Every November, hundreds of thousands of writers around the world attempt to write a novel in a month. This phenomenon is otherwise known as National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The minimum number of words to complete over the 30 days is 50,000, and although some would argue this is not a standard length for a novel (and they’d be right!) the necessary writing pace is on par with many professional novelists (even for those with a day job). So if you’ve ever wanted to know if you have what it takes to be a professional novelist, sign up and give NaNoWriMo a try.