After twenty years of late nights, gallons of coffee, and frantic word sprints, NaNoWriMo is no more. The nonprofit behind the beloved writing marathon has shut down, leaving thousands of writers facing a grim possibility: this might be the year we have to actually talk to our families at Thanksgiving.

But like Gandalf arriving at Helm’s Deep in just the nick of time, ProWritingAid has stepped in with Novel November, a spiritual successor. Same word count. Same thirty-day grind. Same goal: get words out of your head and onto the page.

If you want to know more about the demise of NaNoWriMo, Story Empire had a piece about it in an April 2025 post by Nicholas C. Rossis.

I started my NaNo journey back in 2005, the first year it was “official.” Between then and 2019, I made eleven attempts and “won” the NaNoWriMo finisher’s badge eight times. But what I really earned was a drawer stuffed with first draft novels. I dusted off a few recently, and let’s just say they’ll be staying in that drawer. The writing is rough, but that was always the point. As I’ve told my kids and coworkers more times than they’d like: you can’t edit what’s not on the page.

During the pandemic, when everyone suddenly had nothing but time and nowhere to go, a writing house I worked with asked me to share how I managed to hit the finish line year after year. Maybe it would help others. I wrote about the habits that got me through. I’ve since rewritten that piece, because editing never ends, and you can read the updated version here: A Field Guide to Navigating NaNoWriMo.

This year, Novel November lands at the perfect time for me. My wife has just released a book of poetry and is deep into drafting her own novel. She’s inspired me to get back into the fiction game and set a big hairy audacious goal: have a completed manuscript ready for publication by the end of 2026.

On paper, fifteen months seems almost generous. Experience has taught me that it’s not.

That’s why I’m leaning on Novel November. I’ll use the month as a hard push to get those first 50,000 words on the page. My total target is 100,000, but if I hit December 1st with half of that on the page, I’ll call it a win. Because an ugly may not be perfect, but it’s a lot closer to finished than a blank screen.

With just 14 days before I start the drafting push, I’ve got the first of three acts well outlined. My main character has her GMCs (Goals, Motivations, Challanges) well established, as does my villain. I know where all the red herrings are swimming. But I still need to map out Acts 2 & 3. I have time, but not a lot.

The next update will be in two weeks, the night before the big push.