maheux-Quinn or Davis-Quinn has attempted the task of writing a book in a month. Both of them say they have been enjoying the process so far, though there is some good-natured bickering about word counts.

As of Monday night, Davis-Quinn was leading in the battle of the word count. He said he has written about 19,000 words of his novel “No Filter: A Travelogue of Madness,” a book partly based on his experiences in Europe in 2001.

Maheux-Quinn’s novel “Jesterfest, or Die Clown Die,” which she describes as a murder mystery/romance novel set at a clown convention, is slightly behind. She has written about 7,800 words and is eager to get back on schedule and catch up to her husband.

“She’s freaking out about her word count a little,” Davis-Quinn said as his wife laughed.

Both Davis-Quinn and Maheux Quinn said they try to sneak in time to write whenever they can during their day. Maheux-Quinn, who by day works at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham and by night is a balloon-twisting artist, said she brings her laptop to work and tries to write during her lunch breaks.

Davis-Quinn, who works as a substitute teacher, tries to work whenever he can during the day, and he also works at home at night. Both say they try to average about two or three hours of writing a day.

One thing they both say is while the writing is as hard as they expected it would be, they both are relishing the challenge. “So far, I’m actually enjoying the writing process,” said Davis-Quinn.

While she wishes she were a little further along in her work, Maheux-Quinn said she would be taking her little victories wherever she could.

Maheux-Quinn and Davis-Quinn are not alone in their quest to write a novel in 30 days, according to the Web site devoted to the contest. An estimated 60,000 people around the world are participating in National Novel Writing Month.

The event began in 1999 with a group of friends in Oakland, Calif. That first year, 21 people took part, and six finished their novels. The numbers steadily grew from that small beginning, and last year, 42,000 people took part in the event, and almost 6,000 people were successful in completing their novel in 30 days.

While the rules dictate aspiring novelists must write their novels by themselves, there’s no rule against participants forming writing support groups to help each other as they struggle with their work. Maheux-Quinn and Davis-Quinn meet with a group of area writers every Sunday at Panera Bread in Westbrook. They both say the support from other writers each week is big help, especially if they are struggling.

At home, it’s a different story. While it is evident that they support each other, Maheux-Quinn and Davis-Quinn have established offices at opposite ends of their house. They said they do this to avoid distractions.

“He’ll talk to me all the time,” said Maheux-Quinn.

“Yeah, it doesn’t work too well,” confirms Davis-Quinn with a grin.

With just under three weeks to go before the end of the month, Maheux-Quinn and Davis-Quinn both say they are looking forward to completing their work, and they plan on doing this again next year. “I think it’s something that you have to definitely get psyched up for,” said Davis-Quinn. “But it’s fun and the community is good. I would recommend anyone who wants to be a writer to do it.”

While the month has already started, it is not too late to sign up to participate in National Novel Writing Month. For more information, visit www.nanowrimo.com.

Writers Lanna-Lee Maheux-Quinn and her husband Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn of Foster Street are taking part in National Novel Writing Month. The couple is attempting to undertake the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days.

Copy the Story Link