An Update from the NaNoWriMo HQ from March 31, 2025

 

Image: A marbled dark brown background with the Polly Esther and Pierson PCSockmonkey Writers logo in the lower right corner. Centered above the logo in white, capital letters are the words: NaNoWriMo HQ 2025 Update.

Okay, Sockmonkeys, this one will be a long one,

I'm a bit behind in getting this out and some of you may have already heard about some or all of this if you saw it posted by a current or past Sockmonkey or other NaNoWriMo participant, but I wanted to post this so Sockmonkeys who don't get the emails from HQ and who may not be on Facebook or behind another social media login could learn more, if they so chose. One of the first things I saw when people were responding to those posts was "Is this an April Fool's joke?" - since many were seeing it and posting about it for the first time on April 1st, but the email was dated March 31st, 2025 at about 3 p.m. California time, so I don't believe it to be a prank of any kind.

Below is a direct copy/paste of the email that I received (although it went into my junk folder because they used a noreply address to send it, for some reason):

To Our NaNoWriMo Community: 

We come to you today with sad news. After six years of struggling to sustain itself financially, NaNoWriMo (the nonprofit) will begin the process of shutting down. 

Explaining how we got here is both simple and complex. The funding woes that have threatened so many nonprofits in recent years are an unextraordinary trend. Many beloved organizations announced their closure last year. Many more are fighting for their lives.  Media coverage of financial crisis within the sector—especially among arts nonprofits—has been widespread.

Yet, there are ways in which NaNoWriMo is extraordinary—and reasons why we had hoped we could buck that trend. The sheer size of our community, its global reach and its longevity, held at impressive levels, even during a tumultuous year. There is no shortage of writers who want to participate in NaNoWriMo. Yet, building a community and being able to sustain it are two different matters. 2024 was a revelatory year.

In order to fully understand how we reached this decision, and why we view it as the only alternative, we encourage you to watch this video about the State of NaNoWriMo. The video also contains some important acknowledgments and information about the logistics of our next steps. Most importantly, the video shares real data and information that the organization has not discussed previously. The plot is thicker than you might think.

We recognize that the closure of NaNoWriMo represents a huge loss to the writing community, and that grief over this outcome will be exacerbated by the challenges of the past sixteen months. This is not the ending that anybody wanted or planned. And—believe us—if we could hit the delete button and rewrite this last chapter, we would. But we do have hope for the epilogue. 

What’s next for NaNoWriMo, the indebted nonprofit, is much different from what's next for actual Wrimos. We hold no belief that people will stop writing 50,000 words in November (and April, and July) or stop seeking support for the journey they’re on. Many alternatives to NaNoWriMo popped up this year, and people did find each other. In so many ways, it’s easier than it was when NaNoWriMo began in 1999 to find your writing tribe online. 

Our greatest hope at this moment is that you do two things: support arts nonprofits you love (they really, truly need you) and keep writing words. Your stories matter. 

Thank you for all you have done for the organization, and especially for each other, over all these years.

Sincerely,

The NaNoWriMo Team

 

A Few Additional Notes

• We anticipate that some people might want to log on and capture information that is meaningful to them, like their lifetime word count or stats from previous seasons or challenges. We also anticipate that some folks on the Young Writers Program website may not have backed up work that they wrote directly into our system, and may wish to do so at this time. If there is something you feel you need to retrieve, you are welcome to try. However, our site tends to crash a lot when overrun with too much traffic (chronic technology underinvestment is mentioned in the video). We apologize for any inconvenience if the site gets crashy.
• If you are a recurring donor, thank you for your ongoing support of the organization (truly). We have cancelled all recurring donations on our end in order to ensure that you will not be charged as we transition into our next phase. 
• If you want anything from the NaNoWriMo store, please don't delay. We will shut that down soon as well. 
• Finally, we have observed that, at times of change, many members of our community are in want of spaces to process these new developments, and that, historically, we have hosted many all-community online spaces. Unfortunately, we have very limited resources to reply individually to comments or to moderate our social spaces at this time. We will do our best but make no guarantees. 

---- End of email.

Be forewarned - the video is nearly 30 minutes long.

theredwoman95 on Reddit summarized the video as such:

Nanowrimo had been operating in the red since 2018, with a brief break in 2020-21 thanks to COVID loans. Nanowrimo tried to deal with this by boosting their merch and sponsorship income in 2023, as donations had dramatically fallen.

By October 2023, they were nearly out of money and focused on trying to organise events to deal with that. The board received the child endangerment accusations in November 2023, after the initial response in May, and launched an immediate investigation. This complaint involved spaces outside of the official forums.

They received more concerns about the Young Writers' Programme, both current and prior ones which had been dismissed. The lack of background checks for staff/volunteers, the lack of state-mandated child safety training, and lack of legal info on volunteers led to the drastic changes that have been discussed a lot here. Kilby points specifically to the lack of info they were able to supply about the moderator involved in the original complaint as a massive issue, as well as their existence as a youth-facing organisation, all meant that child safety was their top priority.

December 2023, they implemented background checks, then ended all-ages spaces and created new safety features for young writers, along with requiring educator verification.

The inconsistency of volunteer moderators in their decisions led to the forums being shut down, and how Nanowrimo had previously encouraged the existence of spaces outside the official forums (Discord, Facebook, etc.) had caused them to receive complaints about behaviour that took place outside of forums. They realised that Nanowrimo was dealing with this very badly, hence the actions the Board took.

She includes a snarky comment about how people considered themselves experts for how long they had been involved with Nanowrimo (she titles them the "you're ruining Nanowrimo camp"), but also says others appreciated the changes and a third group were horrified by the revelations and wanted the changes too. Personal opinion - this section is somewhat unprofessional in how she discusses the first group.

Kilby also says she realised that participation had been declining since 2018, which was a lot worse than the board had realised, and 2023 fundraising was $245k lower than expected. They lost nearly $200k in sponsorship income between March 2023 and March 2024 (roughly $125k by then), and merch income were a fraction of its prior levels.

Nanowrimo has to shut down, given its dire financial straits, although they're trying to keep the sites online for as long as they can - but they can't commit to moderation, tech support, etc. Kilby points out that she's been unpaid since May 2023, as have many others in recent months. They were initially in talks with merging with another writing organisation, but that fell through when they realised that Nanowrimo had six figure debt (they were largely unable to repay the COVID debt).

She also says that people were put off by the responses of people on sites such as on Reddit. Kilby tries to defend herself over the AI sponsorship issue by saying that "we turned most of them down", as they had more companies approach them after the initial scandal broke out, and that the community could've saved Nanowrimo if they funded it.

Nanowrimo being grassroots also doesn't work because they already had a very low staff to volunteer ratio (12 staff to 800+ volunteers), and running the site costs money. She blames the fact that too many members "let themselves believe that the service we provided was free" on Nanowrimo's downfall and that the vast majority of the community didn't donate. Kilby says that she isn't blaming the community, but many arts organisations are struggling, especially due to a lack of donations. She also says that "more should've been done to earn or earn back the loyalty of this community and tangibly improve our programme offering", given the six year downward trend of participation. She then thanks the MLs, mods, and other volunteers, amongst all others who worked with the organisation and community, who participated in Nanowrimo and helped the organisation be what it is.

I recommend watching the full video because I've definitely missed bits.

They also added the following edit: I posted this in another comment, but here are the pre-2018 financial info that I can find online for Nano, for comparison.

2017 - income $1.307 million ($543k donations, $322k sponsorships, $138k net merch, $168k foundations and grants, $65k events, $68k other income) and expenses were $1.197 million ($810k programmes, $298k fundraising, $89k management). 306k Nanowrimo participants and 65k camp participants, with 34k and 13k projects completed respectively.

2016 - not available on wikiwrimo.

2015 - linked but not accessible.

2014 - income $1.091 million ($482k contributions, $290k merch, $203k sponsorships, $88k foundations and grants, $25k other income) and $1.012 million expenses ($617k programme, $200k overhead, $193k fundraising). 243k Nanowrimo participants, 55k camp participants, and 40k and 9k projects completed respectively.

2013 - income $1.041 million ($481k contributions, $273k net merch, $159k corporate sponsorships, $90k foundations and grants, $35k other income) and expenses were $1.037 million ($722k programme, $159k overhead, $155k fundraising). 144k total writers but there's no number for completed projects or a Nano/camp breakdown.

2012 - income $1.009 million ($479k contributions, $273k net merch, $136k corporate sponsorships, $101k foundations and grants, $18k other income) and expenses $963k ($706k programme, $119k overhead, $138k fundraising). This also includes total assets and liabilities, which are $444k, with a change in net assets of $45k. 341k Nanowrimo participants and 28k camp participants, with no completion numbers.   

---------

There is a lot more information out there if you're curious and want to take the time to look it up. Many people on Reddit were not happy with the tone of the video, among other things, so they were giving their own opinions of how things have been handled.

+++One thing mentioned on Reddit and in the email is that, with the site closing down, if you want to save your participation data in any way, you should do it sooner rather than later. The Trackbear site I've posted about many times previously actually has a very easy port over process that really takes very little time and will save project titles and progress for you, if you're interested in hanging onto that data in any way.+++

It was a hard decision to pull our group away from HQ last year when I did that. I was sad to feel the need to do so. Even so, it is sad to see that the nonprofit itself is coming to an end, even if it's not totally unexpected given what happened and how it was dealt with over the years. Things are apparently so bad they haven't posted any of this information on their social media sites - although, I'm guessing the email was sent out on March 31st as a way of explaining why there would be no April Camp.

Anyhow, just wanted to have something central Sockmonkeys could refer to if they were curious about what happened.

How is everyone else feeling about this?

March 2024 Update and Stepping Down as ML

 

 

Posting this here so that every Sockmonkey in the region can see it, whether or not they are signed up to the NaNoWriMo website. The text of my most recent regional email is below:

 

3/26/2024 - Editing to add: I apologize if this comes through to your email twice, but I wanted to be sure it was sent by the site. I sent the first draft of this via the site 5 days ago. It was posted to our regional chat box, but I never received it in my inbox even though I have received other emails from NaNoWriMo HQ since my first attempt to send it, so I am attempting to send it again. Also added a content warning for one link and a sentence in the postscript.

Hello Sockmonkeys!

I realize this is a bit out of the ordinary, but we have finally been given more details on how HQ and the Board plan to move forward after the events I mentioned in my December regional mail. Again, I realize not everyone in our group participates in NaNoWriMo and probably few of those who do were even aware of what happened on the forums outside of my mails because they don’t visit them, even during the off-season, but this new course of action from HQ is why I decided to write to you now.

Although it was a hard decision, I currently feel I cannot ethically move forward with NaNoWriMo as an organization. I have decided to step down from my volunteer role as Municipal Liaison for the Tacoma & Pierce County region after 6 years as a result.

If you’re not familiar with the ongoing forums situation I mentioned earlier and would like to know more, feel free to visit the Board threads on NaNoWriMo’s main forums, especially the summary posts from NaNoWriMo’s Board. Leadership failed to communicate well and participants got increasingly frustrated with how HQ was conducting itself so things continued to escalate, which is what led to the Board stepping in and shutting down the forums. If you’d like a non-site summary of events put together by some other volunteers (rather than wading through those very long forum posts) you can read this NaNoWriMo 2023 controversy summary document - but that is not required. (TW: CSA allegations)

Like a number of other MLs, I had concerns about what the coming year would look like, but I was waiting to see what the regrouping efforts, particularly with MLs, would be. I hoped there would be an honest effort to right the ship, but what I have seen in the new process for moving forward and the draft of the new ML agreement are some requirements and restrictions I do not feel comfortable committing to and do not have the free time for. (A link to a copy of the agreement, as well as a brief summary of the highlights can be found near the end of the controversy summary document linked above - although some changes and concerns about legal language are being looked into by a lawyer and the final language may change.)

I currently have no idea who, if anyone, will step up as new ML(s) for the region. I leave that up to the organization.

Your regrettably former ML,

Kyrthanna Elvendahl (she/her)

P.S. This does not, however, mean that the Sockmonkey Writers as a group is going away. Only our officially/non-official affiliation with NaNoWriMo as an organization is ending. We will still be here to support you as you tackle NaNoWriMo or any other writing challenge. Please join us on our Regional Blog and/or our Discord for updates and for links to our other social media if you’d like to get connected with other writers in the Tacoma/Pierce County area. And, while this will also be sent out separately, if you have a few moments, please fill out this form to let me know what sort of things you’d like to see as part of the Sockmonkey Writer’s Group in the future.

Catching Up - Photos from the 2023 NaNoPierceCo TGIO and Book Exchange

 

Here we are in 2024 Sockmonkeys - 

 - and due to various hiccups and tech glitches, I'm finally getting a chance to post about the TGIO and Book Exchange we had in Spanaway on December 2nd, 2023!

Above is a photo of the table that was set up to greet Sockmonkeys as they arrived. It holds a sign in clipboard, our green Sockmonkey bucket, some small Sockmonkeys in assorted winter gear sitting around it, a roll of blue tickets and three small gift bags that were all part of the event. Everyone who attended took one ticket and the tickets were used three times - twice to decide turn order in the book exchange and once to randomly pick two Sockmonkeys as winners of one of the small gift bags. The third gift bag was given to the first Sockmonkey to win blackout in our TGIO Bingo game.

This photo shows the table holding the books that were part of the exchange (along with a vase of flowers). There were so many books that most in attendance were able to pick a second book!

The above two photos show the room before all of the Sockmonkeys who attended had arrived - and before we had the book exchange. There are three tables in a U shape with writers sitting on the far side of each of them from the camera. Everyone seemed to have a good time with not only the Bingo game, but also just chatting about NaNoWriMo and writing in general, along with other random topics that popped up.

These final photos were taken after people had begun grabbing food from the potluck tables. One Sockmonkey is back at the drink station that was set up next to the library's small sink. We had a good sized crowd - though it wasn't too big - and plenty of food to eat along with a lot of laughter and a number of silly writerly jokes.

Finally, while I will be posting a thank you on my personal social accounts, I wanted to post a photo here as well of my Book Exchange book (The Ministry of the Future) surrounded by the chocolate/cocoa themed gift I was given by one Sockmonkey writer and the bouquet of flowers with a gift card I was given by another Sockmonkey writer in appreciation of my volunteer Municipal Liaison efforts. Both gifts were totally unexpected and I thank each of them for their kind thoughts and generosity!

Midway Pie Day and Mug Exchange 2023

The above photo shows our Sockmonkey basket with the selection of mugs that were brought to this year's Midway Pie Day and Mug Exchange. It was quite the selection. I think it made it rather difficult when it came someone's time to choose one.

The large room at the Parkland/Spanaway library was already set up with two rows of tables with four chairs at each table - and it's a good thing, too. Most tables had at least two writers at them - a few even had three. This photo shows the view early on, when not everyone had quite arrived yet.

This photo shows the table they had set up at the entrance to the room. It was turned into a sign in station complete with clipboard, the NaNoWriMo Write-in Here sign, Polly Esther, Pierson, some smaller Sockmonkeys, our Sockmonkey basket and a roll of tickets. The tickets were used to determine whose turn it was to choose a mug during the mug exchange.

Another in progress photo, with one writer arriving and signing in and others already at their tables getting set up or writing.

This photo shows the view of the other side of the room, where we had our pie and snack table set up. There was lots of food there to fuel everyone's writing.

This photo was taken while standing next to the food tables, in order to try to get a long view and catch as many Sockmonkeys in it as possible. The three writers at this table were also at the write-in at Fern Hill the day before where we had a laugh filled discussion about villains powered by cheese that might also be lactose intolerant.

 

 The large room at the Parkland/Spanaway library had a nice sink and counter set up, which was turned into a tea, cocoa and spiced cider station for anyone who would like a hot drink to go with their pie and other snacks. Thank you to Sockmonkey Jen Edwards for bringing the hot pot, some tea and some cocoa to share with everyone! Two of the smaller Sockmonkeys visited the station for this photo.

Including yours truly, we had a baker's dozen (thirteen) worth of writers at this midway celebration event, plus a fourteenth watching via camera in our Regional Discord. Thank you to everyone who attended and made it such a fun event!

Regional NaNo Mail October 29, 2023

 

Only a few days until the writing begins, Sockmonkeys!

Are you ready? Are you still jotting down notes? Have you even decided what story you’ll be writing?

No matter where you are in the process, or whether this is your first time participating or your tenth time, don’t worry. It will be fine. Take some steps now to help ward off any potential technical hiccups:

                 

• Update any writing or other software you’ll be using during November
• Keep a flash or other external drive prepared for regular backups
• Set up an online backup service (if you can)
• If you’re typing or handwriting your novel, be sure you have plenty of ink, paper, pens/pencils (you can use your phone to take backups of the writing until you get it into an electronic device)
• Make sure you’ve announced your novel on the NaNo site so your words will count toward the challenge. Just go to the main dashboard, click on “Join with a new novel” or “Join with an existing novel” in the big blue countdown banner at the top and then fill out the blanks.
• Add any in person and/or online write-ins you want to attend to your calendar so you don’t forget about them during the madness that is November.

Speaking of Events…

Don’t forget, our Regional Watch Party Virtual Kickoff is tonight from 7 - 9:30 p.m. over in our Discord!

Newly posted is a Speculative Fiction Study Hall on Monday, October 30th from 6 - 8 p.m. in Tacoma.

And, as I stated in my last message, there will be a combination write-in and Kick Off party on Sunday, November 5th from 1 - 5 p.m.

Please be sure to check the events page linked in the header of this section for other upcoming event details and for the latest updates on any posted event. Also, a PDF version of the general calendar pictured above can be found in the 2023 Regional Resources folder that I shared at last week’s prep event. You can find the folder and all its contents if you click here.

As a side note, I recently learned there are some Come Write In locations in our area that are willing to have writers stop in and write there. I am in the process of verifying available times and locations and will share that information with you as soon as possible.

This year’s participant stickers will be handed out at ML hosted in person events, but, I realize not everyone will be able to attend in person due to health, transportation or other considerations. If, after looking at the calendar of events, you know that you will NOT be able to attend one of the in person events I’m hosting (those are marked with an ML both on the calendar and on the region events page), but you’d still like a sticker for participating in one of our virtual events, please fill out this Google form and I’ll send it out when I get a chance.

If you’d like to get some great writing resources and be able to help NaNoWriMo get their writing programs into schools and other regions, pop over to this Humble Bundle offer that was put together just for this year.

Something new I just learned about and wanted to share with you in case you hadn’t heard about it, is the #LGBTQWriMo hashtag and prompt challenge on Instagram. It’s a collection of prompts designed to help LGBTQIA+ writers connect with each other and share what they’re working on. 

Phew. Sorry, guess that one was long, too. If only these words counted toward my NaNo Novel!

I’m looking forward to writing with you all this November. Please reach out to me and I’ll be happy to help if you have any questions or concerns.

Regional NaNoMail October 18th, 2023

 Hello Sockmonkeys!

I was hoping to post these in their own area here on the blog, but it doesn't really allow for that kind of functionality. That means I will try to cross-post the regional messages I send out via the NaNoWriMo site in case people do not get the emails but might still like the information. Please note that most of the links lead to posts and events on the NaNoWriMo website or forums, so you will need to be logged in there in order to see them.

Hello Sockmonkey Neighbors!

First of all, let me thank those of you who have already dropped in our regional forums and introduced yourselves! If you’re participating in the noveling neighborhood this November and you haven’t done so yet, please, pop over and tell us a bit about you in our Won’t you be my Sockmonkey Neighbor? thread.

