Julie BartonBuster Benson

Karima CammellSean Hewens

Sharon McKellarPaul Oh

Justin QuimbyJulie RussellTony Shen

Michael SippeyJason Snell

Chris Baty (Emeritus)

Gennifer AlbinMelissa AnelliSusan DennardMignon Fogarty

Kami GarciaRachael Herron

Hugh HoweyMaureen JohnsonDarynda JonesNiall LeonardMarissa Meyer

Daniel José OlderDanielle PaigeMitali Perkins

Scott Westerfeld

Grant Faulkner, Executive DirectorChris Angotti, Chief Operating Officer

Dave Beck, Technical DirectorTim Kim, NaNoWriMo Program Director

Marya Brennan, YWP DirectorShelby Gibbs, Operations Director

Sarah Mackey, Director of Community EngagementKatharine Gripp, Communications Manager

Paige Knorr, Community ManagerJezra Lickter, Web Developer

Rebecca Stern, Development ManagerHeather Dudley, Lead Forums Moderator

Rob Diaz, YWP Forums ModeratorMadeline Porter, Events Associate

Wesley Sueker, Customer Service Associate

Malissa Bilbrey, Nicholas FierroHelena Li, Kristen Sibbald

NaNoWriMo believes in the transformational power of creativity. We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.

Dear Scribe,I’ve written thousands of words about NaNoWriMo, and I can write many thousands more, but in the end, our participants said it best:

• NaNoWriMo is an ocean of possibilities. • NaNoWriMo is a romance with the written word. • NaNoWriMo is the one time of year you can throw common

sense to the wind and say, “Not only can I write a novel, I can write it in one month!”

• NaNoWriMo is like your number-one fan, but also your most difficult teacher.

• NaNoWriMo is a multi-faceted community of writers who are simultaneously cheerleaders, subject matter experts, and sounding boards.

• NaNoWriMo is a way to feel you’re not lonely and isolated. You belong.

• NaNoWriMo is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

• NaNoWriMo is just the beginning.

Good stories never truly end. They keep giving and giving and giving. We thank everyone who gave to NaNoWriMo by putting their words on the page to form this daring, rollicking, welcoming creative community.NaNoWriMo is you!

Executive Director

National Novel Writing Month is our flagship program that guides people through the challenge of writing a 50,000-word draft of a novel in the 30 days of November. To help participants prepare, we offer expert guidance and pre-writing resources through our NaNo Prep initiative in September and October.The “I Wrote a Novel, Now What?” Months fall in January and February, when NaNoWriMo guides novelists through the editing and publishing process—and helps them commit to a year-round creative habit.

“... a chance to encourage myself, my friends, and perfect strangers to channel their inner writers, no matter how quiet they are, and let their voices sing.”

- Barrington Lloyd-LovettEight-time NaNoWriMo participant and

San Francisco Municipal Liaison

NaNoWriMo’s ImpactParticipants:

295,396Completed 50,000-Word Drafts:

35,410Total Words Written:

2,921,032,466

Every year, NaNoWriMo partners with published authors to help guide participants from the first words of their novels to the last. To inspire writers, we send weekly Pep Talk emails to every participant during National Novel Writing Month with novel-writing advice and writing mentorship. Our 2018 Pep Talkers included Andy Weir, Justina Ireland, Francesca Lia Block, and Min Jin Lee.Rebecca Roanhorse, Carolina de Robertis, Destiny Soria, and Alyssa Cole were our fabulous 2018 NaNo Coaches. Last November, they answered participants’ questions and provided encouragement and writing tips. Podcast lovers tune into Write-Minded for inspiration, craft tips, and entertainment. Hosted by Brooke Warner of She Writes and Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo, past episodes included author interviews with Tayari Jones, Rachel Cusk, Vanessa Hua, R.O. Kwon, Dani Shapiro, Pico Iyer, Daniel José Older, Cory Doctorow, and many other writers.

•••

Ca

rolina de Robertis ••••••

Rebecca Roanhorse •••

••

• Alyssa Cole •••

••

• Destiny Soria •••••

• Justina Ireland ••• ••

• Min Jin Lee •••••• Andy Weir •••

•••

Fr

ancesca Lia Block •••••

• Ca

rolina de Robertis ••••••

Rebecca Roanhorse •••

••

• Alyssa Cole •••

••

• Destiny Soria •••••

• Justina Ireland ••• ••

• Min Jin Lee •••••• Andy Weir •••

•••

Fr

ancesca Lia Block •••

Camp NaNoWriMo is a virtual writer’s retreat in April and July, designed for maximum flexibility and creativity. Writers can tackle any project they’d like, including (but not limited to!) new novel drafts, revision, poetry, scripts, and short stories. We welcome word-count goals between 30 and 1,000,000, or writers can set time-based goals in order to revise existing work.

To make our Campers’ experience the best it can be, published authors act as Camp Counselors and send daily writing tips and prompts and answer participants’ questions about writing. In 2019, our zealous Counselors were Kat Yeh, Kat Zhang, Katya de Becerra, Yangsze Choo, Adib Khorram, Lilliam Rivera, Cass Morris, and Alexia Gordon.

Camp NaNoWriMo

2019Participants:

70,023Cabins (Virtual Writing Groups):

35,410

“Camp NaNoWriMo gave me what I needed to succeed this summer, and that was unending support, resources, and the feeling that at least someone out there believed in me.”

