NaNoWriMo Alternatives

I wrote recently about the outcry against NaNoWriMo's endorsement of AI and fallout within the community.  I'm honestly not sure NaNoWriMo will come back from this.  After the crisis last year, it seems like the staff has dwindled to potentially just one person, the Interim Executive Director.  That could have been survivable with time and a dedicated new staff, but the organization has felt badly mishandled this year, culminating in the endorsement of AI.

So if you are feeling like you can't in good conscience participate in NaNoWriMo again, and are mourning the loss of that experience and community, you are not alone.  Thankfully we, the community, can refuse to let NaNoWriMo take us down with it.  Here are a few resources you can use to replace what NaNoWriMo offered.

The Local NaNoWriMo Community

NaNoWriMo has been through some major changes right now.  MLs (Municipal Liaisons, the ones responsible for actually running each region) have been disbanded and are awaiting reinstatement as HQ (somday?) implements a more structured volunteer system, complete with background checks and ID verification.  While that was supposed to be implemented this year, there doesn't seem to be any movement on that front.

As a result, many MLs were faced with determining how best to contact their region and keep it together even before the AI endorsement got everyone all riled up.  We no longer have the ability to email our regions, so we're having to depend on our unofficial channels for reaching participants.  If you know your region has a Facebook page or group, a Discord server, or if they tend to use the region page's chat box (which is still active) on the NaNoWriMo website, check in!  If you had contact information for other wrimos, reach out!  Share information and get in touch with your MLs in any way possible.  Chances are your MLs are stressing about how to contact everyone, and one more person making contact would help to ease their worries.

It's important to remember that the community is still there, and there's no reason we have to give it up.  For now my region has opted to continue doing the noveling challenge in November, so that we can hold events for wrimos who are still participating in the official event, as well as rebels who are moving away from the organization.  For us, the important thing is to keep the community together, as we've always had a very active community in our region.

Online Word Count Trackers

I have not deleted my account on NaNoWriMo's website for several reasons, but I haven't used their word count tracker since news of the AI announcement broke.  I love having a word count tracker to show me my progress, so this was one of the first things I wanted to replace after making a plan for our community.

I've done a variety of other things in the past, back in the days when the NaNoWriMo word count trackers weren't available year round, such as reporting word count in blog posts and using this simple word count meter to give a visual display.  However I desperately wanted something better, something I didn't have to generate the code for and insert manually every time.

This time I found WriteTrack, an impressive system that enables you to create multiple projects, have friends on the site, and a variety of other NaNoWriMo-esque features.  I especially love the fact that it displays everything in a calendar, with updated word count goals for every day based on the words written so far.  In fact, it exports to a Google Calendar, which you can add to your account so that your word count goal shows at the top of every day's events.  And they update, too!

There's also a link to a progress bar that you can share with people.  I've been trying to get the embedding feature to work, but without much luck yet.  Click here to see my progress bar for Amnesia and the sequel (all rolled into one word count for now).

WriteTrack is free, but there's a donation button.  If I keep using it, I'll donate what I would have given to NaNoWriMo, as a thank-you for being there for us when NaNoWriMo failed us so spectacularly.  So far it's looking like I will be using it, as I really like the features.

Write-Ins

You know, there's nothing that says NaNoWriMo owns the concept of write-ins.  If you find, like I do, that regular write-ins help you to keep you motivated and productive, set some up of your own!  Even if it's just you and one other local writing friend, pick a time and place and start meeting regularly to get some words in.  If you do it in a place where other writers frequent, or if you put the word out among writing friends and the local NaNoWriMo community that you have a year-round write-in, most likely you'll get new people joining.  We've had some people only come once and decide it's not for them, but we've also gained others who come every time.

Online Community

If in-person write-ins aren't your thing, there are still plenty of ways to get words written with other writers.  Our region of NaNoWriMo has an established Discord server that sees activity year-round, and we've even added a bot to the server for running virtual writing sprints.  Other platforms can also be useful for supporting virtual writing communities in lieu of NaNoWriMo.  For instance, you could create a Facebook group and use group chats or video events to run virtual write-ins or writing sprints.

If nothing else, NaNoWriMo has shown us that writing does not have to be a solitary thing, and that relying on a social writing community can actually be beneficial.  But that doesn't mean the community has to be NaNoWriMo's.  Even if you're uneasy about participating in NaNoWriMo after the AI endorsement or the other scandals, don't give up on writing or the community!  Find or build your own community.

I'll post with more alternative resources if I find anything else worthwhile.  In the meantime, feel free to friend me on WriteTrack!  I'm KatharineSwan, no spaces.

Weekly Goals, Week 37: Recovery and Recovery and Recovery

This week has been difficult so far, which is why I'm writing down my goals for the week on a Wednesday instead of a Monday.

