Hi writer, Many of y'all know that, as a nonprofit, NaNoWriMo works year-round to make creative writing more accessible to people. One way we do this is by working with volunteer Municipal Liaisons (or MLs)—more than 900 of them!—who host writing events in neighborhoods around the world. However, after conversation with our incredible volunteers over the last several weeks, our organizational position is that there will be no official in-person NaNoWriMo events in 2020. This means that:
Reasoning and Our Thought ProcessEvery June, we begin recruiting volunteers to serve their local writing communities. In July, as most of us continued to grapple with the pandemic, we began a conversation with the Municipal Liaisons about how they might host in-person events during this upcoming NaNoWriMo season. The feedback we got from a huge range of MLs was incredibly thoughtful, detailed, insightful, and considerate of the incredibly challenging factors going into this decision. We got a lot of really specific questions about moral and legal obligation and liability and how to make a decision that literally involved people’s lives and health. And we realized that every single guideline we were creating was about mitigating risk, not about removing risk, because there is no way to remove all risk when organizing in-person events in a global pandemic. As we realized that, our thinking shifted from “How can we safely hold events?” to “Can we safely hold events?” We quickly reached the conclusion that a single ML or Wrimo contracting COVID-19 due to a NaNoWriMo event was an unacceptable outcome. Our writing community is just that: a community. It’s a community of people who care about each other and are here to support and encourage each other to achieve great things that feel impossible to do alone. And putting our volunteers and participants at risk, no matter how minor that risk might seem, with in-person events during a global pandemic is not compatible with the values that drive our organization. We know that for some of you in regions where the pandemic is currently well controlled, this might feel like overkill. But even in the places where that is the case, things can change extremely quickly and the situation can spiral almost overnight. We don't want NaNoWriMo events to be any part of the reason that your region suddenly no longer has the spread under control. This is not a decision that we made lightly. But it is a decision we made in conjunction with our incredibly thoughtful, passionate MLs, and feel strongly is the right one for our organization this year. What Happens Next?We're working with MLs now to share creative ideas about how to keep the NaNoWriMo spirit alive without in-person gatherings. Some MLs are considering contact-less pick-ups of stickers and other regional swag, some are coming up with some really fun ideas for virtual events, and we're providing training on virtual tools to help MLs who are less familiar get up to speed. If you have questions, please ask them in this thread! We always value your feedback; we'd also like to affirm that we will not be changing this policy for 2020. Thank you for your understanding! We're so grateful to work alongside our fantastic volunteers around the world, and to be able to serve you in your writing journey. What a super weird time—but one in which we continue to be inspired by your imagination, creativity, and deep empathy as writers. With love, The NaNoWriMo Staff |