Some of you, particularly former Lancers, may be aware of the three-day novel-writing contest that runs every Labour Day weekend, where the grand prize is you get published.

http://www.3daynovel.com/

I never quite felt quite like taking up that particular challenge, but this site looks interesting. Instead of an apocalyptic three days, the much more leisurely challenge here is to write a 50,000 word novel (more of a novella, really) between November 1-30. The grand prize is, you get to say you've written a novel.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/