NaNoWriMo is done. Now What?

[Transparency note: This post was originally drafted in part on the day NaNo announced it was shuttering the non profit, April 1. It has taken me this long to process and sit with my grief. Some of what you’ll read in the blog is a response to that.]

If you’re an author, you may be keenly aware of the controversy that has been brewing over the last month in connection with the troubled National Novel Writing Month organization.

I addressed some of the issues in my last blog, The rise and fall of NaNoWriMo, and a disabled author’s take. But now, it’s official: After 20 years, the scandal plagued non-profit is shutting down, right before what would have been its April Camp event.

The announcement came in the form of an email sent nearly two weeks ago. Do I believe everything that was revealed in the email or the nearly 20 minute video in which the current head danced around issues that really brought NaNo to its knees??

Quite frankly, no, I don’t, and there’s a reason for that. There’s been a lot of documentation on the NaNo forums, all of which will soon be inaccessible, about the current head of the org, a woman known only to us as Kilby Blades. There are a ton of accusations against her that I definitely don’t want to get into. A lot of other blogs have gotten into it already. 

This is me, publicly mourning what once was. This is me, trying desperately to reconcile the fact that an organization that I loved and participated in for a decade– half of the time it was in existence– is no longer going to be available for me and other writers like me. It’s also me asking, what comes next?

I honestly, truly don’t think NaNo comes back from this. They probably wouldn’t be shutting down if they believed they could. It also serves as a partial deterrant for anyone bold enough to try and create an alternative.

As for me, I do what I’ve always done. I keep writing, and I keep advocating. I struggle through getting started on TrackBear to keep my progress logged. A decade is a long time. Maybe it’s time for something new. Above all, I pray: for my friends who were involved, for myself, for the story I know God has given me to tell, and I thank Him for the fact that it simply wouldn’t have gotten started without NaNo.

So, let’s talk in the comments:

What do you do when something you loved doesn’t go the way you’d hoped?

Be blessed!