November is for novels—again!

Twenty-six years ago, my pal and fellow Alamedan Chris Baty founded National Novel Writing Month and ran it until 2012, at which point a different group took it over and ran it as a non-profit. The event hit a nerve: it gave people walking around with a novel (or a passion for writing one) in their heads the accountability and permission to try to write one, in a confined period of time, with the support and camaraderie of other aspiring novelists around the world.

The premise was that you had to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days, starting at 12:01 a.m. on November 1. It was supposed to be a brand-new project, not one in flight already, though many people spent weeks, even months, planning their novel ahead of time. An idea that started with a couple of dozen people grew into a massive global movement: by 2024, "NaNoWriMo" drew 400,000+ writers every year. About 10% of those participants "won" the event each year, which meant they logged 50,000 words or more in the NaNoWriMo.org system.

Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors—community tensions and controversies, including about the use of AI, coupled with financial difficulties—NaNoWriMo abruptly shut down this year. The fallout has resulted in a lot of anger and finger-pointing, but mostly an outpouring of grief. Novelists say the event helped them start writing again and gave them something to look forward to each year. One Reddit poster bemoaned the lost of the event's forums, including years of archived pep talks. But the overriding message seemed to be that people planned to write in November anyway—and everyone started scrambling to find their community again across the internet.

But wait: here comes NaNo2

A bunch of writing sites and communities quickly moved to fill in the gaps. There are the Reedsy Novel Sprint, the ProWritingAid Novel November, and AutoCrit's Novel 90—all sponsored by writing-related companies as ways to reach their target audiences, but still free and viable opportunities. And many groups are organizing their own events—the local To Live and Write in Practice group I belong to is running a "November Writing Situationship" to encourage us to commit to and follow through with goals.

And a late-breaking contender: Chris Baty and a bunch of his friends have launched the sequel to the original NaNoWriMo, which they're calling NaNo 2.0! Saddened by the loss of the original event, Chris and his fellow volunteers got together this summer and pulled together a new site (nano2.org) with resources, swag, and inspiration, particularly focused on helping young writers and teachers start their own events. The new rendition of NaNo doesn't "control" the event's rules or tracking, but instead offers links to a bunch of tools that let groups and individuals do it on their own. The other difference is that it's more about committing to your goal, rather than being restricted to a 50K-word brand-new novel as the only outcome.

A productive November lies ahead

November is a notoriously hard month to get a big project like NaNoWriMo done! In the past when I tried it, I'd write furiously for the first week and a half and then burn out, or get waylaid by end-of-the-year priorities. (November always seems to be the time of year for major milestones too: one year it was a new puppy, another was a new baby! Needless to say, I never "won" NaNoWriMo.)

This year, in the spirit of the new chapter, I'm committing to some goals that are very doable for me:

1. Finish the first draft of my next upmarket contemporary novel (working title Best Picture) about a group of aging GenXers who became friends working at an art-house movie theater in the nineties, and whose lives have been intertwined ever sense. I'm currently about two-thirds through the first draft, and am working with my crit group to finish it this month.

2. Write or finish 5 short stories. I have a couple drafted that need a polish, one that needs a complete rewrite, and a couple of ideas for new ones. I'm hoping to focus on finishing all of these to get them out for reviews, with the intention of starting to submit them to publications in the new year.

Are you committing to writing goals this month? Share them in the comments!