It’s not possible to write a novel in a month. Is It?

I’m glad you asked that. Yes, it is possible to write a book in a month. But first, have you ever asked yourself some of the following questions?

• Have you had the desire to write the next great American Novel?
• How about writing a novel that will influence people?
• How about writing a crime drama?
• How about writing a comedic journey?
• Have you wanted to write great stories of passion and heroism?
• Have you ever wanted to see if you could write a novel?

If you’ve ever thought any of those things and writing a book is your goal, the next National Novel Writing Month – November 2014, is approaching fast.

In the writing world we call the month of November, NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month, and the challenge is to write a 50,000-word book in 30 days. Sound impossible. Not so. I myself have written two books during the last two years. One is in the editing process right now before I start shopping it around to publishers.

You might ask, “How can I possibly write a book in a month?” How can I accomplish such a Herculean feat?

Simple answer: One day at a time, one word at a time.

There’s got to be some story idea burning in your soul itching to get out, and you’re the only one who can tell it. Writing a novel in a month’s time doesn’t equate a perfected book ready for publication, but it’s a start, a time to put down on paper what you’ve been thinking about for months, if not years, follow characters you’ve created on journeys that exist only in your head.

But you might ask yourself, “I’m not really a writer, or I’m just new to the business of writing, how do I get started?”

For me it was something I had to think out before I started putting fingers to keys. I’m not a plotter, one who has to make sure the novel is planned scene-by-scene so they can envision the face of their reader as the shock of the next scene smacks into them. No. I’m not that kind of writer.

I’m a pantser, a fancy term for one who writes by the seat of their pants. I don’t plot out each chapter, each scene to the very end of the book. I have a general idea where I want to go, but I allow the characters themselves to dictate where we’re headed. Sometimes I’m as shocked by what flows through my fingers as I know my readers will be. I’ve written all my novels by the pantser method, and I have ten completed manuscripts and two more nearly ready for publication to show for it.

So yeah, I know NaNoWriMo can work. I’m a living testimony of that.

Something happened last year when I began to write a story of a fireman who falls in love with a nurse and is betrayed by her when she chooses to marry someone else. What I wish I had done in advance was my research. I didn’t know anything about fireman – their living quarters, trucks, equipment, clothing, ranks, etc. Neither did I know much about nurses – their training, their knowledge regarding diseases, therapy and surgery. It would have been nice to have  had that research prepared before I curled my fingers over my keyboard.

This year I’m going to get exciting pre-writing help from my friend and book coach, Beth Barany. She and her writer/teacher husband, Ezra Barany are offering a month-long training to get prepared to write a novel in November, and I’m going to be taking their challenge.

I know this sounds like an ad, and you’d be right. It is an ad for something that will assist you in getting your feet wet before you plunge into the deep, dark pool of writing. If you’ve hung back on the edge fearing you might drown by being thrown into the deep end before you knew how to paddle, this is your opportunity to learn how to swim. Beth has the authoritative ability to take people who only dream of being a writer and turn them into a great writer by giving them the tools to live the dream. She can turn you into the “Michael Phelps” of writing.

But it’s time for you to trust yourself to jump into the water.

Of course, you don’t need to have help to write a novel in 30 days, but what if you could write a novel worthy of your dreams, wouldn’t you take the plunge?

I invited you to stick your toe into the writing water and get wet. Join us!

Join Beth’s 30 Day Writing Challenge for Novelists.