National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) kicked off this past Sunday, which means writers everywhere are drafting 50,000-word novels until 11:59 pm on November 30.

Last year, 325,142 individuals participated in the challenge—these numbers include 81,311 students and educators in the Young Writers Program—and completed their first drafts, according to NaNoWriMo’s website.

In addition, over two hundred and fifty novels that came out of NaNoWriMo have been traditionally published, including Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, Jason Hough’s The Darwin Elevator, Hugh Howey’s Wool, Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, and Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. NaNoWrimo has also listed one hundred and fifty-five self-published novels written during NaNoWriMo.

This month, NaNoWriMo will offer weekly pep talks from established authors, including Diana Gabaldon, Sandy Hall, Charlaine Harris, N.K. Jemisin, Stephanie Perkins, and Gene Luen Yang. Pep talks from authors in previous years including from Aimee Bender, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Lethem, Karen Russell, and others, have been archived.

NaNo Coaches have also taken over the Twitter handle @NaNoWriMo to field questions or concerns from NaNoWriMo participants about the novel-writing process. This year’s NaNo Coaches include @SarahOckler (November 1–7), and @RandyRibay, @ReneeWAuthor, @Sona_C, @ClaireFuller2, and @IAmSandyHall.

You can also peruse NaNoWriMo’s prep resources for planning and fleshing out your novel or interact with the NaNoWriMo community in your region.

Related reading: The Millions writer Michael Bourne suggests a “kinder, gentler alternative to NaNoWriMo”: National Paragraph Writing Month.

Don’t write fiction? It’s also National Nonfiction Writing Month, too!

Image Credit: NaNoWriMo