National Novel Writing Month is November. Each year NaNoWriMo (pronounced nano-rye-mo) unites people who think it would be cool to write a novel but aren’t motivated, can’t spend years of their life on something – but can commit to some time for 30 days or need companionship to keep them going.

The goal is to start from scratch on Nov. 1 and write a 50,000 word novel by Nov. 30. Last year there was 256, 618 participants and 36, 843 winners (a winner is someone who meets the word count and has put together a coherent story, i.e. not writing nonsense). Broken down, it’s 1667 words a day over the period. I lasted about 17 days last time and wrote something on the order of 30,000 words. Let’s be honest – it was awful. But it was fun and I enjoyed being part of a larger community pursuing this goal. Every night after writing I would upload my word count and see how I was faring as compared to others in the region and across the globe.

I’m going to give it a go again this year. Maybe I’ll only make it 5 days, maybe I’ll ‘win’.

If it sounds like something you’d be interested in trying, start here. And remember, you’re supposed to try things and fail – otherwise you’re not really trying