Lessons from National Novel Writing Month

Why I love 'NaNoWriMo' and how you can use the idea to jumpstart anything big

Every year, during November, thousands of people participate in “National Novel Writing Month.” The challenge: write a 50,000 word draft of a novel in 30 days.

I have now participated in this challenge several times. One of my books, Juliet’s School of Possibilities, originally began its life as a NaNoWriMo novel. The format is incredibly useful for many reasons. Even if you never want to write a novel, you can borrow several ideas from this writing sprint that can help you create something big. Among them: