Background
In 1997, Chris Baty and a group of his friends each set out to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. The challenge led to the creation of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), set in November. I joined in 2005, when the official platform was still operated by Chris Baty and his friends, under a non-profit called The Office of Letters and Light.
Chris Baty eventually left the organization and it expanded and expanded, known as NaNoWriMo around the globe. At its height, it had 400,000 subscribed writers who signed up for the annual challenge. During its early history, NaNoWriMo officiated a script-writing month challenge (Script Frenzy) for several years and then later hosted “camps” in the spring for writers. It had a subsidiary or sister organization for students called the Young Writers Program, which provided teachers with opportunities to engage their students in a month-long challenge of writing activities.
My involvement
I’ve written more than a dozen novels over the years of NaNoWriMo. Some novels took two successive years to finish (those were historical). Some were written after planning. Some had intensive research. Some were written with no plot or idea at the start of the month, just as the challenge proscribes. And most years, I was joined by one or more writers in the challenge.
Micronesia and NaNoWriMo
In the remote world of Micronesian islands, writing communities are few and far between. Saipan has had some—hosted at NMC under Nancy Flood when I first came here. The Humanities Council has brought in writers, hosted student essay contests, and my favorite—had performances of historic writers like Mark Twain by professional actors. I acted as a liaison for NaNoWriMo for a few years where we had official support and loot, and we even had some sign-ups from writers in Guam, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. Joeten-Kiyu Public Library signed on to NaNoWriMo a few times and offered space during November (and at other times) for writers. Walt Goodrich conducted workshops on self-publishing.
Having a community platform is helpful to a remote writing community like ours. What NaNoWriMo offered was a wonderful place where we could sign up, publish our goals, share information about our local meetings, and get access to writers around the world who would answer questions in the forums—everything from what an 18th century ship was called (and all the types at sea, the weapons on board, the crew, the parts of the ship, the terminology, everything you’d need to know to set your story there!) to esoteric discussions on plotting or scene development or naming your characters. There were dares (include this in your novel!) and forums with sprints (join unknown random writers for a 5, or 10, or 15 minute writing challenge starting at :15 –no matter what time zone you’re in). It was a great platform.
What’s Different Now
And it closed in April 2025.
What happened? Why is it not NaNoWriMo anymore? Being remote has its advantages—we were not caught up in the scandals (municipal liaisons grooming young writers for sex) or the power disagreements (who could be a municipal liaison, whose posts got erased or blocked, what the official policy on AI would be). That’s what happened. But losing it is hitting pretty hard to me and others in the Marianas who liked the official NaNoWriMo.
2025 and Beyond-Marianas National Novel Writing Month
But we can still do the challenge, and we are doing the challenge November 2025. Marianas Writers Movement hosts MaNaNoWriMo write-ins. We have writing prompts on our website. We are here to encourage all those who want to write a novel—or a memoir, or a history, or a family saga, or whatever.
So MaNaNoWriMo stands for Marianas National Novel Writing Month. And it is happening now! It is not too late to join. Just start writing. Find us on Facebook (look for me, Jane Mack, or any of your friends who are already members) and join our group. Or just join me at a write-in. No fees or costs. No rules, except politeness and writing!
#MaNaNoWriMo