Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

As the last ghostly trails of October slither away on Halloween night, November—and the real terror— begins.

That is, if you’re a writer.

November is National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo, and like any scary story worth its salt, the online writing project is an anxiety inducing mix of horror and excitement. Attempting to write 50,000 words in one month? Terrifying. Watching your stats rise on the bar graph with each word count update? Definitely a thrill.

Whether you’ve been feverishly plotting your book in preparation or warily side-eyeing every NaNoWriMo reference in your social media feeds, you should absolutely join. It costs nothing yet offers a wealth of support, positive energy, and useful resources. And if you’re under 18, or teach those who are, the Young Writers Program provides a safe and encouraging space dedicated to children and young adults.

There are plenty of naysayers out there who will point out that attempting to write that many words in one month is crazy, it will all turn out to be crap and a colossal waste of time, but writing is never a waste of time, and if that doesn’t convince you, I’ll let you in on a little secret …

NaNoWriMo is not really about writing 50,000 words in a month. It’s about committing to a project and writing fast enough to outrun self-doubt. This is essential; you can’t write slowly and edit as you go with a novel. With short stories, sure. But a novel is too big; once you start looking back it overwhelms you. Plow through the first draft and get the story down. Fine-tuning comes later (much later).

Also! Writing is supposed to be fun and plunging into the madness that is NaNoWriMo alongside a community of over 400,000 fellow wordsmiths is a blast. Ignore the naysayers and the snarky comments on social media. Maybe they’re right and in the end you won’t use anything you wrote toward a published novel. But guess what? Every minute you spent writing made you a better writer.

What have you got to lose by trying?