I'm Quitting NaNoWriMo Forever

12:18 AM

 



Y'all, I never thought I would have to reverse engines so hard. 

I have loved NaNoWriMo for many years. It connected me to so many writerly friends, who in turn have helped my writing so much. The cabin conversations, the word wars, all of that are such fond memories for me. For many years, I promoted NaNo among my blogging circles. I helped host two communities on there and joined a third. NaNo was....a big part of my writing life. 

But now, I am quitting it forever. 

One day about a year or two ago, I had noticed that NaNo had quietly sneaked in a "Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity" page. I knew this to be the leftist equivalent of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity", so I knew trouble was afoot. I remember talking to friends about it, and trying to find an alternative, but nothing came of it. So I decided to leave it alone. 

Then a few months after that, I got an email from NaNo decrying an incident concerning some Asian women that had been splashing all over the news. It was all political talking points, no allusion to the creative arts. It was then that I decided to unsubscribe from NaNo's email list. 

At this point, I had distanced myself from NaNo events. I had a good excuse - grad school is very intense and doesn't allow for much writing. I was used to skipping NaNo itself, but this when I started to skip Camp NaNo too. 

Fast forward to today (or actually yesterday, by the time you read this). 

I was on Instagram and this story pops up: #boycottnanowrimo

It turned out, it was from my friend Stefanie Lozinski. She related that she had received an email from NaNoWriMo with the following subject line: "Access to healthcare - like access to creativity - is a fundamental right". The contents had been enough to send her own NaNo account down the drain.

I felt as if the boom was lowered at last.  

Once it started making it's way around the 'Gram, another pro-life friend Victoria Lynn shared the actual email. 

That's when I learned for the first time that NaNo had set up a donation fund....to help fund abortions

As an unapologetically pro-life Catholic who has gone to the March for Life and volunteered at pregnancy centers....I cannot, in good conscience, support an organization that so blatantly wishes to kill it's own future writers. 

I hate to be this blatantly political. Writing novels shouldn't be a political concern. But NaNoWriMo drew their line in the sand. 

I beg you, my fellow writers, please delete your NaNo accounts. Communities can be rebuilt on other platforms. Your word counts can be tracked elsewhere.

And please, do not donate to NaNoWriMo, nor encourage others to do so. 

As of about an hour ago, RebellingCatherine is officially off the NaNo website. All the links to NaNo on my website, my bio links, and my computer are gone. Any links to NaNo stuff in my posts will be broken. 

As for the Siena Society, I hope to continue that through Google Chat/Hangouts. So if you're not on that chat, and you'd like to be, please let me know! 

And speaking of chat...I have a question to ask of you all. 

Would you be interested in a sort of Discord-like place where we can have our own NaNo style challenges? I have some ideas kicking around and I'd like to see what you guys think! 

Catherine

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23 comments

  1. I've previously made a nanowrimo account but I haven't used it much, and I have been vaguely uncomfortable about its political side, but this was the push and I've deleted it.
    I would really love to join the Sienna Society Google chat if that's gone! Maybe it'll give me some motivation. God bless!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, that was all the shove I needed. I'm with you wholeheartedly. I just went and deleted every last trace of my NaNo activity - and good riddance! It's absolutely disgusting, this politics mongering, but funding murder is the last straw.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't agree more. I look forward to the day when all this cultural war stuff will end. In the meantime, we make our stand and pray like mad for our poor Justices.

      Delete
  3. J+M+J
    Good going Catherine!
    I saw that email and it made me sooo mad... and sad. :\
    Thanks for the post, everyone should be aware of this atrocious fact! Goodbye Nano!
    The Doorman.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Doorman! I hope they reverse their position soon, but in the meantime, we can get along without them.

      Delete
  4. Oh goodness. A friend and I left NaNo months ago because they started getting political and I hadn't used my account in years anyway. But this... wow. I totally agree with what you did and what you're saying here. Thank you for this post!

    What is the Siena Society? I've been seeing that on your sidebar for ages and can't zoom in enough to read the text beneath it. XD I might be interested in joining!!

    Also, though this is the wrong post for saying this, I'm very excited that you started a newsletter! I loved seeing it pop into my inbox several days ago. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish I had followed your lead then!
      Ahh! I think I had invited you a while back, but the invite must have gotten lost. Basically, it's a group chat between other Catholic young adult women writers. There are currently ten other writers in there (many of whom are old friends!), and I'd love for you to join too! Just let me know and I'll add you on - it will probably come across as an invite from Google Chat.
      Thank you! I'm hoping to really promote it on both the blog and my Instagram, I just...need some goodies. Currently working on a short story!

      Delete
    2. Thank you for the invite!! I just accepted it. I've not checked invites on Hangouts in ages, so that might explain why I missed it before. xD

      Delete
  5. A friend of mine actually started a NaNo alternative site... last year, I think it was? It's here if you want to check it out: https://ednapellen.wixsite.com/noqu/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ohhh, nice! I'll definitely promote that, though I have also been plotting my own alternative challenge ideas.

      Delete
  6. If I had NaNo, I would be ditching it too. So proud of you! And many blessings on your future endeavors!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goodbye, NaNo!

    Thanks for helping to sound the alarm, Catherine.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such a great post, thank you for this! I am so proud of the Christian author community for standing for the youngest members of the human family. <3 It might take a while to make a difference, but it can happen. I think we should continue to try and talk about this to others when NaNo rolls around... someone remind me, I forget everything. :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THANK YOU for sounding the alarm yourself! I had shut myself off from their news, so I would have continued in ignorance if you hadn't said anything. I will definitely be continuing to develop my own challenges and maybe a few other initiatives - maybe by November, we will have something solid for people to go to instead!

      Delete
  9. I'm disappointed in NaNo. I deleted my account as soon as I found out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So am I! It's one thing to hear rumors about other companies doing the same thing (like Amazon) but to hear it from their own lips is just...galling.

      Delete
  10. Ahhh Catherine, how frustrating! NaNoWriMo was one of the first ways I got into writing. Unfortunately I wasn’t great about being consistent with it, so it kind of fell through… but still!! :’( That being said, I would love to be added to a writing discord or Google chat! Would you be so kind as to me? I’d love to better my writing skills, especially my creative writing ones!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure thing, Anna! I've sent you an invite to the Siena Society chat, which is a group of Catholic women bloggers and writers that I started a while back. Hope you'll get it soon!

      Delete

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