November will be here before you know it, and with it comes one of the biggest and most popular writing events in the world: National Novel Writing Month (or more affectionately known as NaNoWriMo).

This monthlong challenge takes place every year and motivates writers to complete a novel consisting of at least 50,000 words by November 30—that is an average of 1,667 words per day for thirty days. The emphasis in this case is the opposite of most writing seminars: quantity is valued over quality, with the idea that the hardest part of writing a novel is often just getting started.

The strict word count is meant to cut through any potential writer’s block, tendency toward faultfinding, or propensity for putting off writing in favor of literally anything else. After all, there will always be time for edits and rewrites later. During the month of November? Well, just keep pounding that keyboard!

But how did this worldwide event get started? It all began back in 1999 when Chris Baty and some friends wanted to challenge themselves to write a novel in a month—an origin story that could be considered an echo of the long ago challenge set forth by Lord Byron to Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Polidori, and Mary Shelley in 1816 to write a book scarier than any book they’ve ever read before (and which, of course, resulted in Mary Shelley’s masterpiece Frankenstein).

Twenty-four years later, and NaNoWriMo is an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that aims to encourage creativity and a sense of community among both established and up-and-coming authors. And whether you are new to the event or have been a part of it since its inception, participants now benefit from the wonders of technology to make signing up for the challenge easier than ever.

Just visit https://nanowrimo.org to officially register and receive a user profile, where you’ll tell a little bit about yourself, give a summary of your upcoming novel, and post an excerpt and cover for your novel. You can then earn profile badges like Beta Bugger, Monthly Donor, or Stories of Tomorrow that will appear accordingly on your profile.

The challenge officially runs from midnight on November 1 to 11:59 p.m. on November 30. Participants can copy and paste their novel excerpts into the official word counter beginning on November 25. This will verify whether the total 50,000 word count has been met by the deadline. If the word count is hit (or exceeded), participants receive a winner badge, an official certificate, and access to other winner goodies like coupon codes to various retailers.

According to the NaNoWriMo website, 413,295 people from around the world have participated in their contests, with 51,670 authors actually meeting the goal to become NaNoWriMo winners. Of those surveyed, 80 percent of teachers said that the program helped their students realize how much they can accomplish when they set a specific goal; 78 percent of young writers said that the program got them excited about writing; and 76 percent of those same writers said that the program assisted them in writing a story they cared about.

For those who can’t bear for the NaNoWriMo experience to last only one month of the year, the nonprofit has launched two new programs dubbed Camp NaNoWriMo. The camp takes place every April and July and is a bit of a twist on the original idea. Instead of writing 50,000 words of one specific novel, camp participants are encouraged to set their own goals in terms of word count and to branch out into any sort of creative writing format they prefer—instead of a novel, for example, writers can work on everything from essays and short stories to poems and nonfiction.

While most writers who participate in the NaNoWriMo program are not considered professionals per se, there have been a few notable authors whose debut novels began as a NaNoWriMo project. Some examples include Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, and Jasmine Guillory’s The Wedding Date.

So what are the official numbers for writers who begin their work for NaNoWriMo and wind up getting published? The program’s executive director, Grant Faulkner, told Publishers Weekly that as of 2017, NaNoWriMo “currently lists 449 traditionally published novels” that began as part of the official program. “And at least eighty of those books ended up at the Big Five publishers,” he says. This number has surely grown in the years since, and was likely a conservative one to begin with since it can be hard to track.

Regardless, the sheer reach and longevity of the NaNoWriMo program is a testament to its appeal to both new and established writers alike. Being able to engage with other writers in a meaningful way helps inspire and encourage, even as participants are doing something incredibly challenging.

Learning to get out of one’s own head and into the story itself can open up new ways of viewing the plot and characters for a story a writer likely feels very deeply about. NaNoWriMo can be a great opportunity for anyone who has struggled to get started on a project that they have been mulling over but have never quite found the opportunity to begin.

It’s official: there is no better time than November to hold yourself accountable and finally write that novel you’ve been dreaming about. If you are participating this year, we wish you luck!

Andrea Moran lives outside of Nashville with her husband and two kids. She’s a professional copywriter and editor who loves all things books.