Fifty thousand words—about the length of author Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five—comes out to approximately 200 pages. Ari Roberts, Creative Writing Club secretary and junior, said she aims to write at least that much by 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 30 for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

“It’s not going to be easy, of course,” she said. “My schedule has become far more cluttered since last year, and that may be the biggest challenge I’ll face. I do keep a notebook on my person at all times so that I can write whenever I have a spare moment.”

According to nanowrimo.org, 341,375 writers participated in the 2012 NaNoWriMo contest. To “win” the contest, participants need to write a 50,000-word manuscript and upload it to the site by the end of November—not for a cash reward, but for the sense of accomplishment and creativity.

However, according to Kinza Abbas, Creative Writing Club president and senior, participating in NaNoWriMo isn’t appropriate for everyone.

“I personally don’t have a strong connection to the program,” Abbas said. “I feel like the writing process doesn’t need the rush to complete things, which NaNoWriMo encourages with its deadlines. For (other people), the order and pressure help the creative process thrive.”

According to Jerry Brickley, Creative Writing Club sponsor, NaNoWriMo’s primary purpose is to encourage writers to produce.

“Most writing competitions are one piece, a short story or a poem or something like that. The real point of NaNoWriMo, I think, is to get people to produce, to write and write and write and write and write. The idea is to produce a lot of volume,” he said.

Roberts said NaNoWriMo’s deadlines are helpful for her and can force budding writers to get their ideas down on paper, especially since most established writers say writing every day is the best way to improve.

“NaNoWriMo provides countless resources, and the entire goal is to spark the creative process without being slowed down by your inner editor,” she said. “And as for feeling rushed, it’s true that it’s common for people to give up in the middle of the month, (but they’ll) still have a sizable chunk of their own creation to work with, which is not exactly an unpleasant outcome.”

According to Roberts, it’s never too late to start writing for the NaNoWriMo contest.

“There is nothing stopping you. Self-doubt can be ignored.  Laziness can be muscled through. Speaking as someone who suffers from both issues, the happiest I’ve been in the past several years was when I wrote my novel last year,” she said. “It is a wonderful, wonderful journey, and well worth the sleepless nights.”