November is National Novel Writing Month, a time when thousands of authors and aspiring authors alike gather from around the world to join together in the pursuit of a goal. That goal, for many, is to write 50,000 words by the end of the month.

Whether you’re an experienced writer with several years under your belt, or a beginner, you will run into the same issues. Experience will not prevent these problems, but should help us learn how to deal with them.

1. It’s just a draft – If you’re like me, you may have to remind yourself from time to time that you are writing a rough draft. The purpose of a rough draft isn’t to be as near to perfection as possible, it is to finally put your clay on the wheel. Only when you have they clay can you whet it and mold it into something beautiful. Until then, it is just an idea, a vision in the ether. If you want to become a writer, you’ve got to capture that image and turn it into clay. Don’t focus on the vase or the pot or the coffee mug it may one day become. If ceramics class in high school taught me one thing, it was that I really suck at spinning a pottery wheel. But if it taught me two things, the second would be that every project has to start somewhere and that somewhere is usually gray-green, clumpy, and gets stuck under your fingernails in the most annoying way – yet if you can tough it out, the results can be amazing.

2. It isn’t as bad as you think it is - When I write, I often find myself facing a wall of self-doubt. It sounds weird, but unless I am content with what I’ve written so far, I have a very hard time moving forward. Have you ever written something that you’ve hated and then stumbled upon it months afterward and thought, ‘Hey, this isn’t bad’? That’s me. What I’ve come to realize is that while I may be having a difficult time seeing the merit in what I’m writing, it all boils down to making peace with the process.

3. Don’t spend your time editing - Revision and rewriting is for December. Let November be about the draft, getting the idea down so that you can smooth out the rough edges later. A trick I find helpful is to keep a notebook near at hand where I can write down notes to myself. (Add more description to the fight scene in chapter 1. Dialogue feels empty in chapter 2 at the edge of the forest.) These notes help me set aside the areas that I feel need more work and allow me to press onward. A novel isn’t about just one scene and you shouldn’t spend an enormous amount of time whittling for perfection. There are numerous scenes in a novel, sometimes more than a few in a single chapter, by going back to revise you steal precious time from the parts still waiting to be written. While you might get away with some small, nagging edits, try to avoid the urge during November.

4. It’s okay to ask for help – NaNoWriMo isn’t about one writer’s epic adventure alone in the wilderness. Sure, it can be, but there are so many other resources available. If you’re having a particularly hard time, why not hop into the forums and talk it over with some of your fellow writers? They may not be able to fix your writer’s block, but sometimes talking about the problem is a good way of seeing it from another angle. And a little extra encouragement never hurt anyone. Don’t allow the forums to become a distraction, however. If it’s keeping you from meeting your goals, you may have to enforce a little self control and get back to writing.

5. Everyone goes at their own pace – It may be discouraging to see a post to the forums in which someone with thousands more words than the daily requirement is complaining about word count when you’ve struggled to meet the daily quota. For some, 50,000 words in a month is not too large of a stretch. To feel challenged they may increase their monthly goal to 75,000 or 100,000, maybe even 200,000 words. Does that say anything about your struggle to write 1,667 words a day? Should they feel ashamed to post about their difficulty coming up with 3,000 words a day if that is their goal? The answer is easy, no. Don’t allow these issues to sidetrack you from the true meaning of NaNoWriMo — to challenge yourself as a writer and to write a novel.

Remember, National Novel Writing Month is about having fun and work. Some days will be harder than others, it happens. Stay focused and keep your eye on the prize. Even if what you’ve written by the end of the month never sees light of day, the journey will be worth it. You will learn about your characters and your plot. You’ll learn what works and what doesn’t. And at the end of it all, you may realize that you really do have what it takes to be a writer, because writers don’t just dream and fantasize about finally finishing that novel and sending it out in the world, they actually do it.