November is National Novel Writing Month!

If you've ever thought about writing a novel, it's time to blow the dust off your keyboard and get busy!

National Novel Writing Month challenges people of all ages to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November. This year, NaNoWriMo expects 400,000 participants from 616 affiliated chapters across six continents. “Every year, we're reminded that there are still stories that have yet to be told, still voices yet to be heard from all corners of the world,” says Executive Director Grant Faulkner. “NaNoWriMo helps people make creativity a priority in life and realize the vital ways our stories connect us. We are our stories.”

To participate is easy: simply sign up at www.NaNoWriMo.org. Writing begins on November 1 and ends at midnight on November 30. Anyone who crosses the 50,000-word finish line is declared a Winner. In the meantime, NaNoWriMo lets burgeoning writers connect with a worldwide community of like-minded novelists through discussion forums, online chats, and weekly "pep talks" from big-name authors such as Jim Butcher, Tamora Pierce, Brandon Sanderson, and many more! Local events and meet-ups are organized in communities across the globe by a legion of volunteer Municipal Liaisons (Birmingham's is none other than yours truly, BPL Collection Management librarian Jared Millet).

To be clear, National Novel Writing Month is not a writing contest in the traditional sense. There are no judges to grade the quality of your work and there is no Grand Prize of publication at the end. It is a marathon, plain and simple. To produce a novel worthy of publication requires years of editing, revision, and mastering the craft of authorship. NaNoWriMo is a path to that all-important first draft and turns the dream of writing a novel "some day" into the reality of writing a novel now.