I don’t know if any of you are members of Redroom, if you are then you have probably seen their announcement for the Novel Writing Month competition.  It’s a great opportunity either to kick your butt into action and start on that novel or to try your hand at it.

Shake off the fingers and get them working… what’s to lose?

Whether you’re a successful author about to miss your next book deadline, an aspiring author who’s been “meaning” to write a novel for years, or a non-writer who wants to do something crazy, have I got the month for you: November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!I’m encouraging all of my friends and colleagues to join me and write a novel between November 1st and November 30th.

Can I Really Write a Novel in 30 Days?
Yes. Really. That’s all it takes—Stephen King does it. And, before I founded Red Room, I was a writing coach (named San Francisco magazine’s “Best Writing Coach” in 2005), when I realized that most people type about 1,000 words an hour and can write a first draft of a short novel of 50,000 words in about fifty hours.

But How Do I Win?
All it takes to “win” NaNoWriMo is for you to write a novel. Another way to win: We’ve added our own contest. Red Room will randomly select one NaNoWriMo winner of a one-hour coaching call with me after I personally review his or her manuscript for a few hours. I used to charge $2,000 for this, but it’s actually “priceless” since I don’t coach writers anymore. Now I only do it for good causes, like getting you to do some writing in November.

I Love Winning! How Do I Enter?
It’s easy to participate—just write a novel in November and blog about it on redroom.com. I look forward to finding out who’s joining me! Respond to this email if you have any questions.

Red Room Author Dr. Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Stop the agony (if you have it), or just do it because you don’t believe it’s possible (it is). I look forward to reading my new novel, and yours!

—Ivory Madison, redroom.com founder and CEO
P.S. Some NaNoWriMo participants have published their NaNoWriMo novels and become #1 New York Times bestselling authors. Maybe we’re next?