Have you ever thought you might like to write a novel? Well, here’s your chance. Thousands of people THINK about writing a novel someday, but what they lack is a deadline. Motivation to actually sit down and do it.

Coming soon, November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. I’ve never participated in this before, so the graphic with the pencil runner is just for show. I’d love to hear if any of you have ever done this and how it went.

According to the NaNoWriMo site, last year there were 59,000 participants and 9,769 winners. The way you get to be a winner is to complete the goal of writing 50,000 words from November 1 to November 30. That’s about 1700 words a day. Nobody cares what you write, and nobody will even see what you write if you choose. A computer will scramble your words for privacy, and then count them up.

Here’s what the site says:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30 … 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 …

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel.

I’m not sure, but I’m thinking about signing up this year. I’ve got several short stories I’ve never done anything with — maybe I could piece them together into a novel. It would be fun to be part of something big like this — just to say I did it. I know several writers who use this for a warm-up exercise.

Although it’s rare, a few past participants have actually gone on to get their novels published. If you’re an aspiring writer, this might be good incentive to take that next step. One thing I noticed is that if you choose to use your real name, it might be a good publicity tool for you. If you do a search for 2005 winners, you can see an author profile that includes an excerpt from the author’s novel. The author profile can link back to your blog or website. You never know if editors or agents might be browsing through this site someday looking for someone new.

If you’re a parent of an aspiring writer, why not let them give it a try? I’m sure this would be a big boost to a young writer’s confidence — and let them see what it’s like to actually finish a complete book.

According to NaNoWriMo, “Win or lose, you rock for even trying.”

P.S. The reason why I’m posting this so soon is so you’ll have all of September and October to psyche yourself up (like training for a marathon). You can start thinking of your characters and jotting out a plot. And if you end up writing the next bestseller and become famous, just don’t forget to send me a signed copy. OK?