If you are not a person that wants to write a book, read no further. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is November. If you’re unfamiliar with the project, the goal is for as many people as possible to complete a 50,000-word-or-more novel in 30 days—first draft, of course. It is not critiqued or judged. The page-progress reporting is under the honor system. It’s fun.
You can write a novel. The NaNoWriMo pace (over 1,600 average words per day) is enough to help put your internal editor away and set your mind free, which, for many, is a good way to knock off a first draft. The site allows you to join groups, select writing buddies, participate in forums and get involved in a very big and exciting event.
Do expect to revise after the first draft, and do expect to spend more than a month on that. The word-counting begins November 1. It’s okay if you don’t reach 50,000. It’s worth the effort. Many of us have busy jobs and busy lives, but give it a shot anyway. You can find out more at the National Novel Writing Month site: http://www.nanowrimo.org.
J. C. Conway 
I think I might give this a shot this year.
There is nothing to lose (except time, which would in any event be well spent) and everything to gain. Go check out their site. The excitement is contagious.
Time. I seem to have plenty of that lately.
I’m going to attempt NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. Right now, I’m drumming up story ideas and hope to have an outline put together before big Day 1 arrives!
That is great. Planning for it is fun, and maybe more productive. Although I must admit to preparing an outline one year and then setting it aside on November 1 in favor of an idea that just “popped up” as I stared at my first blank page.
Ha! Sometimes you just need to go with the flow and write what your heart tells you to write.
I knew nothing about this and am now fairly excited about it. The constant work might actually provide some entheos. Anyone know if a book or essay done during this challenge was ever published?
In fact, yes, many. The folks at NaNoWriMo try to keep track. Here’s the developing page of their site about published NaNo writings: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/publishedwrimos.