Hello, young writers and aspiring authors! Well, as you know, Halloween just ended and you either might be A. Just waking up, B. Extremely Sugar High, or C. Extremely Hungover. I hope you had a wonderful and safe Halloween this year, but let's be honest, Halloween is just the precursor to the one event every year that every writer either dreads or is super excited about.

That's right, I'm talkin' about NANOWRIMO. (National Novel Writing Month). Yes, it's that glorious time of year again when we authors spend long hours looking at hour computer screens, scratching our heads, and thinking, "Why did I sign up to do this again?" I had to take a break from Nano last year due to some mental health issues, but here I am, back at it again! (Damn, Daniel!) Anyway, with Nanowrimo just now starting and being that it's the first of November, I'd thought I'd give all of you Nano-ers some tips on how to survive Nanowrimo this month!

1. Don't try to shoot for 50,000 on the first day.

You know that helpful little guideline at the side of your novel where it says "goal: 1,667 words" a day? Yeah, that's a pretty good guideline to stick by. They don't just come up with that number out of thin air; it's calculated so that you can write that amount and still be able to finish on time! Isn't that great?

2. Don't compare your word count to anyone else's on the site.

I'm guilty of doing this myself, honestly. I tend to snoop around the site and see everyone's progress, or I go and see who my writing buddies are, then I compare our word counts. Don't do this. You know what this causes you? Stress. If your best internet friend reaches 50k before you do, don't stress. You have 30 days to complete this challenge, so take a deep breath. Besides, your friend might be writing a totally different genre than you, so there's might be more simple. You're okay!

3. It's okay. Your story is going to suck.

Everybody wants their stories to be perfect at the end of November, so they can send it off to an editor or big publishing company when they're done with it. That is not the case, my friends. If I were to send my novel to a publishing company when I was done with it in November, they would laugh in my face. The truth is, November is the rough draft of your novel. (And believe me, it's going to be rough). Think of November as your drafting month, and then use December to edit your work to it's full potential.

Nanowrimo can be a scary thing. I still get anxious whenever I see that it's November 1st, and I'm a veteran of this competition. It's okay if your Novel isn't perfect, because no one is expecting it to be. Keep writing, and remember: Keep calm and Nano On!