I did it on a whim my first time, as I finished one project at the end of the summer, started researching the next, but was having trouble getting going. I got the 50k by the 30th and added another 15k in December. Spent a year neatening it and expanding the subplots. I added another 10k in revisions (six rounds of revisions), but, honestly, didn't change much of the writing itself. NaNo does NOT have to equal crap. You are allowed to write well during NaNo!

NaNo is also great for experimentation. I'm strictly a writer of historical fiction, but I'd been tossing around the idea for a time travel novel. I used November to see if I could write anything even remotely SF. I can't. It doesn't bother me that that attempt went on the proverbial shelf. After all, I've only wasted 30 days trying something new.

I learned a lot about myself as a writer during my first NaNo, which really turned me on to the program. I learned that I really am a pantser. I do just fine on minimal planning and, actually, have more fun discovering my story along with my characters. I learned that my writing is fresher when I'm not scrutinizing it as I write. Most importantly, however, I learned to trust myself as a writer. When I get in a sticky spot, when it seems like the story isn't coming, when it seems like I'm not going to make it, I can just write through it. I don't worry; I just sit and write through it, because I know the story will come back. I felt so exhilarated when I completed my first NaNo, much more so than when I completed my first non-NaNo novel, because it just fit. Writing that way, fast, furious, with each day an adventure, that's the way I need to write. It just fit me.

I'm a NaNo addict. I love the rush of giving over a whole month to writing…even though I usually am still doing critting, editing, and programming on the side…because through the rest of the year, I set aside one-two hours a day and a couple weekends most of the time. Producing the rough is only a small part of the process and not necessarily a priority.

I never really read the rules, and I certainly don't hold with the write crap one. I took the spirit of the concept and ran with it. I don't put artificial endings on my books (some years I've finished at 114k, some years I've written YA, and others I reached 50k and the midpoint), I never add anything that I don't believe belongs (writing is fun, editing crap? No way.), and I even sometimes go back and edit.

So I am not the poster child.

NaNo works for me because I don't follow the rules, and I get a decent draft or start of one out of it.

That said, I don't care how good my first draft might be, one month of rush editing doesn't make sense, especially since I like to get feedback from my crit group for an objective view.

Very important point! Guess how many people I know who want to become even professional writers and just don't start writing.

His first year in college his English professor had all the students do NaNoWriMo. They didn't have to try and hit the traditional 50 grand but they were supposed to do as much as they could. He found it exhilarating and it did exactly what she wanted, which was to teach the freshmen not to fear five page papers.

To me that's what it's all about. Learning to get out of your own way, to stop going back and changing something two pages ago, to keep moving forward until you finish, etc. And to no longer be intimidated or even pressured by long works. I've been doing this thing since 2003 and I finished every year except one when I was looking into brain surgery and starting a new column, and it's made a huge difference in how I look at long works.

I've thrown out a draft that was 70,000 words long because I decided the plot had been done too many times. Pre NaNo I would have been way too invested in that much work to be able to let it go. Now I'm much more relaxed and confident, which makes me a better writer even when I'm writing the proverbial awful first draft. Instead of trying to edit as I go, and never finishing anything, I'll make a note that says something like "last twenty pages not working, start again from…" and keep going.

I'm not saying that approach will work for everyone but it's done wonders for me.