What happened to NaNoWriMo?

I’m not doing NaNoWriMo anymore because of the complete 180 they’ve made over the past few years. That includes endangering minors and supporting generative AI, for which they used disabled writers as a shield, and disabled writers took a major stand against that.

There is a laundry list of other reasons, which you can read in this Reddit thread, as well as a more in-depth article on their (absurd) AI stance on WIRED. There are lots of additional sources with lists that have even more issues, including their poor sponsorship choices.

I deleted my NaNoWriMo account to make this decision absolute in other authors’ and readers’ eyes. I tweeted at NaNoWriMo too, specifically regarding their (honestly bizarre) stance on genAI, in which they said anyone who didn’t support the theft machine was classist and ableist:

As a dedicated NaNoWriMo participant who held you in high esteem and was an official NaNoWriMo guide, I’m deleting my account. You have chosen the cheapest path, the most degrading to all artists. And using accusatory labels to censor those who don’t agree with you is disgusting.

— Christie Stratos, author (@ChristieStratos) September 4, 2024

Yes, censorship and demanding an echo chamber are also a major ongoing issue with them.

How far they’ve fallen…

The consequences of their actions

As a result of their actions, NaNoWriMo has lost thousands of writers who now want nothing to do with them, which also means thousands of donations lost.

In addition, many volunteers have quit and sponsors have dropped them.

Major writers have condemned them:

“Your heinous re-configuring of language used to fight actual injustices into a shield to cover your transparently business-based posturing is unforgivable.” — Daniel José Older

“NaNo is basically asserting that disabled people don’t have what it takes to create art when they trot out the lie that scorning AI is ableist. […] Saying that disabled people need unremarkable and unoriginal writing is a pile of horseshit.” — C.L. Polk

It would be great if all of this made a difference and NaNoWriMo made big changes, but I’m not holding my breath. Honestly I wouldn’t be able to trust them again without a whole new set of employees and a brand new mission statement.

On to the more important info.

NaNoWriMo alternatives galore

If you’re looking to participate in NaNoWriMo but don’t want to use their site (let’s face it, even the redesign left us wanting), I’ll be building up a list of different events you can join for both the community and challenge aspect.

Many events are cropping up for different times of the year too, since one of the main complaints was always that November is not a great month for this challenge due to American Thanksgiving.

And finally, many of these opportunities are much more loose about the 50K word count that so many people can’t or don’t want to reach. The idea is more to challenge yourself to reach your own goals, which is far more reasonable and fun, in my opinion.

I’ll keep updating this post with NotNaNos I find, so bookmark it and check back.

Without further ado, here are the NotNaNo options I know about so far, in alphabetical order:
Updated November 3, 2024

• Amaryllis Media Open Calls & Marketing Opportunities has a Facebook chat where they sprint a few times a day in 25-minute increments, very casual and all about reaching whatever goals you set for yourself. It’s a highly supportive small community.
• Bluesky has a number of them, but NotNaNo is one. Other words/tags you can use are: Novelvember, Novelmber, Novelember, FirstDraftFall, NoAIWrimo, NovelGauntlet, NotNano. As far as I know, all of these get you listed in the NotNaNo feed, where you can meet other writers doing the same thing.
• ExKayEnDay is a brand-new self-challenge at any time of the year. They’re just getting off the ground, and they have forums you can participate in.
• Heart Breathings‘s YouTube channel is doing a Rough Draft Challenge
• NaNoDiaspora2024 is a subreddit specifically for people who want to do NaNo but don’t want to be associated with the company itself.
• One Hundred Hours of Writing has been around since 2020 and links “streamers together to create a non-stop, around-the-clock, around-the-world writing adventure.” They have 100 hours of writing in November as well as 40 hours for their Weekends of Writing Wildly events in both April and July. You don’t have to be a streamer to participate.
• S.D. Huston‘s YouTube channel is doing DraNoWriMo with 45-minute sprints every morning at 9 a.m. ET. There is chatting between sprints, but the sprint itself is quiet.
• The Stygian Society is offering The Order of the Written Word, focused on human creativity in the wake of NaNo’s pro-generative AI stance. Join their Discord server for a very active community, to track your writing stats, and for sprints. Learn more by clicking the link or reading Holly Rhiannon’s informative comment below this post.
• TWT – The Writers’ Troupe is a private Facebook group run by Venessa Giunta you can join for their event called WHAM (Write Hard All Month), where you make your own goals and can participate in and even host) sprints.
• 4thewords has WriteFest taking place October 28 through December 10, intended so you can “build a consistent habit, double your written words, track your projects, and connect with other writers.”

Special thanks to David Payne, AF Stewart, Jessica Nettles, Margaret Pinard, and Holly Rhiannon for contributing to this list!

Please leave a comment if you have another ACTIVE challenge or community I can add to this list. Let’s keep our writing challenge communities going better than ever!

Word Trackers

Lots of writers are looking for word count trackers unrelated to NaNoWriMo.

• Svenja J, illustrator and portrait artist, makes a number of word trackers for authors, include full-year options. This one is specifically made for those who want to set writing goals for November but won’t participate in NaNo. And it includes her original art! This is a pay-what-you-wish Excel download.
• TrackBear is a free tracker app with no AI and nothing to distract you.

Let me know if you are aware of other options!

Charitable donations

For those looking to contribute monetarily to something other than NaNoWriMo this year, Konn Lavery shared with me Giftmas Create-A-Thon. Basically 7 writers have specific writing goals they’ve shared publicly, and much like a marathon, people pledge donations for if the writers make their goal. You can also simply donate to support the charity.

This year’s donations will be going to Doctors Without Borders, and the writers aim to raise $1,500.