November is National Novel Writing Month and to celebrate there is a yearly event affectionately called NaNoWriMo where writers from all over world participate in a mad dash toward writing a novel.

The idea is simple: starting November 1st, you write like a maniac for 30 days and before you know it you have a novel, or at least a draft, or at the very least a ton of words on paper from which to craft the shell of a novel, hopefully. But hope is critical in such endeavors. 

Because the truth is writing a novel is damn tricky stuff. Completing one has eluded me and I’ve been writing for all of my adult life. I’ve written professionally for a long time, covered bands, written for music videos, TV shows, documentaries, advertising and I’ve even completed a pretty decent screenplay, but the novel. Ah, yes, the novel. Creatively speaking, this has been the one that has gotten away. 

So maybe this year I’ll dive in, using November as the catalyst for finally pulling it off. I have ideas. A folder’s worth of them. I have the desire. But, it’s sticking it out when you hit that wall, that place where the story sputters or the plot gets thin, that is the part that gets most writers. You gotta see it through, hit it head first. You gotta be willing to be okay with the “shitty first draft” Hemingway wrote about. But most of all, you’ve got to have conviction that you will not stop. Reach the end. Tell a story. 

Any takers? If so, today is the day to start. And what about me? Should I head once more into the breach? Who is with me?