National Novel Writing Month Writing, abbreviated as NaNoWriMo, is a month long writing challenge that thousands of people all across the globe participate in annually during the month of November. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Whoever completes this goal is considered a winner.

Zacharay Klima, a senior at Joliet west, participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time this last November. Although he started six days late, he was still able to finish his 50,000 word novel by the end of November.

Writing a novel is rewarding and fun, but it’s also stressful and time consuming. Like anything else, if a writer wants to be successful they must push themself to write even through the times when they lack motivation.

“I would sometimes be up until 2 o’clock at night just to force myself to put something down on the page. I looked at my book like a person. It started as a small child which I treasured and pushed along, then it became a teenager that I despised. When it became an adult, it basically wrote for itself,” Klima revealed.

Writers who have instances when they’re staring at their screen thinking that they hate what they’ve written so far won’t let that discourage them from finishing their book. The point of NaNoWriMo is to get a first draft of a book written, revising the novel comes next. That’s where the polishing happens, and anything that they were tentative about can be fixed.

Even if you’re busy with school, you can still participate in NaNoWriMo by eliminating distractions.

“I used a program called Freedom that allowed me to shut down all internet access on my computer which allowed me to focus more on what I had to do concerning schoolwork and even my writing sometimes,” Klima said. “It took a little time in the beginning but later I found it got a lot easier.”

National Novel Writing Month is over for this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t challenge yourself to write a novel during another month.

“To anyone out there who wishes they can do this, just do it because even if you don’t finish, you’ll be proud of yourself for even attempting this,” Klima ended.