Creativity and crazy go hand in hand. There’s something bizarre about translating oneself onto a page through incorporeal characters and imagined plots. Writers are a special breed to begin with—we sacrifice time, sleep, food and any number of basic necessities just to get down our ideas before we forget them. After my first year of serious writing, I thought it couldn’t get any wilder.

Then I participated in NaNoWriMo.

It’s an acronym which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is fifty thousand words and the time limit is thirty days in the month of November. This boils down to about 1,667 words per day. The point of the challenge is to take all the difficulties with planning, plotting, overthinking and discouragement involved with writing a book, and cram it into an insane schedule to overcome writer’s block and actually finish the novel you’ve always wanted to write. Winning means hitting the goal before December first.

My first NaNo was November 2010. I have done it every year since then—and “Camp” NaNoWriMo is the same challenge, but in April and July. Therefore, I have written three novels (or novel-length projects) each year for the past six years. Most of the early novels are crap, but I adore them and value each one as steps toward my writing improvement. Several are in the works for publishing, too. In essence, NaNo has helped me both refine myself as a writer and spearhead my dream of becoming a published author.

It goes beyond the first draft, too. This past July, instead of the usual goal of writing new words, I chose to revise two novels I’d already written. One was easier, one was harder, but I plowed through both of them within the 31 days. NaNo got me to sit down, shut up and finish both projects. Nothing compares to the thrill of reaching the last page of a chapter or updating a word count after a long day. I’m working. I’m getting things done. This is my future.

It pays to be crazy. I have over twenty completed novels in my folders, several of which I hope to see on the shelves someday. NaNoWriMo gave me a much needed liftoff—it keeps laziness at bay and gives me real focus for the year. It’s is a bittersweet, love-hate relationship between writer and project. Procrastination just isn’t an option; neither is the absolute insanity that follows.

So if you’re looking for something to do this November… just go crazy and write a novel.