30 Daze

Some will spend every day this month blogging, podcasting or trying to finish a novel in an international event

For you, today's Election Day.

For Gavin St. Ours, a Web designer and video producer who lives in the city's Mount Vernon, and tens of thousands like him across the country, it's also Day 4 of NaNoWriMo.

And possibly NaPoPoMo.

And NaBloPoMo.

And NaKniSweMo.

And probably some other 'Mo we're unaware of.

It sounds like gibberish, but they're abbreviations for National Novel Writing Month. And National Podcast Posting Month. And National Blog Posting Month. And National Knit a Sweater Month.

They all pose the same challenge to anyone who's interested: Do the activity every day in November: Complete a novel. Make a daily podcast. Blog every day. Or knit a sweater.

And at the end of the month, you may have something impressive to show for your efforts. You'll probably enhance your skills in whatever venture you choose. You might find a peaceful distraction after a month of unnerving economic and political headlines. And you might learn something about yourself in the process, about your ability to conquer a goal you didn't think possible.

The novel-writing contest - maybe more a conquest, with no prize involved - began in 1999. A small group of San Franciscans were looking to blow off some steam just as the Internet companies where some of them hoped to get rich in Silicon Valley began to implode. By the second year, they added a Web site and the challenge of writing a 50,000-word novel began to swell. Spread the next year by something new on the scene - word-of-blog - it mushroomed even more. The crush of budding novelists overloaded the computer server for nanowrimo.org on the eve of the event Friday.

Last year, more than 100,000 people around the world signed up, including students at more than 360 elementary and secondary schools. More than 15,300 completed their novels. Several went on to be published, including Flying Changes by Sarah Gruen, which became a New York Times best-seller.

But quantity, not quality, is the stated goal; merely attempting to write six pages a day is a haul. The Web site counts your words in the end, although no one has to read what you've written. The organizers say novel-writing is typically a "one day" event, as in "One day, I'd like to write a novel." The contest aims to kick-start the dream for many.