One of our neighbors mentioned the Jots, Bins, Pants method of novel planning in his introduction and I hadn’t heard of it before, so I created a thread for him to describe it - as well as for any Sockmonkeys who have a favorite plotting method they use to share theirs. Please do pop in and learn about this method or drop a link and a bit of a synopsis of your favorite story planning method (no matter how simple or complex) so that any Sockmonkey neighbors new to NaNoWriMo have a chance to find one or two they can try if they’re not sure where to start.

Pierce County is a big Neighborhood!

While I would love to be able to host events close to and meet as many NaNoPierceCo Sockmonkey Neighbors as possible, that’s just not feasible, so I hope some of you will consider hosting some writing time near you or even online. It doesn’t need to be a recurring event. Pick a time, date and location that work with your schedule. For more details on how to submit an event, please visit this Hosting Your Own Write-Ins thread and feel free to reach out to me if you need help setting it up or have any questions. Neighborly encouragement really does help NaNoWriMo word count, so I hope you’ll consider attending and/or hosting an event this November.

Speaking of events…**

New to NaNoWriMo? Participated before? I hope you’ll stop in to our regional Zoom/Discord Prep Chat and Meet Your Neighbors event this Sunday, Oct. 22, from 2 - 3:30 p.m.

Our Online Kickoff Discord Movie Watch Party is back this year on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 7 - 9:30 p.m.

A big thank you to our host at the Puyallup Public Library for hosting three write-ins this November! The first one is on Wednesday, Nov. 1st, from 5:30 - 7 p.m.

Big thanks also goes out to our host at the University Place Library for hosting four write-ins this November! The first one is on Wednesday, Nov. 1st, from 6 - 8 p.m.

Many thanks also to our host at the Graham Public Library for hosting two write-ins this November! The first one is on Thursday, Nov. 2, from 3 - 5 p.m.

I’m hosting a longer in person casual Kick off and Write-in thanks to Ben Haines who blocked off the Sumner library’s meeting room for our use. The event is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 5th from 1 - 5 p.m.. This will also be a potluck for snacks, so if you’re willing to bring something to share, please sign up using this Google form.

There are other events and venues in the planning stages that will be up on the site soon once they’ve been finalized, so please keep checking the events tab for the most up-to-date schedule.

**While I stated it inside the events I’m hosting, please be aware that if I or anyone in my household becomes ill I will cancel those in person events and turn them into online sessions only. Please check each event listing on the events tab prior to attending an event to check for updates before heading to the venue.

I think I’ve babbled on long enough, so I’ll sign off here, but I will send more updates and reminders in the next few days.

Stay healthy, let those creative juices flow and please participate in our writing neighborhood whenever you can!

Kyrthanna Elvendahl (You can send me a NaNoMail via the forums if you click here.)

Help Wanted! NaNoWriMo 2022 Write-In Suggestions Needed

 

Hello Sockmonkeys!

It's hard to believe we're here again, but it's the beginning of October and preparations for NaNoWriMo are underway. After two years of online only events, NaNoWriMo HQ has allowed for official in person write-ins with two caveats: steps must be taken to reduce any potential harm to those who attend events in person and no one is required to host in person events. In keeping with their official stance on harm reduction , I ask that everyone who attends an in-person write-in wear a mask and that you do NOT attend if you or someone you live with may have been exposed to Covid-19 or if you are sick with any cold or flu virus.

In order to mitigate my risk, I will host a majority of my events online, but there may be a few in-person events - if I can find suitable locations.  This is where you come in, Sockmonkeys.

Usually, I happily reserve meeting rooms at various branches of the Pierce County Library system, but, when I looked at their meeting room use page online, I found:

The most pertinent of the bullet points listed are:

*Canceled all public meetings in public meeting rooms.

*Closed all conference rooms to the public.

This severely limits the number of locations I am familiar with that have seating, tables and outlets (along with restroom facilities) that can accommodate a write-in or regional NaNoWriMo event, so, if you know of any places in your area where we might hold a write in, this year or in the future, please add that information to this Write In Location Suggestions Google form.

If you'd prefer not to use the form, please e-mail me at pcsockmonkeywriters (at) gmail.com with the answers to as many of these prompts as possible:

Location name, address and phone number or email at the very least. 

If possible: a contact name; if there are outlets writers can use; how many writers it could accommodate; is there plenty of parking; is it close to a bus line; can it accommodate writers with disabilities and any other things you think might be helpful.

Not participating in NaNoWriMo this year? That's okay. Please add suggestions anyhow. It would really help me out.

Thank you!

Old NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo Public Site Archives to be Retired February 25, 2021

 

Hi Sockmonkeys!

NaNoWriMo HQ recently sent out an email to let everyone know that public access to the site archives will end on February 25th, 2021. Above is a screenshot of the official post on the current NaNoWriMo forums, which reads, in part:

"Based on our tech team's recommendation, and the continued cost of maintaining the servers for these archives, we're going to close both archive sites by Thursday, February 25. If you have anything you want to save from the NaNoWriMo archive or the Camp NaNoWriMo Archive, please make sure to copy and paste it, or preserve it in some other way from the archives by then!

