November is National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. The goal: to write a 50,000-word (175-page) book in the next 30 days.


Sounds crazy, right? Don't worry, it's not about perfection. It's more about throwing caution to the wind and focusing on output. From the NaNoWriMo about page:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.


If you're participating this year—or you've done it in the past—let's hear about it in the comments. And stick around; next week, in celebration of NaNoWriMo, we're going to focus on some of our favorite writing tips.

NaNoWriMo