Around about this time last year I made a similar blog heralding the arrival of a fun event known as NaNoWriMo, and it's come around again.

For those not in the know, NaNoWriMo is short for "National Novel Writing Month."

Anyone of any age can join in, and it's totally casual and free. The aim? Write a novel between the 1st and 30th of November. So if you plan to join in, you'll have to get started in just over a week if you plan to finish on time.

The beauty of NaNo is that nobody cares if your novel is good. All they care is that it exists. You set your own word goal, be it only 10,000 words if you're just going for something short, or even 100,000 words if you don't intend to go outside at all next month. Your choice.

Your novel can be about whatever you like. Tolkien-esque fantasy worlds, historical romance novels, or the life story of a musically inclined muskrat. The moment the countdown reaches zero, the online word counter is available and the race is on. Don't bother editing, don't bother looking back, just plough onwards to wherever your imagination takes you.

It's competitive, but the only person you're competing against is yourself. If you've reached your word goal by the end of the month, then you're a winner, and you get a fancy-schmancy online badge and certificate thing to certify that you've officially written a novel.

You don't need to plan, it doesn't need to make sense, you can literally just write whatever's on the top of your head. Who knows? Maybe once you get the first draft down you'll realise you're onto the next bestseller and decide to develop it further?

There are two sites, a "Young Writers' Program" version and the normal version. The YWP is specifically meant for younger people. The adult program has a word count goal of at least 50,000, but the YWP allows people 17 and under to set their own targets which may be more personalised.

Throughout the course of NaNoWriMo they post pep talks, interviews and advice from well known published authors, as well as the friendly and enthusiastic site staff. They also have workbooks, flyers, and educational resources to help you get fired up and prepared.

The adult site has a ridiculously thorough and extensive forum full of imaginative people with creative and literary advice, and there's a board for just about everything.

Why do it?

It's fun

It looks good on a CV

Nobody cares if your novel is terrible

The site has some excellent forums and tutorials on creative writing

It's an opportunity for creatively minded people to share ideas about their novels.

Huge bragging rights.

So if you have the time, give it a go, you won't regret it.

Young Writers Program

Adult program.