IWSG December 2025: A Lament to November's Past

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting! Let’s rock the neurotic writing world! Our Twitter handle is @TheIWSG and hashtag is #IWSG.

The awesome co-hosts for the December3 posting of the IWSG are Tara Tyler, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Pat Garcia, Liza, and Natalie Aguirre!

The following link will allow you to peruse everyone in the Blog Hop.

Link | IWSG Blog Hop Participants 

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December 3 question - As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received?

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Hello, friends!

If you've been coming around a while, you know I talk about the last month's writing progress before heading into the monthly question. This first part is going to be a little heavy.

November was a weird one for me this year. Since 2011, my October (sometimes late September) through December has revolved around NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month if you aren't familiar). I spent nearly a decade running a region, first in-person in South Carolina and then virtually in Tennessee. My life was planned around NaNoWriMo those months.

I want to start by sharing this unrefiend free verse that I wrote in 2023, when we--as Municipal Liaisons (MLs) aka community leaders--knew NaNoWriMo was going down, and we knew that our worth as volunteers was being challenged. I have never shared this aside from with another ML, but it gives a good background into the frame of mind in the midst of all the initial turmoil two years ago.

If you know a Current--

likely soon former--

NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison

Chances are we need a hug.

Or a shoulder to lean on.

While we may have on a strong facade.

Masked behind resolve.

Many of us are feeling some type of way.

Hurt.

Angry.

Betrayed.

You see...

many of us?

Are going through a breakup.

Trying to salvage the communities

that we have put our blood, sweat, and tears

into for many years

A seedling that we've nurtured

into a beautiful blossom.

Fruit Tree

Forest.

Cultivating for as many as ten seasons.

Twenty.

Even more...

Championing and

Cheerleading intrepid writers

toward their goals.

Celebrating their successes

Rarely with room for our own.

If we have the capacity left

to focus on our goals

once everything is said and done

Once we've poured out every last drop from our cups

and somehow found some more.

Because we believe in what we were doing

Who we are representing

But we've not been left with much choice

But to break ties with an entity that no longer serves us

or our communities.

Because we still believe in You.

The intrepid author

The pantser

The plantser

The plotter.

The early birds and midnight owls.

The sprinters.

The turtles.

Those who pass the finish line.

Those who write 10k.

Or a hundred thousand.

We still believe in you

and your words.

Your stories that deserve to be told.

So we fight.

Resist.

Make the movies that must be made.

But we suffer the sting of poisonous words.

The scythe of disregard.

The trampling of unkind feet.

Attempting--whether malicious or not--

To unearth what we have grown

Sully our beautiful gardnes

Cut down our forests.

And we grieve.

Denial.

Anger.

Bargaining.

Are we now at depressed?

Waffling between these things

like a madman, obsessed.

Depending on the hour.

The day.

The trigger.

The buck stops at acceptance.

I refuse.

The story must go on.

We will write.

Cultivate.

Nourish.

With or without the support of an institution

that seems to want to refuse

to believe in us.

This is not a post in defense of NaNoWriMo, but rather a lament about something a large community lost because of a handful of bad actors and woeful mismanagement. I won't get into all the reasons why NaNo failed. There are plenty of places to find that information online if you're so inclined, but I was still running a region in 2023 when things spiraled out of control, and as you can tell from the verse above, it impacted me deeply.

I was hopeful that there would be a rebuild effort. I was willing to stay onboard to help with that process and see this organization that had meant so much to me over the years rise from the ashes. But that didn't happen. NaNo officially shut down after the 2024 event. While it was probably for the best, I have had to take time to process and grieve the loss of the wider community.

This may all sound silly to some, mourning an event, especially if you didn't take part in it. But you see, I met some of my very best friends IRL and online because of my participation in NaNoWriMo. I wouldn't have these wonderful people in my life without it, and I certainly wouldn't be where I am in my writing journey without this event that I took part in religiously every November, and then again most Aprils and Julys for Camp NaNo since 2011.

I sometimes question if I would even be writing if I hadn't gotten so involved in NaNoWriMo. And honestly? I can't say for sure.

I've always been a writer, ever since I was a child, but NaNo gave me a way to focus my energy and a community to do it with. It gave me a goalpost when I didn't know what writing goals looked like. And it gave me my first two super messy manuscripts that I actually wrote THE END on as an adult. The first one was not even half-baked and is basically two halves of two different books in a trilogy. The second one though, it's actually something I can work with.

While I might still be writing or at least contemplating stories in my head, had it not been for NaNoWriMo, I don't know if those stories would have made it to the page. I do know that I would not have successfully completed six manuscripts, two of which I was paid to write as a ghostwriter, and started many others and multiple short stories. I would not have won writing awards or had a story featured on The NoSleep Podcast. I would not be working on multiple side projects, some of which I was invited to do. I would not be a Co-Director for the WRITE track at Multiverse Con. I would not have a literary agent. I can almost guarantee all of those things would not have happened, at least not on this timeline, had it not been for NaNoWriMo.

