Many of you may already know the news by now that NaNoWriMo is shutting down in April 2025.

While some people may already see it coming, I find the news shocking.

The controversy revolves around the mishandling of the child grooming allegations and their hot take on AI.

That sure is a recipe for their demise, along with how lousy they are in fundraising.

If anything, this is the one thing they should know how to do but they suck at it big time.

Despite its flaws, it’s still sad to see it going away, considering it’s how we got the head start in our writing career.

Like most authors, I do have a fond memory of taking part in NaNoWriMo years ago.

After all, none of these books would have been even possible if it weren’t for this annual writing challenge.

To be honest, I don’t need to take part in this kind of challenge to motivate myself to write.

But it’s hard to resist all the swag and the promotion you can get during the challenge.

Things like a huge discount on Scrivener and other writing tools you can use to meet your 50,000 words goal.

And you’ll get plenty of offers and prizes too when you do manage to hit that 50,000 words mark.

As much as I love the idea of dedicating the time to write a book in November, the whole challenge itself poses a glaring issue.

And yes, even if they didn’t get involved in any scandals or say stupid things about AI.

The issue with NaNoWriMo, challenge-wise

Say what you will about the organization, but the idea of writing a novel within a month is actually a sleek one.

Try asking any author how long it took them to finish writing and publishing their first book, they will say it took them years.

So, the idea of having to hit the 50,000 words by the end of November may seem like an insane endeavor when it took years for these authors to get their book published.

But the truth is, it’s actually doable when you break it down to how many words you have to write each day to meet the goal.

What’s more, you’re not doing it alone.

People all over the world are doing the same thing as you are – writing 50,000 words of a book and trying to win the challenge if you can.

If the writing challenge is actually a net positive, then what is it that seems problematic about this whole challenge?

Well, it’s how they evaluate that you indeed write 50,000 words that is rather concerning.

For those who aren’t familiar with the challenge, you have to paste your whole manuscript on the website to prove that you meet the required word count.

That won’t be an issue if you did write the whole manuscript and managed to hit the goal.

But you can also pick a random word and paste the same word 50,000 times to meet the same word count.

Are there people who will go that far just to win the challenge is something I’m not sure of since I’d like to believe that we’re all honest people here.

While it’s unlikely, it’s also possible that some bad actors will resort to that kind of underhanded tactic to game the system.

Try as they might, they’re fooling no one but themselves.

NaNoWriMo but better

Well then, is there a way to prove that you actually did hit the 50,000 word count?

Perhaps we can do away with proving that you actually meet the word count to win the challenge?

Crazy, I know.

But that seems to be the approach in AutoCrit’s Novel 90 Writing Challenge.

You can keep your work private. Or you can choose to share your work for feedback and submit your work to win the grand prize.

After all, that’s the whole purpose of the challenge, which is to motivate you to get started with writing the book.

And the best part of all?

You have 90 days to complete the book. And you have USA Today Best-Selling authors providing you with live coaching sessions throughout the challenge.

The summer challenge will begin on June 1, 2025, if you’re thinking about taking part in this challenge.

While the summer challenge focuses more on shorter work, you can also use the opportunity to prep yourself for the fall challenge, which focuses on longer work.

If that sounds like what you need, you still have time to register for the challenge, in which you can do so right here:

AutoCrit’s Novel 90 Writing Challenge

Another way to get your first draft done

Depending on your personality, some of you may find joy in taking part in the challenge.

But some may loathe the idea of taking part in a challenge, thinking they hate having to write under a tight deadline.

They prefer to work at their own pace instead.

The good news is that taking part in the challenge isn’t the only way to get your first draft done.

You can still achieve the same outcome by joining a writing accountability group.

Sorry that I can’t recommend any writing accountability groups out there since I’ve never joined an accountability group myself.

Even if you don’t need someone to hold you accountable, it doesn’t hurt to join this kind of group, though.

It feels great that you get to share what you’re working on with someone who gets you.

If you don’t know any author friends, this kind of group can be a good place to start.

Will I be taking part in the Novel 90 Writing Challenge?

Well, you can bet that most likely I will.

I won’t be joining the summer one since I need to finish republishing the Trigger Locked series first before I can dedicate my time to take part in the challenge.

But I may join the fall challenge, though.

To be honest, I don’t know what to expect since I haven’t written anything new over the last years.

While I feel nervous about it, I feel excited about the challenge, too.

Let’s see how I fare during the Novel 90 Writing Challenge.

If I truly enjoy the challenge, I may consider making it an annual thing, just like how I did with NaNoWriMo years ago.