Go ahead, say it out loud: NaNoWriMo. Fun, isn’t it?

This handy abbreviation represent November, otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month. Authors across the world challenge themselves to write 1667 words a day (50,000+ words for the month) creating their novel. Why? Here’s an excerpt:

“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.”

Many say they want to write a book, but many ever get themselves to that step. NaNoWriMo forces them to put words to page, regardless of how regrettable some of those words may be. There is a saying by writers participating in the November challenge: “Editing is for December.” Sure, not everything will become a classic novel of notoriety and fame (most won’t even make it to the mediocre step), but that’s not the point. Write. Because you love it. Because life is better when you can say, “I’m an author.” Listen to the ring of that. It’s fantastic.

Personally, I’ll be working on a fiction book that has been in my head for a year now. Eventually, I will self-publish it either on Lulu or through CreateSpace, but there will be a lot of editing in 2010 before that becomes a reality. Without NaNoWriMo, I’d never take the time to do it. You should do it as well. It’s worth it. There are support groups, regional get-togethers, write-a-thons, competitions, prizes… everything you would need to get words to paper. Then, once you have it published on Amazon, you can track your Sales Rank on NovelRank. Crazy right? Maybe. Worth it? Absolutely.