Write Your Novel Now!

So you've always wanted to write The Great American Novel, but have never been able to find the time? What will it take for you to get that book written?

Believe it or not, there are people and organizations that want to help you. Somehow November got designated as Novel Writing Month, and there's an organization that wants to make hay out of that fact by sponsoring a massive simultaneous novel-writing event for anyone who wants to play. Check it out at http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

Starting November 1st of each year, the goal is to write a 175 page (50,000 word) novel by midnight, November 30th (of the same year, of course).

As they explain, the point is not to make it a masterpiece right out of the box, but simply to get it down on paper (or on your computer's hard drive), to crank that monster out in thirty days. Just to write that many words, they say, is an accomplishment in itself. And it can only help you to know that so many other people are doing the same thing.

How many other people? According to their Web site, 59,000 people tried it during 2005 (I don't know why figures for 2006 aren't listed) and 10,000 of these accomplished the task. As they explain, by the time the month is over, people from all walks have the right to call themselves novelists.

Or if you're really pressed for time, there is the 3-Three Day Novel Contest. This one takes place in September, over the Labor Day Weekend. If you're tired of the annual Labor Day Telethon, this in the one for you. Lock yourself into your house/apartment/condo/cave with your favorite beverage and start writing. Throw in your favorite snacks - you don't want to eat anything that takes a while to fix, because you don't have time.

I did the three-day novel thing once and cranked out a finished product -- I do not say a good finished product, but a finished product nonetheless. Though it was more like a novella than a novel, the organizers of the contest were very generous and gave me a nifty certificate, confirming that I'd completed it.

As literature, of course, it was a failure, but it was a good failure. I learned a lot about writing by simply doing that much of it.