Okay, I know this sounds crazy, but January is so soon, and as JaWrimos, we're not excited for the holidays, but excited for crazily writing novels in a month. We're doing peptalks to keep you going so, here you go!

eptalks will be featured throughout the next few weeks, until a little after JaNo is over!

I bet you're going to say this to yourself a thousand times during the next month, but I think I'll have the pleasure of saying it to you first.
You are insane.
But that's a good thing. Insanity in writers is not only good but it is encouraged. We're all kids here, and when I tell adults that I write books, they look at me like I'm crazy. And that's because I am. I am a crazy writer.
I'm not gonna say that it's okay if you don't finish JaNo....I mean, it is, but right now, I want you to brush the sanity right out of your mind and tell yourself that if you don't finish you are going to be very unhappy with yourself. Say to yourself, "Self, you're going to DO THIS!"
I want everyone here to take a moment and look in the mirror. Is your hair combed? Are you wearing makeup? Are there NO bags underneath your eyes? Push that all our the door with your sanity, and even give it a good "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" on it's way out.
Now I want you to walk into your room. The blankets and sheets on your bed are perfectly folded, the floor is bare, and there is a neat pile of items on your dresser. (yeah, I don't know if this is true for most of you) But anyway, take that neatness that is in your room or in your mentality and shove it away.
Stop looking at the fiction on your shelf. It's not good to read stories when writing them, or you're not going to be able to think about your own writing and be concentrating on other people's. Those books don't exist anymore in your mind.
Spend the next (almost) two weeks thinking about your novel, celebrating Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, whatever, and thinking about your novel some more. You need all the time you can get.
I've taken away quite a bit, haven't I? But I've left you one thing: imagination.
Take the imagination I've left you with and run with it, run far, far away, into a completely new world that only you can create. The upcoming month is going to be epic, and I don't want anyone to leave with any regrets. I promise, that cleanliness, that sanity, that neatness, all of it will be waiting for you on February 1. Happy noveling!

CharlesLH is a co-founder and admin of JaNoWriMo YWP. He is in the eighth grade and has written two full novels in his writing career as well as several novellas and short stories.