First, I second Robert Waltz's suggestion to target 60,000 words because it's easier to get the words down today than it was when NaNoWriMo started 25 years ago, thanks to improvements in technology. Voice dictation software almost makes sprinting obsolete (although there may be an opportunity to have dictation races as well?) But I feel like we should include the community in the decision. For people who have worked hard to achieve 50k in the past, some might struggle with a 20% increase.

Regarding the other questions:


NaNoWriMo started with strict requirements - notably, that your project had to be fiction and it had to be a new project. It didn't take long for the uprising of "NaNo Rebels" to form, after which people used the motivation inspired by the sheer volume of peer writers engaged in this activity to finish previously started projects, write non-fiction works, build poetry compilations, etc. It's my opinion that if the activity helps you achieve a goal, go for it, whether it "complies" with strict requirements or not. (Caveat: this is for NOVEMBER, not October. The Prep exercises are definitely intended for constructing a novel-length story.)


What NaNoWriMo gave us was community. We were motivated by our peers - by a sense of competition, excitement, and encouragement. That's why Writing.com is the perfect environment. We already have community, competition, excitement, encouragement. To recreate the traditional NaNoWriMo activity here, I think we would need a variety of discussion forums; a mechanism for counting words and updating our word counts (which we have in the form of the NanoCounter / NanoList); a method for simulating write-ins where authors write together (such as "November Sprint Writers" , but they don't necessarily have to be competitive); and a way to "win" (maybe a new commissioned MB or Awardicon). All of this would require volunteers and fundraising (which is what got NaNo in trouble, btw - lack of adequate fundraising.)


I don't see why it can't be advertised to the public, but in order to use the forums and win prizes, writers would need to join WDC to participate here.


As soon as we have the nuts and bolts (forums, etc) in place - i.e., when there's something to advertise. I always advertise the Prep in Aug and Sep using the bidclick system. I'm not sure if Jeff does the same for "NaNoWriMo Write-A-Thon"  but we could certainly solicit sponsorships for that if he doesn't.


Probably. But we would need an official team / board / group of committed people who are passionate enough about this to even get started planning, let alone communicate those plans.


This is probably a good goal. NaNoWriMo started with a group of 20 friends all writing together and grew from there. Given what happened to NaNoWriMo, I'd say growth was never a problem; in fact, the opposite was true - they grew too big to manage and finance successfully.


I'm not positive that I understand the question, but I *think* you mean you finished your novel with fewer than 50k words and needed to write something else to meet the word count goal. If that's what you meant, then I point you to my earlier "NaNo Rebel" reference. IMHO, this activity is for YOU, and if it helps you achieve any of your goals, whatever they are, then you should do it.

*I'm in brainstorming mode, here, so no none of this is an official "go" at this point.