November has over the last decade become a month for personal challenges. One of the most popular is National Novel Writing Month.

The goal of National Novel Writing Month is simple: Produce a rough-draft manuscript of 50,000 words or more. That means an average of 1,667 words per day.

Although some participants eventually land book deals (the organization running the challenge reports about 250 successful publications, which is a small percentage of total participants), the goal of the challenge is not to produce a good book but a complete book. For an aspiring writer, completing a manuscript can be a daunting task, but “NaNoWriMo” encourages new authors to do exactly that.

Here are some tips:

  • Write daily. For any author, writing regularly is vital. Professionals write at the same time every day, treating the task like a job.

  • Don’t edit. To a beginner, this sounds counterintuitive, but the goal is to get that first draft done, not get it perfect. Write. If you dream of publishing, your job is not done once the draft is done: You have a second, third, probably twenty-third draft in your future, as well as editing by a third party. But all of that comes later.

  • Remove distractions. Put the phone on silent and unplug the internet. Nothing kills composition like excuses to procrastinate. Some suggest having snacks or music, but most professionals face the blank page alone, without aids. Whatever you do, don’t let anything take your attention away from writing.

  • Write when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes it flows, but often it doesn’t. The key is to get those words onto the page whether you want to or not.

  • Write in the library. Want to meet up with others taking the same challenge? On Wednesdays at noon throughout the month (except during Thanksgiving Break), Room 101 in the J. W. Martin Library will be open to aspiring writers to write, brainstorm, or share their progress.

Come join us!

Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer or have plans to publish a book, sometimes it’s good to challenge yourself. So during November, write in the library!