November is National Novel Writing Month! ????

As lovers of books and those who write them, NaNoWriMo is an incredibly important event for us. And to celebrate the month (and everyone toiling away on their latest manuscript), we've asked four Fierce authors who ALSO happen to be members of the NaNoWriMo writers board to answer one very important question for us: Why is NaNoWriMo important to you?

So, without further ado, here's why NaNoWriMO is important to a long-time participant who just happens to have a brand new book coming out in just a few days... MARISSA MEYER!

"I always wanted to be a writer, from the time that I was a little kid. In my teen years especially it felt less like a dream and more like this all-encompassing NEED—I needed to be a writer, I needed to be published, I needed to know what it felt like to see my name on the cover of a book. But with a dream like that, it can get to a point where you're putting so much pressure on yourself. You become consumed with being "good," with being "marketable." It's easy to forget the sheer joy of writing and storytelling when all you can think about is being published. But when I discovered NaNoWriMo in my early twenties, it was like it gave me permission for those thirty days to NOT WORRY ABOUT IT. I just wrote, and I had so much fun, and I remembered why I had this dream in the first place. Not to be published, but to immerse myself in stories that I truly love and that I felt compelled to tell.

So I'm really grateful that NaNo pulled me back to that place, and I think it's important for all writers, aspiring and published, to occasionally be reminded of how much we love doing this. Thanks to NaNo, I think a lot more writers are reminded of that for an entire month every November."

Are you also participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, sound off in the comments below and let us know why NaNoWriMo is important to YOU! And don't forget to tune in next Thursday to find out who our next NaNoWriMo guest post author is!