Maybe this can help you all understand why I couldn't find it in me to write this November. I half-heartedly joined some challenges and wrote about 2,000 words at the beginning of the month, but my spark soon fizzled. I'm not grieving so much anymore, because I went through a similar thing in 2024 before the organization officially closed but was clearly on its way out, but this year I just felt like something was missing in my creative life. Like there was a black hole in my chest sucking all the creative juices into it. And judging by the participation in some long running events independent of NaNoWriMo but that supplemented the writing excitement every year, other people felt it, too. Participation was way down with the official absence of the organization.

I've had a lot of big feelings about this for the last two years, and given the way the organization went down, debated whether it made me a bad person to mourn the loss of this community. But I know that my life was changed in drastic ways because I was a part of it. I am confident that I would likely still be daydreaming about writing a book, instead of being on the verge of making writing a viable side hustle at this point in my life, had I never had NaNoWriMo. And those are huge facts that I can't ignore. I am grateful for my time not only as a participant but as a Municipal Liaison (community organizer) leading a small group of people writing their first or fifth or twentieth novels. I've come to terms with it being okay to be grateful for that time and what it gave me while still being angry about what happened. And I think I needed this month of doing nearly nothing in November to be able to work through these things and let go of my grief.

I'm hoping by next November I'll be able to find some joy in participating in a structured event again, because many popped up to try to fill the void, but I truly don't know. It may take more time than that. I do miss coming out of the month with part of a new book drafted, but these days I'm much better about being able to motivate myself and write without needing the community structure and peer pressure and absurd goal of 50,000 words in 30 days. I lost a lot of sleep in November's past, that's for sure. The last few years I led a region I got less writing done myself because by that point, for me, it was all about helping facilitate other participants' writing journeys instead of focusing on my own. I had the tools by then and felt like it was an opportunity for me to help others find theirs.

So that's it. That's my long-winded lament about NaNoWriMo and how November's are just different now.

What's next now that November is over?

I have started December off fairly strong with about 2000 words. I think I'm coming out of my haze, now that November is officially over and the pressure to feel like I had to participate in something is off. I'm trying to finish out this short story I'm working on by the end of the week.

I have a few other things in the works as well, mostly in the fantasy and horror spaces.

In much more exciting news, I've enrolled in the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) Developmental Editing for Beginners course. Sometime soon, likely after the first of the year, I'm going to be launching some Author Services. These will include Query Package critique services for trad pub hopefuls, manuscript evaluations and developmental edits, and also some editing bundles for indies.

It's something I've been thinking about doing for over a year now but just haven't gotten myself together to do it. It takes a lot of paperwork and research and talking to different professionals and looking to see if your house is zoned in an area that it's legal to operate a business out of (thank god that answer was yes) and all of that stuff in order to start up a business. I am so excited to get started though! But again, this is one of those things I wouldn't even be doing right now if I hadn't gotten involved in NaNoWriMo so long ago.

I can also tentatively say that I'm going to have news concerning my holiday romance The Tinsel Twist very soon!! I'm absolutely buzzing with excitement and cannot wait to talk about that, so watch this space!

December Question

Today's question asks: - As a writer, what was one of the coolest/best gifts you ever received?

Honestly, aside from my writer friends, most of the people in my life don't know (or don't care) that I'm a writer. I don't come from a very creative/artsy family and the fact that I'm a musician has always been kind of swept to the side (even when I was a music teacher and playing gigs and having a chance to sing in Carnegie freaking Hall). So the fact that I'm a writer, that's even MORE obscure, doesn't even register. So honestly, no one gets me writerly type gifts.

The ONE super writerly gift I've gotten (that wasn't from another writer) is this mug that my partner's sister gave me for Christmas last year.

I call it my Manifestation Mug and I use it for my tea whenever I'm feeling especially depressed about this entire writing journey and hopeless that nothing is ever going to happen for me and like an imposter when something does happen. So basically all the time.

It's not even a big gift, but it was a meaningful one and the fact that someone actually saw it and thought of me when they saw the words "future bestselling author" and thought "I know just the perfect person to give this to" really hit me in the feels.

So that's it. That's the gift.

Sorry this was a pretty emotional blog today. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll be releasing my review of debut author Libby Tanner's Better than Gelato, a no-spice absolutely hilarious New Adult romcom set mostly in Italy, with a Q&A with the author, so check back for that!

Thanks for stopping by!

Let me know what you're trying to get accomplished by the end of 2025.

Looking forward to traversing the blog hop and reading about other people's writer gifts.

For now,

Rosie J.

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