I’m currently sitting in my classroom, working on the chapters for the second month of darkness book I’ve been writing. These are for fun, for practice, and for getting my creative juices flowing. I love writing, and sometimes when I’m trying to write things for a purpose, I fight against that purpose. However, as a person with AuDHD, having purpose and direction helps me incredibly well when I want to actually get something done. It is the 22nd day of October, and I’m just about to write chapter 19, as we see, I’m not the greatest at keeping to schedules.
One of my biggest helps when starting to write for the novels I actually can publish, the Displaced novels specifically, had been NaNoWriMo. For those of you unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it was an organization dedicated to helping writers complete a novel in a month. Hence its title National Novel Writing Month. And that month is November, next month.
Now, unfortunately, for so many reasons, NaNoWriMo no longer exists as of 2025. I wasn’t entirely sure why that was, I just remembered that last November I was too bogged down trying to survive my sales job and hemorrhaging money situation that I didn’t even bother trying to participate. As Nicole will point out when I mention it, I have not worked on a new Displaced book in about two years.
So, having spent this month working diligently on my Month of Darkness book, and having started working on the werewolf one (I’ll get back to it, I promise. It was just a bit difficult while changing careers… again...) I thought that November would be a good time to return to my roots and try to go in for another NaNoWriMo-like experience.
Before I did that, however, I was curious to know why such a powerfully good idea was shut down in the first place. Was it money? That’s usually what it is with these kinds of corporations. I looked into it expecting to see funds lacking in areas or mismanaged in some way or another… only to find the word “grooming” come up in a few articles.
It is hard to express my disgust and displeasure at hearing about such a horrible thing happening with a company that I’d been praising for years as the thing that helped me develop my methods for writing novels. Such a heartbreaking discovery, though a relief to know that while I supported them with my activity, I never supported them with my money.
Worst of all, it wasn’t the actions of the writers who caused this, but the slime that ran the company in the first place. Writers lost such a valuable tool because the worst that humanity has to offer keep getting put into positions of power they have no business being in. On top of that, the literacy crisis is getting worse and worse. As a teacher, I see students who can barely read, can barely write, and can’t critically think sitting in my honors classes, using AI as a means of writing their essay outlines, not able to understand why I forbid it there too and not just for the writing aspect.
(The reason, for anyone wondering, is the fact that if you’re sitting there letting the computer do the thinking for you, all you’re doing when it comes to the essay writing is composing the computer’s thoughts on the subject and not your own. Hence the reason why all essay writing and prep is going fully analog in my class from here on out.)
So, yes, I am saddened by the loss of such a valuable tool and atmosphere where writers can converge, work together, learn together, and foster the minds of the next generation of writers because the slime of the earth decided that something belonged to it when it didn’t. The problem is, that seems to be just about everything these days. Scum believes they own something, so they take it, and the world gets worse for the rest of us.
However, this blog post isn’t meant to be all doom and gloom. It’s not meant to be entirely depressing. Just like Harry Potter, Star Wars, and the Muppets, just because evil owns it, doesn’t mean that the subject material itself is evil. Rowling is a terf and Disney wants to own and ruin all media in the world, so supporting the official stuff is supporting two evil entities, but good entities exist out in the world, and it is our job to focus on the good, support the new, and deny the evils access wherever possible. There’s a reason these companies are trying to force themselves into our lives using AI and other data stealing tactics. It's because they know we no longer welcome them into our hearts and homes like we used to, and instead of reflecting on what is wrong with them that makes us reject them, they try and force themselves on us to keep getting what they want…
Wow… this metaphor just went full circle, didn’t it?
The point I’d really like to focus on is that we have the training to do the things that they have ruined for us. NaNoWriMo wanted you to write 50,000 words in a month. You can do that and you can track it yourself. I actually do for each of my novels. I have a spreadsheet that I fill out, having it tally my word count at the bottom to see just how close I am to hitting that mark. Currently, I’m sitting at 43,447 for this Month of Darkness, which almost seems to count as my NaNoWriMo, just not in November, so I’ll just have to do it again next month. The things they take away from us with their greed, their corruption, and their bigotry aren’t things they can fully steal. They dismantled the tool, but writers still exist, and writers still persevere.
AI is a plague, but it's one we can escape from and preserve our minds and creativity in the process. These corporations are money hungry monsters, but we don’t need their programs or aid to be successful. We aren’t cut off from one another as much as they would have us believe. We are more than capable of building what is worthwhile without them. They need us more than we need them, but we need each other. The community doesn’t die because those that determined themselves the leader of a community try to cannibalize that community for their own gain. So I invite you this November to do as I will be doing, writing another novel. To completion or just further than you thought you could go, aim for that 50k, and keep creating.
