There's still time left to finish your novel

At 39, Travis Greer came to a realization. His hair, which started graying in his 20s, could no longer be called prematurely gray.

"It's not premature anymore," he said. "It's real."

Faced with his own mortality, the graphic designer realized he couldn't put off his dream of writing a novel any longer.

"My midlife crisis hit me full-blown and I realized that I was tired of just thinking about it," he said.

Always one to go a bit overboard on new projects, Greer decided he wasn't just going to write a novel; he was going to write it in a month.
He became one of more than 400 people from the Colorado Springs area registered to participate in National Novel Writing Month, in which writers attempt to finish a novel - or at least 50,000 words of one - in November. To finish, participants need to average 1,667 words a day.

The point of the month isn't to write a masterpiece, or even necessarily get your novel published, said Sara Doyle, a local event organizer.
Rather, it's a way for people to get over their writing fears and set a deadline.

"This shows people that if you set aside your preconceived notions, then you can write a novel and can even do it in 30 days," Doyle said. "From it, people get a sense of accomplishment and a true sense of what they can do."

To encourage participation, local writers are meeting every weekend in November for write-ins.

At the events, they meet other writers, break out their laptops and get to work. One recent Saturday, 16 writers convened at a Panera Bread restaurant and pounded out more than 45,000 words.

Local participants include high school students and retirees, published authors and folks with day jobs.

Jennifer Taylor is a wife, mother, full-time employee of the Colorado Springs Police Department and owner of an online retail business.

Not long ago she realized she was using her hectic life as an excuse to put off her goal of writing a novel. This month, she has carved time out of her busy schedule to write.

"I had several ideas and I picked the one that was the least important to me," she said. "I didn't do any outlining. I just sat at the keyboard and thought, ‘here it goes.'"

While the event attracts mostly wannabe novelists, even experienced writers say they get something out of it.

Margaret Brettschneider has written and published four novels under the pseudonym M.J. Brett. Most of them are historical fiction and, as such, they "don't frequently end happy," she said.While she enjoys her work, she has wanted for a long time to push herself out of her comfort zone to try a comedic novel.

She was deterred, however, by the fear she would ultimately fail. The monthlong event is an opportunity to give her comedic novel a chance, but not spend a lot of time on the effort.

"I'm giving it a shot because I've never done it before," she said. "If it works, I'll know in a month, and if it doesn't work, I'll know in a month."

By Monday, Greer had written more than 32,000 words and was confident he would reach the 50,0000-word goal by the end of the month.

When he gets there, he'll be able to call himself a novelist and hopes to have the courage to face his second biggest fear: revision.
"It may only take me a month to write, but it will take three years to edit," he said.