Have you ever wanted to write a novel?

Next month is your chance.

In 2004, I first heard about -- and participated in -- National Novel Writing Month. This is a creative exercise in which participants try to write a 50,000-word novel (which is actually a novella, but who's counting?) during the month of November. You can make preparations (an outline, character sketches, etc.) in advance, but you can't start your actual writing until midnight on the morning of Nov. 1, and you must be through by midnight Nov. 30.

It sounds like a challenge to write a good novel in just 30 days. It's not just a challenge; it's impossible.

But if you take out the word "good," your target becomes a lot more reachable.

You see, it takes discipline to be a creative writer. Too many people (and I fall into this category more often than I care to admit) hope to write, or think they can write, or want to see themselves as a writer, but they get distracted or bogged down and never actually finish anything. NaNoWriMo, as participants call it, is an exercise in forcing you to write. You have to write an average of 1,667 words a day to make your target. That means you don't have time to hem and haw, or rewrite, or wring your hands over whether something is perfect. You just have to write, and keep writing, and let the words fall where they may.

Some of what you write turns out to be absolutely terrible, and sounds exactly like it was written on deadline to met some arbitrary quota.

But sometimes, a funny thing happens. When you stop second-guessing yourself, and just write, sometimes your creativity goes places that you would never allow it to go otherwise. You find your characters doing and saying things you didn't intend. Several NaNoWriMo participants have gone back and rewritten their speed-written novels, turning them into polished works which they've had published.

In 2004, my first year to try NaNoWriMo and the only year so far that I've finished it, I was astonished at some of what I'd written. It turned out much better than it had any right to be -- although, I'm afraid, it isn't really commercial enough for me to imagine someone publishing it. I keep meaning to go back and rewrite it.

In 2005, I tried again -- but this time, I picked a bad premise. I thought it would be more marketable, but it wasn't well-suited to my abilities. I found myself floundering after just a few days. I am ashamed to say I gave up.

Last year, I sat out NaNoWriMo because I was in rehearsals for a play, and I figured that was enough extracurricular activity on its own.

This year, I'm hoping to get back into the fray. I've had the idea for several years of writing a novel which would be a work of fiction but would draw from my international short-term mission experiences. I tried writing this a few months back, not as part of NaNoWriMo but just on its own, and didn't get very far. So I am going to scrap the talky, tedious opening chapter from the first attempt and start a new novel, from scratch, as part of NaNoWriMo.

NaNoWriMo revolves around its web site, www.nanowrimo.org. Participants sign up for the event there and post word counts (on the honor system) as the month progresses. If they like, they can even post a sample excerpt of their novel on their profile page at the site. But this isn't required; NaNoWriMo and its staff do not publish novels and don't have time to read your content. At the end of the month, you can upload a copy of your novel to the site for an "official" word count, but if you are concerned about plagiarism they recommend that you just use your word processor's "search and replace" feature to replace every letter in the novel with "x" before uploading it.

There are numerous discussion forums at the web site where you can cheer each other on, ask for advice, or even ask for expert knowledge (for example, someone writing a crime novel might ask about police procedure, or someone might ask questions about the city where their novel is set). In some parts of the country, writers bring their laptops to a coffee shop or other gathering place and hold "write-ins" where the usually-private craft of writing can be practiced in a social setting.

There are no prizes, other than personal satisfaction, for reaching the 50,000-word target, but if the site verifies your word count you do get a little badge that you can display on your web site and a little certificate you can print off from your computer.

If you've ever wanted to explore creative writing, this is a no-risk, big-fun motivational tool. I highly recommend it.

John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government and other topics. His home page is lakeneuron.com.