...

Archived data will not be deleted, it is simply being taken offline. Our technical team will still have access to it and the import tools will still function."

If you didn't read or receive the email about this, you can read the official post about it on the NaNoWriMo forums HERE. (It also includes direct links to the Archive site and Camp Archive site, as well as links to the Pep Talk archive and directions for how to re-import project data to the new site.)

If you joined after the new site was in use and didn't use either of the old sites, you don't need to do anything, but, if you've taken part in NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo for a while and you have old NaNoMail or buddies on your buddy list or anything you'd like to save for later, now is the time to go save that information.

In case you find yourself on the forums and decide you want to check the Archive site for yourself, you can find it at the bottom of the forum navigation drop-down menu, pictured below:

The Archive link is in the left-hand column, at the very bottom.  When you click on it, your browser may warn you that it's "not safe" to go forward, that is because they no longer have the site certificate active. You can still visit the site.  When you do, you will, if you've been part of the NaNo community for a while, see a very familiar screen:

Once you log in, you will be able to access your old projects, old NaNoMail or old buddy list and save the data you're after.

Accessing the Camp Archive from the forums is similar:

The link to the Camp NaNoWriMo Archive is at the bottom of the column on the right-hand side. You will get the same browser warning mentioned above, for the same reason, but you can still access the site. When you do, it may not have the graphics it used to have, and may look like the screen pictured below:

You will still be able to log in to the Camp site and grab, copy, or take a screenshot of any of the information you would like to save.

If you don't get to this before the deadline, you can still bring project data over using their import tool. You just won't have access to anything on either site directly.

Any questions about this, please leave them in the comments below or go to the thread on the forums and ask NaNoWriMo staff directly.

I hope you're all doing well and staying healthy now that we're firmly in 2021!

New and Current Regional Social Links All In One Place!

 

Hello, Sockmonkeys!

This year being an all virtual one for NaNoWriMo, I've been trying to update some of our current social media hubs as well as adding a few new ones.  Updating all of those links every time something changes is a bit tedious, so, thankfully, there was a way I could link them all into one profile for everyone.  

The QR code above can be scanned with your mobile device and it will take you to the landing page of links.  If you're not on mobile, you can click here to be taken to the same page and then click through to the platforms of your choice.

I know, this makes for a rather dry update, but more will be coming soon.  I just finished adding this link to everywhere else we have a presence online, so people there can find us and wanted to make sure it was posted here for ease of reference later.

Whether you're participating in NaNoWriMo this November or not, you're welcome to join us on any of the platforms you see listed.

I hope everyone is staying healthy and being safe!

Are you cat-waxing?

 Photography by fotoedu/Thinkstock

Are you?

Not sure what cat-waxing is or how it relates to writing?

You're not the only one... 

But, let me back up slightly and explain where I heard the term.  I generally listen to a number of writing (as well as some other) podcasts.  It was a great way to spend the time I often spent driving in the car by myself.  Except now, I'm driving a whole lot less, so I'm a bit behind in my podcast consumption.  

I decided to try listening to a few of them, in between brief chats, while out with my son on his required daily walks for his walking fitness PE class.  Today, I ended up listening to an episode of I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty that was posted in March. (ISBW #483 Crap and Revision, if you'd like to listen to it yourself.) I heard her talking about all the things she was doing during revision that weren't revision and she mentioned cat-waxing.  I made a note of this in my phone and continued my walk, determined to look into it further when I returned home.

In looking it up, I found that one link, which led to an article from a writing conference, was a dead end, so I continued scrolling.  Eventually, I changed my search term slightly and found the urban dictionary entry for it which reads: Cat waxing verb: an industry term for procrastination by writers, with heavy connotation of trying to justify the activity as something that "had" to be done. Usually activities that can arguably be considered productive, like household chores or (highly tangential) background research."  (It also included the hashtags: #avoidant behavior, #procrastinating, and #displacement activity.)  These are things we are encouraged to avoid during NaNoWriMo in November in order to reach the 50k word goal and I find it funny I haven't heard the term until now.

Whether you're working on a project for Camp NaNoWriMo this April or not, if you're currently working on any sort of writing project at all, have you found yourself guilty of cat-waxing?  Had you heard the term before now? Do you listen to any writing related podcasts?

Please, comment below and let us know!

Calling all Sockmonkey Crafters and Potential Helper Monkeys!

During our Pie Day and Mug Exchange, I explained to people my hope that more people from around the region could get involved in preparing things for NaNoWriMo get togethers, prizes, goody bags, etc., partially so it does not fall solely on one or two MLs/volunteers to prepare things, but also to help build more of a feeling of belonging and participation among our group members.  It would be difficult for me to make 30 - 50 handcrafted items to hand out prior to NaNoWriMo on my own, but would be much easier if a small group of crafters were willing to help with the creation of the items, not to mention just having help packaging them all into bags prior to the Kickoff or TGIO events.  (It can also be costly to purchase large amounts of supplies and/or trinkets, pencils, supplies, etc., to go in the bags or prizes.) Plus, it goes more quickly and can be a fun group activity and a way of getting to know other regional writers prior to NaNo, when many people are busy just trying to get words down.

