October represents so many things for me. Spooky season, cooling temperatures, the run up toward holiday chaos. But for many years it’s also been when I start sharing bits of advice on how to tackle National Novel Writing Month—otherwise known as NaNoWriMo—the annual challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. It’s been a staple of my calendar since before I was a literary agent. Until, of course, this year.
The business behind NaNoWriMo faced some challenges in recent years and shuttered their doors in April 2025, making this coming November the first without a formal NaNoWriMo event since they began in 1999. Whatever you thought of the extreme challenge, or the choices the company made that led to their demise, it’s the end of an era and leaves something of a hole in the schedule for writers who embraced the idea of writing in community and stretching their endurance.
For anyone unfamiliar, the event began as a challenge to anyone interested in writing a novel but having difficulty putting their butt in the chair and the words on the paper. Local meetups and live writing sessions popped up around the country and later around the world. Writers got the chance to meet each other, both online and in person, and writing communities were born. The idea of writing daily for a month, committing to just under 1,700 words per day, helped writers to turn off their internal editor and get the work done. No editing, no judgment, just words flowing.
At the end of 30 days, the reward was hitting the finish line. No prizes required, though over the years, sponsors started offering special deals and bonuses to NaNo writers, with additional perks for those who reached the goal. Participants ranged from people who liked the pure challenge of it to writers looking to break out of a rut, and a number of now-professional writers cite the event as where they started or completed a first draft of an early work.
In recent years, NaNoWriMo became mired down in controversy. Questionable handling of abuse accusations toward one of the moderators, some online bullying behavior, and public statements that stirred an uproar in the community, coupled with financial challenges, forced them to shut down. But the spirit behind the original concept lives on, and over the past few months, new challenges have been popping up online to fill the gap left by NaNoWriMo’s closure.
What’s the point? Why push yourself to write so many words in a month? No one needs to write every day, after all. You can certainly complete a novel working a less rigid schedule. Life is already difficult enough without adding another layer of stress.
All true, and if that’s how you feel, by all means, continue with your current system. I’m a firm believer in “whatever works” writing routines. However, if you’re someone who enjoys a challenge, or you’re searching for a vastly different approach to jumpstart your brain or your new idea, then tackling a writing challenge of this sort can be the perfect way to get the words flowing. And of course, if you’re a past NaNo writer and would miss the November writing frenzy, you already know what you like about the idea.
A writing challenge pulls you out of your status quo and forces you to test yourself. It’s not generally designed to be sustainable—it’s designed to push your boundaries. Maybe after 30 days of writing, you’ll learn new ways to prioritize your writing goals, or how to draft quickly without that editorial voice butting in and making you doubt yourself. Or perhaps you’ll just have a bunch of pages that are no longer blank, giving you material to play with when you revert to your normal schedule.
You don’t need a formal event to challenge yourself, of course. Design your own writing challenge any time of year and see where it takes you. But the beauty of a more organized challenge is the potential for community—other writers going through what you are and cheering each other on. You might make a new writing friend or two, pick up a beta reader or critique partner, or get some new tips.
November lurks on the horizon, so now is the time to start planning. If you want a structured challenge reminiscent of NaNoWriMo, check out Novel November, being run by ProWritingAid and several other former NaNo sponsors. It includes a place to track your word count progress, a number of professional writers serving as mentors/offering pep talks, and a place to participate in the community.
Another option is the Reedsy Novel Sprint 2025. Along with the pep talks and live sprints, Reedsy provides their studio platform for writing your novel, as well as an opportunity to win free access to some of the site’s premium features and a contest with cash prizes.
For those of you interested in the challenge without the big community, there’s a DIY option in My Write Club. This platform allows you to track your progress and then share it with friends. If you’re interested in setting up a challenge with your writing group or a small circle, this provides the tools to smooth the way.
Any former NaNo writers here? Or folks looking to give it a try? I know a lot of non-writers who’ve done it one year just to see if they could, and plenty of professional writers who have leveraged the challenge as a way to jumpstart new projects with a fast first draft. I’ve done it a few years myself, though I’ll admit most years I fell off pace by mid-month. November can be busy, and not everyone can carve out the time for this level of productivity. But if you can—or even think you could—I highly recommend giving it a go at least once. You might amaze yourself with what you produce.
Speaking of November, I have a couple of announcements. I’m taking pitches on November 8th as part of the 2025 Online Seattle Writing Workshop. The entire event is virtual, so be sure to check it out. In addition, I plan to reopen to queries on Monday, November 3rd, and will likely remain open through the middle of December before shutting down again for the holidays. I will post to social media when we get closer to the dates, as well as including a reminder here. In the meantime, I’ve a pretty full reading list, so if you have something in my box, responses are coming.
That’s all for today. Thank you, as always, for reading. I hope you’re all having a terrific week and that you can make a little time for some bookish joy. Until the next one!🥰
I completed it three times, on time. My fourth wasn't completed on time, but I did hack at it for a few months past the deadline, and did some more revising until I had something I liked much more than the third (which I also ended up cannibalizing for #4). All in all it was a good exercise in discipline. I loved the basic idea of "just get the words into the document; they don't have to be good. That comes with further drafts."
I've been doing my own writing challenges based on meeting writing goals big or small and reading books about writing. Participating in reading challenges helps me read more and learn from reading 📚