National Novel Writing Month

Writing a novel is on the Living To Do list of many people, but it can be a pretty intimidating activity. Writing definitely takes time, and while some people can put out a novel a month, most writers take longer to produce a work of that length.

That said, it’s definitely a doable task; and what better time to accomplish this goal than during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)? This approach to novel writing allows participants to worry about nothing but word count. Grammar, quality, plot—none of that matters during NaNoWriMo. The only thing that does matter is your output.

And really, this is a decent way to finish a novel. Rather than nitpicking on every detail like a lot of new writers might do, you have the encouragement to just plunge straight ahead and just write. Just get the words on the page—every writing teacher from Natalie Goldberg to Julia Cameron will tell you that advice. As the NaNoWriMo site reminds us, “you will be writing a lot of crap.” But that’s fine, as long as you force yourself to actually get the writing done. No more excuses!

The goal of the month is to produce a novel that’s at least 50,000 words—or 175 pages—by November 30 at midnight. “The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly,” proclaims the NaNoWriMo team.

To participate, you have to use a brand new idea. You can’t have written a word on it yet, so you can’t use anything you’ve previously written, ever. The entire thing has to be from scratch. However, you can plan your plot and ideas in your mind before then, so keep that in mind.

If you finish by the deadline—midnight on November 30—you’ll get to be added to the list of finalists. Last year, more than 20,000 people of the 120,000 participants were able to do this, so you know it’s completely possible. And remember, once you’re finished, you can say you’ve written a novel—and call yourself a novelist!

Ready to start? Click here to register. If you know of any younger writers who might be interested in participating, be sure to pass along the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program information to them. (Their site has some fun things to do while you wait for the month to begin, too, if you’re interested yourself.)

Remember, not a word until November 1! And after that, well, it’s all up to you. Happy writing!