But, it is hard to know who might be willing to help with what, since many people have their favored social media sites and just posting it to one would mean others didn't hear about the ideas and/or the need.  So, I am writing this post to explain and to house the links to two surveys that will help me get information on what people are willing to help with (schedule and other things permitting) and give me a more direct way of contacting them than just general social media or blog posts.

When you have a few moments, please, look over the surveys and fill out one or both, if you're willing to help with any of the crafts or items listed.  Your email won't be given out and you will only be contacted by the PCSockmonkeyWriters email when a potential project or need you've marked has been identified.

Please click here to fill out our Sockmonkey Crafter Survey

Please click here to fill out our general Sockmonkey Helper Monkey Survey

Thank you so much for looking at these and letting us know how you might be willing to help the group in the future!

If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them on the individual survey or you can also ask them in the comments below.

The 2019 Midway Pie Day and Mug Exchange!

Well, I posted the update on the forums first, inside a post created by XwordslingerX, so some of these pictures will be familiar if you've looked at that one, but some will not.  (I also believe that, eventually, some of the posts on the forums will be archived, so it may not be viewable at that point, but, for now, it is, and it's also able to accept any additions from writers who attended, if they care to share them.)  The picture above is of the NaNoWriMo shield shrink tags I made that were labeled and dated for our 2019 Pie Day as a fun little reminder of the event.  Each person who attended received one (although someone dropped theirs, so if you were there and find you are missing your tag, please reach out and I'll find a way to get it to you) and now I find myself thinking about what I might come up with for future Pie Days.  We'll see.

Polly Esther and Pierson greeted writers as they arrived.  They were also next to the cards we had on hand for people to sign in order to help our region thank the Come Write In locations who had signed up with NaNoWriMo and offered us writing spaces this year.

People were able to drop off their wrapped mugs near the entrance.  This is what the grouping looked like (I think not all of the mugs were present at this point, but this is most of them) prior to the actual exchange.  All of the fun wrapping paper and bags made it really tough to choose for many participants!  We did the exchange sort of White Elephant style.  Everyone was given a ticket, which was pulled randomly from the ticket can, in order to determine turns.  They then were allowed to choose if they wanted to pick from the pile or steal someone else's mug.  If a mug was taken twice, it was then "stuck" with the third person to have chosen it - which did happen with the Elephant mug.  The first person to be picked had a choice at the end if they wanted to steal or stay with what they received in the beginning, since they didn't have that option to start with, but they decided not to steal from anyone.

This year, we needed two tables for food, instead of just one!  There were so many delicious things to choose from and everyone enjoyed grazing throughout the duration of the write in.  Thank you to everyone who brought an item or two to share!

                                                

                               
Here are some picture of our room full of writers, busily working away.  Congratulations to @Pranbran, who reached 50K during the write in!  We all took a moment to cheer for her and then continued writing.  Everyone was able to get at least 1000 words (or more) written during the write in, even with all of that food and the mug exchange as distractions.  It was really fun seeing some familiar faces as well as meeting some new writers, whether this was the first time I met them this NaNo or I had met them at a previous write-in this year.  This seems like it will be a fun halfway through NaNoWriMo tradition to continue - and many seemed to agree that they'd enjoy it if that happened.

For fun, we posed all of the mugs on the table they first sat on when they arrived.  Many also placed their mini Sockmonkey buddies inside of their mugs for the photo op, which was fun!  Below are a few close up pictures of sections of the mugs:

                                        

As a final update to this, I posted the picture on our social media, but I thought it would wrap things up to post a picture of Polly Esther and Pierson with the mug I ended up with, since our as-yet-unnamed Sockmonkey mascot posed with my mug from last year and it seems like a fitting continuation of tradition:

Thank you again to everyone who attended!  You all made this a really enjoyable event.  I hope your writing continues to flow as we near the end of November and that your mug and shrink tag are reminders of your visit with us.

Did you attend Pie Day?  Did you enjoy it?  Any suggestions for future events like this?  Please, let us know in the comments!

Our Regional NaNoWriMo Hashtag

So, back in September, I posted this on the Regional forums and gave a voting deadline of October 31st, so the newly chosen hashtag could be used in posts starting on November 1st.  The text of the post reads as follows:

"Hello Sockmonkey Writers!

I know, we have our Sockmonkey mascot and we're #PCSockmonkeywriters year round, but, I have seen a number of other regions with NaNo specific regional hashtags and thought it might be fun (and a useful way of telling our regular writing posts from our NaNo posts) to come up with a regional NaNo hashtag.  I know, when it comes to hashtags, short and sweet is the name of the proverbial game, BUT, we want to make it easy for people to find us here on the NaNo site, too, should they choose to do that.  Our region is Tacoma/Pierce County, not just Pierce County, but we can use just Pierce County.  Here are a few ideas - vote for one of these or hit "other" and suggest one.

