If your favorite diarists suddenly stop posting entries this month, don't panic.

Hundreds of web diarists, journalers and bloggers are participating in the third-annual National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days 1,667 words of fiction a day.

This year, more than 5,000 people signed up to join. If past years are any indication there were 20 contestants in 1999 with 6 winners, and 140 contestants in 2000 with 28 winners NaNoWriMo 3 could generate as many as 1,000 novels, or 5 million words. And hundreds of the participants are journalers. There are webrings, 'burbs, and mailing lists devoted to these diarists taking a stab at fiction.

Many will be posting updates and observations during the month's writing mania, and in fact several will be posting their novels-in-progress in daily installments on the web. Some of these brave souls include Mark McElroy of Atlanta and Australian journaler Jade Leth.

The brainchild of San Francisco writer Chris Baty, NaNoWriMo pushes quantity over quality. "The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly," Baty explains.

"You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing," he adds. "Because by forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes."

Photo and art afficionados again have a new ring of online journals "that display their beauty through pictures."

<img src> named for the HTML tag that designates image placement is the brainchild of Las Vegas journaler Heather and California diarist Jolene Baldwin. In addition to linking journal sites that include personal art or photographs on a frequent or daily basis, the Hall of Mirrors page will pull frequently updated "featured images" from participating sites.

Although membership is primarily by invitation, diarists can apply to join.

The requirements for <img src> are stricter than most, requiring that member sites be well designed (generally excluding users of Diaryland, LiveJournal, and other services), written by adults, and at least three months old. But, exceptions are possible.

"Rules were made to be broken," the founders write. "The most important guideline here is the daily or near-daily images guideline, however, so please don't apply if you don't use images at all."

The new ring is actually a tribute to the late online diarist Gingko and her pioneering Mandlebrot Set ring. "Most of the words are hers," say the founders of <img src>. "We feel it is important to keep such a wonderful project ongoing."

Diarists in the California Bay Area are gathering once again, this time at 1p.m. on Saturday, November 10, at the home of diarist and web developer Bitter Hag in Pittsburg, California.

Planning to attend, so far, are Bev Sykes, Jolene Baldwin, Lunesse, Rachel, Sunshyn, Susan and Travis, and maybe even Jane and Jan.

Pot-luck plans, introductions, and directions are being posted to the mailing list for California diarists. Subscribe via e-mail by sending a blank message to .