title: No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
author:  Chris Baty 
description: Every November, tens of thousands of people sign up for National Novel Writing Month and attempt to write a 50,000-word novel. Baty, the brains behind this competition, has produced an uproariously funny motivational manifesto so readers can get a leg-up in his race or in the larger publishing game. The key is to lower your expectations "from 'best-seller' to 'would not make someone vomit,' " says Baty, who maintains that stress and a deadline are important parts of writing. Aimed at the nonserious, with an emphasis on summoning creativity and having a life-changing experience, this original approach will appeal to anyone up for a challenge. -<b>Library Journal</b>
zlib_text: NO PLOT? NO PROBLEM!
  
  A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
  
  Chris Baty
  
  FOR MY PARENTS, who knew it was possible all along.
  
  \----November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo):
  
  [http://www.nanowrimo.org](http://www.nanowrimo.org/)
  
  The best way to read this book on DailyLit is to time your reading so that on
  November 1—the first day of NaNoWriMo—you will receive installment 32. For the
  second half of the book, which is designed to offer day-by-day encouragement,
  you should read one installment per day each day of the week. Voilá! Instant
  NaNoWriMo coach. Good luck!
  
  \----INTRODUCTION
  
  The era, in retrospect, was very kind to dumb ideas.
  
  The year was 1999, and I was working as a writer in the San Francisco Bay
  Area, drinking way too much coffee and watching the dot-com boom rewrite the
  rules of life around me. Back then, it seemed entirely feasible—nay,
  inevitable—that my friends and I would spend three tiring years in the
  workforce, throwing nerf bal