Last week was all about gearing up for the museum's Fall Show, which was over the weekend.  I had a lot to do to get ready for that, and it was complicated by the drama surrounding the other nonprofit I volunteer with, NaNoWriMo.  As I wrote about in my post last week, NaNoWriMo endorsed AI in a rather wishy-washy statement, infuriated creatives all over the world, and sent participants and regions into a tailspin.  As one of my region's leaders, there were things I had to do to address it, plus I was rather obsessed with checking for more news for a couple of days.

After a couple of days of that, I kicked myself back into gear, but I'd already lost a lot of time and it was difficult to recover from.  So it felt like much of my preparation for the Fall Show was done by the seat of my pants.

On paper, I achieved all the goals I planned for the week, except for writing every day.  (I didn't write Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, my big Fall Show days, as I was either busy or exhausted for most of that time.)  I worked on dolls (though didn't get one done that I'd planned to), I prepped my exhibits and got them set up (late), and I prepped for my workshop on Sunday (at the least minute, and we had a snafu during the workshop that could have been prevented if I'd prepared better).

Everything went well, but some things felt a little too rushed and last-minute that didn't have to be.  You can read my post on my doll blog about my American Girl doll restringing workshop here.

This week started out with a recovery day.  I was expecting not to want to do much on Monday, and I was right.  Then, on Tuesday, we ended up spending 2.5 hours at the vet with our younger cat, and I had a hard time focusing for the rest of the day.

Which brings us to today.  After the last 8 or 9 days, it's probably no surprise that I'm still having a hard time focusing, but it's getting better.  In the hopes of the rest of the week being more normal, I'll make some goals:

1. Write every day
2. Work on dolls
3. Work on organization

After the scramble to gather dolls for my exhibit, and especially after the restringing workshop on Sunday, I came home from the show feeling energized.  I wanted to keep working on dolls, and focus on getting my doll room in order so I can enjoy that space a little better.  The workshop reminded me that I love doll stuff and want to make more time for it.

I also have a fairly free weekend ahead of me, which I'm hoping to use to work on organization and time-consuming tasks like mounting some new shelves.  Getting the shelves up will help me get more things organized and put away.

As for writing, I had to take three days off over the weekend, but this week I've managed to write every day.  I need a couple of really big word count days in order to really make up lost ground, but for now, I'm happy to be writing every day again.  I want to make sure I keep it up.

We'll see how the rest of this week plays out, but I am hoping to get back on track.

NaNoWriMo's AI-Fueled Downfall

It's been a rough few days in NaNo-land.

For those who haven't seen the news yet, NaNoWriMo shot themselves in the foot a few days ago by endorsing (or at least refusing to condemn) using AI tools to write your NaNoWriMo novel (original statement).  A lot of us feel like this defeats the purpose of the challenge to write 50,000 words in a month, because if you can just have AI do it, what's the point of challenging yourself?

I think the key words here are challenging yourself.

NaNoWriMo's official statement is vague, and you might note that it doesn't say generative AI.  In fact, it doesn't really specify any type of AI tool, of which there are many valid ones, such as grammar checkers, speech-to-text, editing software, and name generators.  But I think it's important to note what the statement does not say: It never says you can't use generative AI, and since NaNoWriMo's entire challenge is to write your novel, I think that's important.

It's also noteworthy that while HQ has revised the statement once already, they have not revised it to specify the types of AI they mean, even though they pointed out in an email to author Cass Morris that they didn't say generative AI.  Interesting that while they told her that in an email, they didn't bother revising the original statement accordingly, isn't it?

The answer may be found in their sponsorship.  As many other sources have already noted, NaNoWriMo is sponsored by ProWritingAid, an AI-based service for writers.  I think it's clear HQ didn't want to offend their sponsor with their answer.  Unfortunately, they've lost other sponsors since making their statement.  Ellipsus stepped down as a NaNoWriMo sponsor, and while Freewrite hasn't made a similar announcement, The Mary Sue noted that Freewrite was no longer a NaNoWriMo sponsor either.  And I noticed today that Ninja Writers has dropped off the list of NaNoWriMo's sponsors since last night, too.  (For reference, this was the list of sponsors just before the story broke.)

Incidentally, the statement from ProWritingAid in this article makes it sound like they're not too pleased with NaNoWriMo's stance on AI.

As you can imagine from a community of creatives, people are infuriated with NaNoWriMo's stance.  As the Literary Hub rightly noted, NaNoWriMo pissed off the whole internet.  Several authors have stepped down from NaNoWriMo's writers board in fury.  The disability community is furious at the implications that they couldn't write a novel without help.  And rumors, possibly driven by a comment from Maureen Johnson, are circulating that NaNoWriMo novels could be stolen for AI training.