-EowynCamp NaNoWriMo participant

SEARCH: WRITING BOLDLY

Come Write In is NaNoWriMo’s on-the-ground initiative that connects libraries, bookstores, and other neighborhood spaces with their local NaNoWriMo volunteers and participants to build vibrant writing communities.Alongside our Come Write In spaces are our Municipal Liaisons (MLs), volunteers who add a vibrant, real-world aspect to NaNoWriMo festivities all over the world. These passionate and experienced Wrimos host regular writing events throughout the National Novel Writing Month season—and some MLs host write-ins, parties, and workshops all year long.

“... a fantastic way to connect with like-minded creatives in your local community. I thought writers just didn’t live in Western Australia. But thanks to my local library and NaNoWriMo, I discovered a thriving community of creatives.”

- Rebecca Laffar-SmithMunicipal Liaison in Perth, Australia since 2013

••• Regional Impact •••Municipal Liaisons Supporting Writers:

978

Regions Around the World Celebrating Creativity:

655

Come Write In Spaces Creating Communities:

1,176

SEARCH: BENEFITS OF A CREATIVE COMMUNITY?

Young Writers in November:

101,328

Student Novels on YWP Website:

64,197

Classroom Kits Distributed:

2,500

Online Classrooms:

5,920

We’re thrilled to present a new resource for young writers! Brave the Page (Viking Children’s Books) is a NaNoWriMo primer packed with tips, inspiration, and an easy-to-follow roadmap through a month of story writing.

“Though specifically targeting young writers, this upbeat handbook is a wonderful instruction guide for writers of any age as well as a perfect text for any creative-writing classroom.”

- Kirkus Reviews

“When I tell friends I write books, they are typically amazed. Every time I hear this, it encourages me. We need to tell ourselves we are amazing writers every single day!”

- SophiaAge 14

“... NaNoWriMo isn’t about winning, just like working out isn’t about “winning.” It’s about being stronger than you’ve ever been before, and knowing you’re the one who made that happen. It’s about proving to yourself that you can write.”

- CharlieAge 17

“A writer’s conflict with their novel creates excellent conflict within the novel. This holds true especially working under tight timelines like NaNoWriMo, because we can get a little desperate when things don’t seem to be working out. And when we’re desperate, we get creative.”

- Teddy

“...a way for all students to be included and engaged in a monumental task. Since we started implementing the program, NaNoWriMo has become part of the culture of our school community. We believe in NaNoWriMo because we’ve seen our students grow as writers throughout the novel-writing process and it builds students’ confidence as writers so early in the year.”

- Andrea Hayden & Tricia Baldes8th Grade English and Special Education Teachers

The Young Writers Program provides a K-12 curriculum aligned to the Common Core standards for teachers, a robust online space for teens to write novels and form writing groups, and a rich array of writing resources.

Every year, we select several seasoned YWP participants to write motivational Pep Talks for their peers. Here are some wise snippets from our 2018 Participant Pep Talks:

Programs: $1,008,762

Total Income: $1,295,970

Fundraising: $250,476

Management: $87,243

Donations:$572,053

Total Expenses: $1,346,751

Sponsorships:$221,405

Foundations & Grants:$171,938Merchandise (Net):$152,520

Events:$79,947

Other Income:$98,107

$50,000+Lise Quintana & Zoetic Press

$10,000 - $20,000Amazon Literary

Partnership

AutoCrit

Stephanie Block

CreativeLive

Dabble Writer

Dropbox

FocusMe

Foundation to Decrease World Suck

The Great Courses

IngramSpark

Marissa Meyer

Melcher Charitable Foundation

National Endowment for the Arts

Readercoin

Rescue Time

Scribophile

Scrivener

$5,000 - $9,99994thewords

Melanie Craft

Fictionary

Anthony Francis

Paul Hawke

Liternauts

Reedsy

Cameron Steiman

Storyist

Swoon Reads

Tapas Media

Wesleyan University

$1,000 - 4,999Denny Abrams

Dan and Mary Arman

Kathryn Bedell

Biblioboard

Jarie Bolander & JSY Giving

Karima Cammell

Otis and Elizabeth Chandler

Michael Chatfield

Gary Coon

Cathy Cretsinger

Mary DeVries

Jan Ellison Baszucki

The Giving Donor

Inkitt

Jennifer Jackson

Darynda Jones

BK Kitts

Ruth Krishnan

Morris Family Fund

Anne Prather

Daphne Ashling Purpus

She Writes Press

Michael Sippey

Mark Urlocker

Pamela and Mark Wiedenbeck

Catharine Wyss

$500 - 999Jennifer Barricklow

Alexandra Clausen

Wendy R. Crawford

Eva Deverell

Robert Diaz

Denton Froese

Matt Getty

Karl Krohn

Victoria Lynch

Justin Quimby

Leslie Royer

Julie Russell

Kevin Shannon

Crystal Yancey

National Novel Writing Month is proudly supported by many, many generous donors! Over 13,000 individual participants gave in 2018, and we couldn’t be more thankful.

201

8-2

019

AN

NU

AL

RE

PO

RT

nan

owri

mo.

org

• y

wp.

nan

owri

mo.

org

NaN

oWri

Mo

33

54

Ade

lin

e St

reet

Ber

kele

y, C

A 9

47

03