Every November, writers partake in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), the challenge to write a 50,000-word novel within 30 days. This breaks down to about 1,667 words a day. As intimidating as it sounds, this challenge not only offers a chance to get your novel published but also encourages you to grow as a writer.

If you missed the boat for NaNoWriMo this year, don’t worry. No one is stopping you from doing it any other month.

Frank McCourt, a Pulitzer prize-winning author, once said, “Everyone has a story to tell. All you have to do is write it. But it’s not that easy.”

To get started, research is essential in order for your novel to be the best it can be. If you struggle with plot or structure, this cheat sheet is very helpful because it condenses information from a lot of books into one website. If you want to read deeper into plot structure, you should check out Jon Truby’s “The Anatomy of a Story”, James Scott Bell’s “Plot & Structure”, and Blake Snyder and Jessica Brody’s “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel”.

One of the most important things to do is get inspired. Many people have different writing styles that they lean towards and finding yours can help tremendously. If you tend to want your piece to be a lot tighter and minimalistic, check out “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver. For those who write more in a stream of consciousness style, “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf and “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner are worth reading.

The National Novel Writing Month is an opportunity to become a novelist, something thought impossible for many people. As the NaNoWriMo website puts it, “They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.”