Blogocentric Formulations

Write-A-Thon Wrap-Up

I think this might be the fastest the "NaNoWriMo Write-A-Thon"  has wrapped up in the five years I've been running it. I usually have to send out at least one or two reminders for sponsors to send in their donations, but this year everyone sent in their donations right away and, as a result of me being stuck at home sick for the past two days, I was actually able to wrap everything up within three days!

Here's a quick summary of how the activity turned out this year:

          2,259,995 collective words written.
          5,176,307 Gift Points raised.
          The Red Team won for the third consecutive year.
          32 of the 57 competing writers crossed the 50,000-word mark.

And thanks to Writing.Com's surprise "Cyber Monday" sale on Merit Badges and Awardicons, I was able to slash the administrative costs of the activity in half, leaving me with a surplus of over 500,000 GPs. I briefly contemplated treating myself to a little shopping spree for some of WdC's new swag... but I decided instead to add a ninth beneficiary to the activity and spread some holiday cheer just a little further.

          517,631 Gift Points were donated to each of the following groups:
                   "Invalid Item" 
                   "Invalid Item" 
                   "RAOK Upgrade Brigade Group" 
                   "Noticing Newbies Committee" 
                   "Anniversary Reviews Team" 
                   "Unofficial Erotica Newsletter Group" 
                   "The Talent Pond" 
                   "The Dark Society" 
                   "Invalid Item" 

In addition, since it's the fifth anniversary of the Write-A-Thon, I did a little math to figure out how the activity's fared over the past half-decade that it's been running. I have to admit that I've always had modest hopes for the activity and never really expected much from it, so I was floored to discover that over the past five years, Write-A-Thon authors have written over 19.6 million words and raised over 25.8 million GPs for various groups and activities around Writing.Com.

I have to admit that last year and especially this year, I've questioned whether or not to run the activity. It's a time-consuming endeavor that is very difficult to run when I'm also trying to write my own NaNo novel. There's a lot of prep work and wrapping up that needs to be done (not to mention the mid-activity updates) which basically eats up my October and first week of December... meaning that it's really a 9-10 week commitment every year. On average, between reminders, responses to questions, sponsor sign-ups, etc., I receive about 200-300 Write-A-Thon-specific emails during that period of time and sent almost as many. And there are definitely times where I wonder if I should just focus on my NaNo novel by itself for once.

But then I get the emails from writers who are excited at having participated in the activity, and there's always at least one or two that tell me they wouldn't have completed their novel if not for the support of their teammates. And the emails from the beneficiary groups always make me smile after I've sent out their donations... and, to be honest, seeing the tally of both cumulative words and Gift Points raised by the Write-A-Thon over the past five years has really astounded me. It's energized me to keep going and I'm really looking forward to hosting it again next year. Who knows, maybe I'll even kick off the activity's sophomore half-decade with a few new twists and surprises!

And even though it's a one-man show in the sense that I do all the organizing and calculations and administration... the activity wouldn't be a success without the countless people who participate and make it possible. The dedicated writers who spend their time pounding away at their keyboards every November to finish novels and post the highest word counts they can... and the generous sponsors who donate their Gift Points in support of those writers. Not to mention the other donors who contribute funds, and additional incentives for the winning team. To everyone who has participated in or supported the Write-A-Thon over the past five years, you have my heartfelt and continued thanks.