November is an awesome month It is filled with holiday decorations, lots of car commercials, a wonderful turkey dinner, and now, novels! That’s right, if you didn’t already know, November is National Novel Writing Month! Coincidentally, I had just finished a push-up challenge on November 2nd that took three months to complete. I wasn’t looking for a new endeavor right away, but the timing was too perfect. Next thing I knew, I was writing a novel! I thought, “Why not?” It could be fun to try something new for thirty days, as Matt Cutts explains in this TED Talk:

Commitment is definitely the hardest part of these challenges. It isn’t always easy to remain steadfast in pursuit of something, but without perseverance there would be many challenges left unfulfilled!

I even fell behind myself, but I’m determined to finish! We are 22 days into the month so far and my novel has 21,806 words. To successfully complete the challenge, the novel must have 50,000 words by November 30th. For me, that means 4,000 words a day. Had I not fallen behind it could have been a measly 1,667 (lesson learned!). The time is passing quickly, however, which is awesome. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the amazing food and fantastic variety that comes with Thanksgiving dinner. Only two days and 8,000 words left until I can enjoy it!

So why not take a month to do something you’ve always wanted? Why not dare yourself to complete a challenge? You can start whenever! If you have an idea, go for it! I chose to write a novel, but the options are endless. The days are going to pass anyway, you may as well make them count!