You'll find support from other aspiring novelists at several University of North Texas events for National Novel Writing Month.

UNT will join other universities, high schools and writing groups in observing the month, also known as NaNoWriMo. A San Francisco writers' group began the first National Novel Writing Month in 1999, encouraging its members to write each day in November and create 50,000-word novels -- about 175 pages --  by midnight on Nov. 30.

Twenty-one people participated the first year. In 2006, more than 79,000 people registered for NaNoWriMo, according to its web site (www.nanowrimo.org).

For the second year in a row, UNT's Willis Library will host a Kickoff Party for NaNoWriMo to give participants survival kits with coupons for free coffee, progress logs to keep track of the number of words written each day, and tips for writing a novel in 30 days. The party begins at 5 p.m. Nov. 1 (Thursday) in the Cyber Café of the Willis Library, which is located one block east of Highland Street and Avenue C on the UNT campus.

Kristin Boyett, multimedia development lab project coordinator for the library, said about 75 people attended last year's Kickoff Party, which she said is open to Denton County residents as well as UNT students, faculty and staff members.

"Many people take on writing a novel as a challenge -- to do something outside of the norm," she said. "Writing 50,000 words in 30 days is the literary equivalent of bungee jumping."

The Willis Library will also host "write-ins" at 5 p.m. in the Cyper Café each Wednesday in November, beginning Nov. 7. NaNoWriMo participants will write together, sharing complaints and getting advice from each other, and may stay in the café until the library closes at 2 a.m. However, they are discouraged from editing their own work, Boyett said.

"A lot of people get stuck when they're writing, but at the write-ins, you can brainstorm together and get over the hump," said Boyett, who will participate in NaNoWriMo this year for the fourth year in a row. She said she was only 4,000 words short of the 50,000-word goal last year.

"I have a character in mind for this year, but no plot yet," she said, adding that all NaNoWriMo participants cannot continue novels from the previous year but must start a new novel each year.

The Willis Library will also have lunchtime meetings for participants Mondays through Fridays in the Cyber Café, and will end the month by hosting a Thank God It's Over Party at 5 p.m. Dec. 2 (Sunday). Participants will receive certificates and share what they have learned from writing their novels.

UNT English major Kaleb Lambeth said the greatest challenge of writing a novel in only 30 days is "staying motivated and not getting tired of your own writing." Last year, as a freshman, he wrote 51,798 words in only 17 days. His novel draws on a personal experience with his best friend -- creating a list of crazy things they wanted to accomplish over one summer.

"Since I was little, I had wanted to write a novel, and I saw a poster for National Novel Writing Month in the dorm that said, ‘One day, you want to write a novel.' I've been saying that to myself for years," he said.

Lambeth, who plans to tackle another novel this November, went to the Willis Library every day after class to write. On the first day, he said, "before I knew it, I had been writing for six hours."

"I thought, ‘If only I can write a certain number of words a day, I could do it,'" he said. "Once I put something down on the page, I never looked back, but I edited my novel after the month ended."  

For more information on National Novel Writing Month, contact Boyett at (940) 565-2486.