The choices listed were:
#NaNoPierceCo
#PierceCoNaNo
#NaNoTacoPierceCo
#TacoPierceCoNaNo
Other

(I made it Taco, for short, so it would rhyme with NaNo and Co - plus, if we went with one of those, we could add little tacos to things... hahaha.)

Please vote and leave any suggestions you might have!"

One suggestion was added to the thread:

It reads: "If we are going to be meter about this, we could go NaNoTacoPieCo and then enjoy dessert with our posts."  Which a number of people liked and replied that they agreed with.

The voting was pretty close near the end there, between NaNoPierceCo and Other - for NaNoTacoPieCo - but, in the end, with 55 percent of the 29 votes, the winner was #NaNoPierceCo.

So now, on any of our regional NaNo related social posts, and here on the blog, now that it's being updated with the information, our NaNoWriMo specific posts will be tagged #NaNoPierceCo.

Thank you to everyone who commented and voted!

The Forums - Finding Your Way Around the NaNo Site Part 5

Okay, one more quick overview of the site changes.  I know that many in our region never really used the old forums on the site, but, it is a great way to connect with others in the region during NaNoWriMo, since not everyone in the region follows our various social media accounts.  The picture above shows you what it will look like when you visit our regional forums (without clicking on a direct link to a post) - and, even though the bar in the picture shows the link text, I will link it here as well: https://forums.nanowrimo.org/c/regions/washington-tacoma-pierce-county .

You can click on any post title to read the post inside and interact with it by either replying directly to another user's post or by hitting the reply button at the bottom of the post to reply to the post as a whole.  To start your own post, you just click on the "+ NEW TOPIC" in the upper bar.

You can click through to the Main Site to check events using the upper link labeled "Pierce County NaNoWriMo Regional Hub" in the sidebar, as seen above, here on the blog.  The link below that labeled "Pierce County NaNoWriMo Regional Forums" will take you directly to our forums.

After hearing about some confusion at our Pie Day write in (a post with pictures will be coming soon) about the links on our Main Site hub page, rather than trying to label them and having them look like they're a clickable link (which they weren't), I have taken the labels out.  The first link, circled above, takes you directly to our Regional forums from the Regional hub on the Main site.

In the upper right hand corner when you are on the forums, you should see your initial or your thumbnail, whatever you have set.  If you have commented on forum threads and received likes or replies, etc, a blue dot with a number in it will appear next to this icon to notify you.  When you click on it, you will see a large black menu box pop up.

If you have the bell selected, it will show you a list of all of your likes and forum thread notifications.  You can then click through to see what was said and reply in return, if you wish.

When you are reading a post, if you'd like to remember to come back to it later, you can head to the bottom of the post and click "Bookmark".  This works a lot like your regular browser bookmarks do.  To view a list of your bookmarks and find things you've marked, just click the ribbon/bookmark icon (you can see it circled in the picture above).

The other notification you may get is a green dot with a number in it next to your icon.  That means you have a message waiting in your inbox on the forums.  Click the envelope to go to your inbox and then you can read individual messages and reply to them from there.  (You can also go to the newest ones by clicking on them in the notification list when they show up.)  It is here in your mailbox that the forum bot "Discobot" will take you through a basic tutorial for how to use some of the functions of the site.  It is quick and simple and will give you enough to get started.  (There is also an advanced tutorial you can do, if you're so inclined, but it's not required.)

Next to your icon are three lines.  When you click on them, a drop down menu with a number of options shows up.  You will also see a listing of all of the categories of forums on the NaNoWriMo forums as a whole (including Support, Genre specific areas, etc.).  If you ever get a bit lost or need to find the answer to a question related to the forums, the Forum FAQ which is listed in this menu (and linked here for you) is a good place to start your search.

Now, if you don't like the color scheme or appearance of the forums, you have a number of options (and more are likely to be added).  At the bottom of the list of forum sections is the Theme Selector.  You can see by the * (asterisk) that I am using Vincent.  If you don't like that particular scheme, though, you can click on each of the others and see how that appeals to you.

I hope this helps you to get more comfortable using the new forums.  I realize we're nearing the end of NaNoWriMo 2019, but it would still be lovely to have more Sockmonkey writers popping in to say hello.  It's pretty easy to navigate, once you get used to it, and, you can turn off notifications for areas you never visit so you don't have to see them (if that bothers you).

Currently in our forums there is a week three check in and update thread that includes a listing of the word counts of our regional participants, including the 11 winners that had already crossed the finish line on November 20th.  Stop in and let us know how the writing is going for you, won't you?

Did this help you find your way in the new forums?  Do you have any questions about the new forums not answered in this post?  Are you having issues accessing the forums for some reason?  Please, comment below and let me know.  I'll do what I can to help.

Hope the final days of NaNo writing go smoothly and add lots of words to your count!