In July 1999, Chris Brady, who lives in the San Francisco area, started NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

The first NaNoWriMo consisted of 20 participants. The next year, the event was moved to November, as the weather in November is much more conducive to writing as opposed to July.

Since then, NaNoWriMo has become a registered non-profit and a creative writing challenge for writers, and aspiring writers of all ages around the globe.

The idea is to write a novel or 50,000 words during the month of November. Broken down, 50,000 words over a month equals 1,667 words per day. Some folks choose to write every day, some folks may write a little throughout the week with bigger bursts of writing over the weekend.

I find one of the toughest things about writing is starting. It’s easy to worry about our writing not being good enough, which can lead to procrastination. To complete NaNoWriMo, we just have to go for it and accept that first drafts aren’t meant to be good. That is what later drafts are for.

The NaNoWriMo organization helps you track your progress, set milestones, participate in events, and connect with other writers. It provides encouragement, structure and tools to help people reach their writing goals. It also offers a program designed specifically for young writers. Participation is free. You can learn more at www.nanowrimo.org.

Since its beginning, there have been 798,162 active novelists and 367,913 novels completed. The most well-known novel to come out of NaNoWriMo is Sara Gruen’s Water Elephants, which went on to become a New York Times Bestseller. It also became a movie, starring Reese Witherspoon.

Locally, there is a Sask Writers Facebook group with members across the province. The group is looking at some virtual group activities for NaNoWriMo and welcomes new members.

Once again this year, I will attempt NaNoWriMo. I have attempted the challenge four times since 2015. But the truth is I haven’t made it very far. Maybe this will be my year. Maybe this could be your year too.

• Denise Leduc