Updated October 6, 2025 with the Reedsy announcement.
First of all, I have a couple of new shorts coming by the end of the year if all goes well, and one novel-length work should be out by then as well. Things are going slower for September so far, but I can work on that.
As some of you know, I wrote in the National Novel Writing Month events for a couple of years in the 2000s. I met a couple of other writers (including Brandon) there, and had a lot of words that have been sitting idle for 15+ years from those projects.
NaNoWriMo folded earlier this year, after a certain decline. But other platforms have stepped up to support writers in this annual tradition. Last year I participated in Reedsy’s November event, producing a draft of Dragonspire Landing that sits a bit past 58,000 words.
As we head into November 2025, there are a few options out there to help you come along with me on the writing journey. Comment here or on my Discord channels on RFM and Lara X Lust servers if you’d like, and I’ll cheer you on.
Of course, you can write a November novel with paper and pen, a word processor or note app, or heck, follow KR Treadway’s lead and write it on a literal typewriter. But sometimes a bit of community can push you along, no matter what you write on or with or about.
I do have a personal business relationship (i.e. paid subscriptions) with the companies listed below, but there are no affiliate or financial benefit programs involved. Or, if you prefer to think of it another way, I get 100% of what you pay for the free tier on any of these programs.
If you feel like sending me a little bit for my November novel caffeine and retreat fund, you can buy me a coffee here, join my Patreon with a paid membership, or just pick up one of my books on Amazon Kindle.
ProWritingAid is hosting “Novel November” this year.
Novel November: A Free 30 Day Writing Challenge
Aside from the in-person events and merch, which I found to be a great part of NaNoWriMo despite being introverted, it feels a lot like that NaNo was. They’ll have authors, editors, and coaches giving inspiration and information, a forum-based community setting (with far less drama from what I’ve seen), and virtual badges.
I’m already registered, and we’re about a week from the “Prepare and plot” stage beginning.
Autocrit has lots of opportunities too.
Autocrit has a couple of writing events coming up, and while some are paid interactive courses, their main November event is free.
Fiction Forge is a 60-day course they offer for $149 building up to a full novel. There are eight live events, centered around five modules. I will not be doing this one, as there are free events that are a better fit for me, but you can look into it.
Novel 90 is their free three-month project, October 1 thorugh December 31, and it even has some design elements that throw me back to Chris Baty and his team in the ’00s. This one also has some live events, including weekly livestreams on their YouTube channel, but I’d guess it has a bit less realtime interaction as more people are likely to sign up. I may try it along with Novel November just for the sessions they’re running.
Reedsy may have something again this year
Reedsy has a Novel Sprint.
So far, Reedsy doesn’t have anything announced for this November that I can find. They told a friend in DMs that there’s nothing disclosed yet. I’ll keep an eye out and share an update if they do announce another event.
I was writing my belated October update when I saw Reedsy announced their Novel Sprint for this November.
Last year, if memory doesn’t fail me, they had a challenge where 50,000 words written on the Reedsy platform in November would give you a $50 credit for their services, and 80,000 words won you a $100 credit. I won the $50 credit but haven’t used it yet.
This year they give you three months of premium add-ons for Studio, their editor app, if you reach 50k. There’s also a contest where three participants win cash prizes and a 30 minute meeting with a literary agent. The qualifications aren’t clear from their page yet, but it involves submitting your first chapter so I expect it’s a quality contest rather than quantity.
Their studio app has received way over half a million words of mine, and while I’ve exported some of that work to run through Autocrit or ProWritingAid, the home base and formatting all comes from Reedsy Studio.
Disclosures and closing thoughts.
As I warned at the beginning, I do give money to each of these companies. I subscribed to a tier of add-ons when Reedsy came out with them, the Craft tier to be precise. I have the monthly Autocrit Pro subscription, waiting for a Black Friday promo to go lifetime there. ProWritingAid also has me on the annual leash, and I’m watching for their lifetime deal this fall too.
But there are no affiliate links for these programs, and I don’t get any kickbacks if you sign up or even give them money. If this changes, I’ll update here.
If you feel like sending me a little bit for my November novel caffeine and retreat fund, you can buy me a coffee here, join my Patreon with a paid membership, or just pick up one of my books on Amazon Kindle.
Marklin Foster 