That noise you hear? It’s the sound of thousands of writers tapping millions of keys, scribbling pages of notes, and brewing billions of pots of coffee. It’s a cacophony of inspiration!

Today kicks off National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short, because who doesn’t like abbreviations?). NaNoWriMo is “30 days and nights of literary abandon” — where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in jut 30 days. No editing; no fretting; no going back and deleting the ten chapters you wrote the week before; NaNoWriMo is all about just getting it done.

As publishers of children’s books, we regularly gawk at the writers in our presence. The myth of the writer — this archetypal character who lives alone in the wilderness, tortured by a need to create — is usually just that: a myth. I like NaNoWriMo because it takes what can be a mysterious, scary process (writing) and turns it into a palatable goal. Just sit down and write.

Galleycat has 30 tips — one for each day — to help you get started and, more importantly, stick with it. (Because we all know someone who has a half-finished manuscript stored on a USB somewhere!) And of course, go to the source: the NaNoWriMo site is a treasure trove of resources, including a super-supportive community of participants.

If you’re participating, we’d love to hear about it. Let us know in the comments!