Books are back, my friend. And now thanks to the likes of Harry Potter, Oprah's Book Club and that 11-year-old who got his dragon book published, it seems everyone is giving writing the old college try (re: procrastinating by heading out to happy hour where all you do is talk about the book you plan to  "write" as soon as you finish that last beer...not that I know from personal experience or anything).

OK, I'm lying. I do know from personal experience. I am one of those lame, cliche people who has convinced herself that she will, in fact, write a book one day (just after this last beer, I swear).

Luckily I am not the only one. In fact, there are so many people out there like me that a group of California would-be writers made November National Novel Writing Month in 1999. Based off the theory that since really good books take years of painstaking work to put together, why not challenge all would-be writers to complete a novel in a month? Sure, it's going to be a crappy novel, but it will be done.

Being that America is America, where quality often takes a backseat to mass production, the NaNoWriMo took off and now there are tens of thousands of people who sign up on the official Web site all over the world.

And I am now one of them. And I am hoping to recruit other Victorians to join me.

Most writers I know suffer from that particular strain of writer's block known as "this is going to suck" syndrome. So we never end up writing for fear of ridicule or fear that it's not perfect. NaNoWriMo takes that element out, allowing you just to write.

Editing is for December.

So I have signed up. I have from Nov. 1-Nov. 30 to write a 50,000 word novel and to send it into the Web site to have all the words counted. After that they delete it and it is mine to do with as I wish.

And while I know in 30 days I won't be producing the Great American Novel, it's a start.

If you're a would-be writer and would like to join me on this quest, check out www.NaNoWriMo.org and sign up. Maybe we can get together and have writing parties throughout the month of November. Contact me at abrandon@vicad.com if you're interested.

And just remember, "War and Peace" may not have been written in a month, but they didn't have laptops and ridiculously strong coffee back then.