Last summer, I learned about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)—the annual November challenge where writers attempt a 50,000‑word draft in thirty days. I was excited. I’d just wrapped my second novel and was eager to join a community of writers pushing toward the same goal.
Then came the news: NaNoWriMo had shut down as of March 31, 2025. Boo. Hiss.
A quick search led me to a list of alternatives, and I landed on AutoCrit’s program. I joined Team Plantser, perfect for writers who live somewhere between meticulous outlining and discovering the story on the page.
AutoCrit offers plenty of tools and courses, but what hooked me was the community—kickoff meetings, weekly check‑ins, daily “writer’s fuel” emails, and the gentle accountability of entering your word count. At the end, you can even submit your results for a Finisher’s Circle badge and certificate.
On December 31, 2025, I set down my virtual quill and submitted my completion entry:
Working Title: An Elegy for Rowena
Genre: Historic Fantasy
Word Count: 96,000 (expecting a 10% trim)
Blurb: A doom-haunted seer sacrifices her identity and Sight to claim her true power: to shape the fate of Britannia.
This draft felt special—a culmination of everything I’ve learned as a novelist, coming together at year’s end.
The Spring Novel 90 begins February 1, 2026, but I’ll be sitting that one out. It’s time to return to the second draft of my second novel—still untitled—and begin shaping this third one into its next form. My goal is to finish revisions within the next few months and start querying agents while continuing to refine Rowena.
Ideas for the next story are already stirring, but I’ll let them percolate. For now, I’m celebrating: Novel Three is drafted.
I’ll share updates as revisions unfold.
