Time to Write That Great American Novel

Raise your hand if you've always wanted to write a novel. I can't see you, but I can guarantee that there are a sizable number of people out there right now with their hands in the air. The phrase "now I'll finally have time to write that novel ..." is all but a cliche.

It turns out that right now is the best time to be a would-be James Joyce: November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as "NaNoWriMo." There are so many incipient writers out there that an entire month is dedicated to helping people find and keep their muse. NaNoWriMo is, according to its Web site, "thirty days and nights of literary abandon!"

The idea is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel between November 1 and midnight, local time, November 30. If you are someone who "has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved" and agree with the organizers that this is "a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing," then by all means fire up your word-processor and get to work. But first sign up on the site so you can update the community with your daily word count and excerpts from your masterpiece.

If you succeed in meeting the 175-page goal, you can upload your manuscript to the winners' page and will receive a certificate and web badge. If you don't manage to churn out that many words, though, the organizers maintain that "you rock for even trying."

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