In case you don’t know, National Novel Writing Month is when people who want to achieve the rarely possible – making money with creative writing – sit down and try to crank out 50,000 words (~a novel) in a month.

This process isn’t for everyone. If you don’t have any idea what you want to write about yet, give yourself another year to acquire the proper angst (or discipline) needed to fill up a whole book. If you are someone who writes slowly and painstakingly, this could help you write faster, or it could drive you insane.

But if you are a fast, impulsive writer, like me, it might be for you. The process of dialing in your own word count on their website every day and trumping all your friends and loved ones in at least one small area can be exhilarating.

Before you start, make sure you have a concept sketched out. Buy some fancy software and make post-its on it for all your characters. Get into it!

In the spirit of things, The Tangential will be participating in two ways:

1) We will be posting our own excerpts, as well as yours, if you send them to us. We want to give you an audience for a project you’re working on that could be really cool. See our sidebar for details.

2) We will be, as a group, compiling a collection of short stories this month. If it’s any good, it might become our first piece of print literature, available for you to order.

So consider that idea you’ve had hanging around and get at it. Listen to your mopey bastard mix and get deep. Develop an Adderall addiction and write till 3 every night. Whatever! As long as it isn’t boring and doesn’t suck, your novel will be a winner.

Legal disclaimer: We don’t actually recommend you develop an Adderall addiction cuz, you know. That’s bad.

–Becky Lang