NaNoWriMo so far has been seriously hard work, and will remain so to the very end (and beyond—I’m only a few thousand words away from the 50,000 required word count and am certain my story will continue to at least 70,000). I love taking part despite feeling terrified every new day when I sit down to write. I am learning by doing and have already discovered that, yes, for me to write a novel with determination I need strict deadlines and goals just as I do with magazine articles. Otherwise I get lazy and undisciplined. I lose interest and enthusiasm. [...]