Quest to write a novel in a month

Is it possible to write a novel in a month?  According to Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo, as it's affectionately known), it is.  Back in 1999, twenty-one people signed up for the quest and the event has snowballed since then.  NaNoWriMo takes place in November and people all around the world will be squeezing every second out of every day just to achieve their daily wordcount goals - their objective is to write 50,000 words of a new novel this month.

I was toying with the idea of entering, but laptop problems over the last few weeks (big 'grrr!') have made me a little wary (I'm hoping the crashes have been resolved now I've had a new motherboard fitted though).  Anyway, to those who've risen to the challenge, I wish you the very best of luck!  Maybe I'll be joining you next year.

In the meantime, I'll be dipping into the 'No Plot?  No Problem!' book by Chris Baty that I picked up at my local charity shop a little while ago.  (And I'll be wondering if the person who gave the book to the charity shop ever wrote their own 50,000-word novel...)

Have you entered NaNoWriMo this year?  How's your wordcount shaping up so far?