To make things worse, this is all following a particularly rough couple of years for NaNoWriMo.  A couple of years ago, users realized that one of their sponsors was a predatory self-publishing service.  And last year, HQ came under fire for not handling well (or at all) accusations of predatory behavior towards underaged writers on the forums.  The latter scandal resulted in the board getting involved.

Whew, I thought.  At least that will be handled.

Unfortunately, "handling" it ended up with nearly the entire staff leaving or being let go (no idea which), the former board president stepping down to fill the position of Interim Executive Director, and a complete restructure of the volunteer system that puts 900 local volunteers in charge of their local regions.  I understand the need for better checks and balances in the volunteer system, but that felt mishandled too, to the point that we've all been cut loose and are still waiting to be reinstated, less than two months before the start of NaNoWriMo.

In other words, it's pretty safe to say that NaNoWriMo will be run without the help of their Municipal Liaisons this year.  And as far as I can tell, HQ is currently a one-woman show, or at least nearly so.  The staff page from the website is gone, and to my knowledge we have yet to see any evidence that anyone other than their Interim Executive Director is answering communications.

I've tried to remain optimistic throughout all of this, standing up for HQ even when most other MLs were raging against them.  But this last thing, endorsing AI to write your novel, is too much for me.  My heart is broken.  I've put 9 years of volunteer work and 18 years of writing into NaNoWriMo, and I've always believed in their goals of promoting literacy and encouraging amateur writers.  Endorsing AI feels like they've betrayed their non-profit's mission statement and the goals behind their 25-year history.

Their Young Writers Program mission statement reads (emphasis added):

National Novel Writing Month believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.

That stings, don't it? 

It's not true that our NaNo novels will be used to train AI (NaNoWriMo hasn't required a word count validation in years, and even when they did, it was easy to use a lorem ipsum generator to upload instead).  Even ProWritingAid states that their users' work is safe:

For grammar checking, once checking has been completed, all submitted texts and their improvements will be deleted. When using ProWritingAid, your texts will not be used to improve the quality of our services.

Even so, many wrimos (as we tend to call ourselves) no longer feel comfortable aligning ourselves with NaNoWriMo.   A lot of participants have already publicly stated that they've deleted their NaNoWriMo accounts.  And while I'm hoping the Interim Executive Director will recognize that she's destroyed the organization's credibility and step down as Interim Director before she does any more damage, my fear is that she will instead dig in and try to maintain her untenable position.  If she does so, I have no doubt that NaNoWriMo will go down with her.

While NaNoWriMo's future hangs in the balance, many of us are looking for alternatives.  I don't want to give up the writing community or the challenge, so I will be looking for ways to continue in an unofficial capacity.  More information on that to come!

Update 9/6/2024:

Today NaNoWriMo issued a letter to the community, and revised their statement on AI.

It doesn't change that this was handled badly and that I've lost faith in the organization.  The statement actually feels a little condescending, like it's saying, "We didn't know we had to tell you the full story behind our decision."  And ultimately, it is not a strong enough retraction to heal the harm done to our community.  I think it would have needed to take a position such as "using AI to generate your novel would not be in keeping with the original challenge," even if it only relegated generative AI users to "rebels" instead of followers of the traditional challenge.

Overall, this response from NaNoWriMo feels like too little, too late, and with lots of condescension thrown in.

Weekly Goals, Week 36: Deadlines and Crises

This post was supposed to go up Tuesday (since Monday was a holiday), but Tuesday had a hole blown right through it when NaNoWriMo pissed off the entire internet by endorsing the use of AI in their writing challenge.  I didn't get anything done yesterday, and today I only got anything done because I worked on my novel and got set up with a new word count tracking site I found.

Throughout everything, I've managed to maintain a daily writing habit.  I succeeded in writing every day last week, which was my number one goal.  I also kept up with posting on social media about the show for the first few days, but then fell behind.  I didn't get any work done on dolls or on prepping for the show, beyond the many emails and messages I've sent and the logistics I've figured out.

With so much to do still, I really need to buckle down tomorrow, since there are only a couple days left before the show.  It feels a bit silly to write about my goals so late in the week, but I'm hoping writing this post will help me focus on my priorities.

1. Keep writing every day
2. Work on dolls
3. Get together my exhibits for the show
4. Prep for my workshop on Sunday

It's a lot still to do and it'll be a struggle to get it all done, but I have no choice.  I lost a lot of time yesterday and today to fretting about the current NaNoWriMo controversy.

Once I get through this and have time to sit down and write a blog post about it, I have many thoughts to share about what's going on with NaNoWriMo and their statement on AI right now.