Have You Started Your Novel Yet This Month?

It is time for our annual plug for National Novel Writing Month, which began yesterday, and it is not at all too late to join in! By whatever strange twist of madness, I’ve made my living writing (also sometimes just typing) for a few years, but before that, the first time I ever tried to do something serious with writing was for NaNoWriMo, back in its second or third year or something. Naturally the “novel” itself I was working on was a miserable failure, but it led to making friends, and getting encouragement from writers, and actually was key very directly in moving from amateur to slightly less amateur. Why not start a novel today? What do you have to lose but your cool attitude of standoffishness? (And several dozen hours, maybe some pulled-out hair, etc.)