NaNoWriMo has changed so much over the last decade. I remember when I first discovered it, it was this fun challenge that created an excuse to meet other aspiring writers, and the community around it had some really valuable insights into how creativity actually works.

It doesn’t seem to have aged gracefully however. I see (professional) writers posting about how it makes them feel inadequate, how it’s ok not to take part (true), how it’s ok to give up (also true).

I speak to long-time NaNo winners and MLs, and there’s often a frustration there that doing NaNo again and again hasn’t really allowed them to achieve their creative goals. They are still unpublished; their writing doesn’t live up to their vision; they don’t know how to redraft.

The thing is: of *course* doing NaNo doesn’t make you a professional writer. Why would it? It’s a valuable experience—I know I personally got a lot out of experiencing first hand what writing 50k really means—but it doesn’t teach you how to write. It doesn’t pretend to either.

So the question is, assuming my personal experience is representative, why has the atmosphere around NaNoWriMo changed so much? Why do people let themselves think it will solve all their problems?