It’s hard to believe that October is more than half over already. Less than 2 weeks away from the first day of November, and the beginning of another year of NaNoWriMo.

What is NaNoWriMo you ask? It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it is a huge event for thousands of writers around the world. From Midnight, November 1 to 11:59 p.m, November 30^th, people from all over get together to support each other in obtaining our final goal which is to write an entire novel of 50,000 words or more, in 30 days.

I know it sounds impossible, but I’ve seen many writers do it. I will be involved again this year. I participated last year, but wasn’t able to achieve the word goal. However, I quickly realized that there was more to it than just getting those words banged out on my computer. It involves thought, planning, and most of all, a support system that is second to none.

Before the actual beginning on November 1^st, each writer prepares their stories. We are allowed to create the characters, set up the plot, the setting, and even put together an outline. But, we are NOT allowed to write one single word in the story until midnight, our time, November 1^st. I’m sure there are a few out there who cheat, but the only ones they are really cheating is themselves, as there is no real major prize for reaching the end goal, other than the fact you can say your wrote a novel in 30 days.

Whenever an author gets frustrated or burned out during the month, they can hop on over to the NaNoWriMo forums and find all kinds of encouragement. The forums are the life blood of the whole site, as many writers go there before NaNo begins to meet other writers, find ideas, and much more.

If you’ve ever wanted to write that novel that’s been rolling around in your head, I invite you to also join in the National Novel Writing Month. It won’t cost you anything, other than some time. There are thousands of others out there working toward the same goal as you are, so you won’t ever have to feel alone. Plus, if you don’t feel that your novel is worth publishing in the end, or if this was just something you wanted to do for yourself and your family, that’s perfectly fine. You don’t have to show your work to anyone unless you feel like it. If you do happen to make the final 50,000 word count, you will be asked to send in your manuscript for verification, but the site isn’t interested in your story. They only want your numbers.

If anyone out there is working on NaNo this year, let me know and I’ll add you to my NaNo buddy list. Together, we can achieve our goals by the end of November.