NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and is a global event started in 1999 by a non-profit organization of the same name where participants are challenged to write 50,000 words of a novel (or, essentially, an entire rough draft of a book) during the 30 days of November. Though the official challenge is widely popular, many writers also choose different word count-goals for themselves, depending on their personal style or preference.