Get cracking. No excuses this time. Join the 151,657 other writers who have already signed up to try to write a 50,000-word novel in November, sponsored by NaNoWriMo. That’s National Novel Writing Month.

I loved doing this last year and plan on doing it again. It is a great exercise. The best way to write a novel. The pressure is off and all you do is write. You don’t worry. You don’t fret. You lose your perfectionism, shed your inhibition, and go for it.

Last year, I was able to produce my first children’s book, “The Above-Ground Railroad Parrot Society.” I still have not gotten around to doing the editing, but I have it.

You don’t have time to sit there and think of that unforgettable first sentence. You go right into the lousy second sentence and keep writing. I averaged 1,672 words a day. You’re a winner if you write 50,000 words. A short, sweet, complete novel. Here’s the opening to my novel:

“Don’t stare,” Pete Tembel hissed. He stood behind the counter of his store, Pete’s Pet Shop, and glanced up from his cash register.

“I’m not,” said Jade Willoughby, but she couldn’t help noticing the woman with very puffy blond hair piled on the top of her head by the Quaker parrots’ cage in the front of the shop. Jade whispered, “I just don’t want that lady to buy my favorite parrot.”

I encourage all you you to try it. It’s really fun. You see that you can get a novel finished one word at a time.

Click here if you like to sign up on and tell us how you did. The guidelines are easy, it’s for free, and you feel like you’ve joined a symphony of human creation.

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• Project NaNoWriMo: Writer’s Unite! Introduction Post (booksandbeautifulworld.wordpress.com)
• NaNoWriMo: Because This Exists, and the World Needs Better (puretruculence.wordpress.com)
• Countdown to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) | Accept the Writing Challenge and Turn Pro Now (veronicamariajarski.com)