It’s just about the middle of November, which means thousands of writers worldwide are nearly halfway through a ridiculous and admirable pursuit. National Novel Writing Month — or NaNoWriMo to get it all into one breath — is an annual month-long challenge during which writers attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. The emphasis is quantity over quality, to simply get the words out and onto the screen instead of nitpicking sentence structure or mulling over plot points. more ›

The first of November marks the start of an international event in which thousands of writers around the world vow to do something kind of ridiculous: write a 50,000-word novel in one month. National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is rare in the creative world because it stresses quantity over quality: “Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap,” the event’s website says. “And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.” more ›

This month is National Novel Writing Month — Nanowrimo for short. A time for cranking (crunking?) out 50,000 words of elegant prose — or crap, depending. A time (30 days, to be precise) within a time (that lacks a foreseeable end, to be depressing) of widespread unemployment among writers, many of whom used to get paid to wordsmith. Damn, man. Those were the days. more ›