About Us!

Chris Baty founded NaNoWriMo in 1999 and oversaw the organization until 2012. He’s spent the last decade wrangling words at Figma and Dropbox and teaching creative writing courses through Stanford’s continuing studies program. Chris is the author of No Plot? No Problem! and the co-author of Ready, Set, Novel. He lives in California with his wife, son, two cats, and mutinous army of houseplants. 

“NaNoWriMo totally changed my life. I love how committing to a terrible first draft muzzles my inner critic and makes writing feel magical again. It can be really tough to find time for creative projects, and I joined NaNo 2.0 because I want to make sure we all have that friendly nudge to explore our imaginations in November.”

Ansley Ashe first took the NaNoWriMo dare in 2011 when she moved from the Southeast to the Midwest. Along the way she found a supportive community, and became a co-founder and co-organizer of a local literary festival which brought in over 1000 participants this past summer. She is making a transition from wrestling mom and soccer coach to full-fledged novelist. She has loved mysteries since she was a little girl, so when it came time to choose a genre, mystery was a natural fit. She is in the process of releasing a series of holiday themed novelettes and pushing out her first novel.

“I believe firmly in giving back to the community. I hope writers both new and experienced will find the same inspiration in the NaNoWriMo dare as I did.”

As a young writer, Coral Sands struggled with finding the confidence to finish a book, as many writers do. She heard of the NaNoWriMo challenge, but would chicken out due to imposter syndrome. She was scared to try and to fail until one day she got the courage to try it for the first time—and WON. Shortly after, she became a Municipal Liaison for seven years before everything happened.

“I joined NaNo 2.0 to support the community that helped me succeed for so many years.”

Gertrude Daly is very proud to say that writing is her full-time job. She works as the Technical Publications Lead for a material handling company. After hours, Gertrude runs the blog, Gert’s Royals and has published several short stories. Gertrude learned about NaNoWriMo in middle school. And for the first decade, her experience was mostly solitary and ended in defeat after week one. The first time Gertrude won NaNoWriMo was the year she had an accountability partner and participated in every possible write-in she could. NaNoWriMo led her to two year-round writing groups, The Writing Journey and First Draft Detroit.

“I joined NaNo 2.0 because I believe community is one of the most important tools a writer can have. Many of my accomplishments would not have been possible without the many writers in my life.”

Kristina Horner is perhaps best-known for “The NaNoWriMo Song”, a silly bop and the unofficial novel writing anthem that’s been getting stuck in participants’ heads for almost two decades. She currently hosts the podcast Write Your Damn Novel (formerly “How to Win NaNo”) and owns an indie publishing company called 84th Street Press. In her regular life Kristina works in the gaming industry and runs a local writing group that’s been meeting regularly since 2015.

“I had no idea when I discovered this challenge that it would change my life irrevocably. Bringing as many people as I could along for this writing journey over the last two decades has been a major source of pride in my life, and I was devastated at the loss of a central source of information for new participants. How could I not try to help keep that magic alive?”

Dr. Kathy Kitts (AKA Apollo16 on the old site) wrote her first novel in 2003 and began to officially volunteer two years later. However, she didn’t consider herself a novelist until she completed her third NaNoWriMo challenge in 2005. When she first participated, she was a planetary geologist who served on the NASA Discovery Missions Genesis among others, but her life’s trajectory was so altered by her NaNo experience that she retired early and has just completed her Creative Writing MFA at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She blames Chris Baty.

“Like Tim Yao, I was so disheartened in 2024 that I left the original organization. With Chris’  invite, I’m back to support and nourish the magic and sheer joy of bashing out 50,000 words in a month with people who have become lifelong friends.”

After 20 years of wrangling 8th graders to write, Laura Bradley stumbled across the Young Writers Program of NaNoWriMo and her life was forever changed. At the time it felt like stepping blindly off a cliff, but the reality was even more exciting and far less painful. She saw her students jump enthusiastically into the most challenging writing assignment she had ever given, find their unique and powerful voices, and proudly share their clever, chaotic stories. Their creativity inspired her to pen her first novel along with them. 

“I retired from teaching the same year the NaNoWriMo organization folded, and it broke my heart to think of all the teachers and students who would no longer have access to the thrill of the novel-writing challenge. I am so excited to be here to support that joyful endeavor.”

Lucie Lane first participated in NaNoWriMo when she was 13 years old and has attempted to write 50,000 words every November since. Her passion for the challenge led her to serve as a NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison as well as a community moderator for the “Write Your Damn Novel” podcast. In 2024, she cofounded the bi-annual creative challenge Rough Draft Month, which provides a gentle push as well as resources and community support to artists and writers of all skill levels.

“I’ve spent more Novembers in my lifetime with NaNoWriMo than without, and I can’t imagine not participating. My hope for NaNo 2.0 is that it will not only serve the long-time participants, but also be a fresh start to introduce people to the challenge that I love so much.”

Liz Leo is an internet jack of all trades who loves storytelling in all its forms— from novels, to graphic design and illustration, to interactive fiction. She’s been an avid NaNo-er since 2007, and co-hosts the podcast Write Your Damn Novel (formerly “How to Win NaNo”). She currently works as a creative producer in the gaming industry where she finds it just as fulfilling to support creatives as she does to create.

“I owe so many things in my life to NaNoWriMo- from the confidence I gained when I finished my first novel, to the skills I’ve honed, to the friends I’ve made. I joined NaNo 2.0 to give a bit back to the amazing challenge and concept that changed my life for the better.”

Maria Berejan lives in the greater Seattle area with her husband, 3 cats, an unknown amount of plants, and a variety of wildlife visitors including bobcats, bears, and a raccoon named Fred. She works in tech and collects hobbies like a fiend, writing being one of the longest-lived ones. She started doing NaNoWriMo in 2006 as a high schooler and it became a central focus in her life every Fall. She co-founded 84th Street Press, published 3 anthologies, was a NaNo ML for the Seattle region for a few years, and continues to participate in a long-running weekly writing group.

“NaNo is more than just a self-challenge for me; it’s about community. That community doesn’t go away just because an organization does. We just have to find new ways to let it thrive.”

Sara Skaines has been writing novels specifically in the month of November for 15 years. In her career, she has worked with many nonprofits focused on support for children, young adults, and single mothers. She has worked in case management, fundraising, public relations, cross-channel marketing, and strategic planning.  Sara has been a part of the “Write Your Damn Novel” team since 2021, and cofounded Rough Draft Month: a bi-annual creative challenge for writers, artists, and anyone else who wants to take the plunge to finish their original project.

“Now, more than ever, it is vitally important for original stories to be told. You can make a positive impact in the world through your art that no one can replicate.”

Tavia Stewart was employee number one at NaNoWriMo back in 2006. She co-authored Ready, Set, Novel! (Chronicle Books) and created the original K–12 curriculum and novel-writing workbooks for the Young Writers Program. Over the course of 10 years, she served as NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program Director and later as COO, before leaving in 2014 to co-found Chapter 510, a writing, publishing, and bookmaking center in Oakland, CA. She is also the co-founder of the Flash Fiction Institute and now works as a nonprofit consultant. 

“I’m here because I’ve witnessed firsthand how life changing it is for kids and teens to become novelists. I’ve sat beside young writers who gave up their lunches to chase their stories (granted I did bribe them with Wendy’s shakes), and I’ve listened to educators and parents marvel at the confidence and joy that blooms when a child discovers their own voice on the page. I want young people everywhere to know that they can write the books they long to read—and in doing so, realize that they are capable of big, hard, extraordinary things.”

Tim Yao is a founding member of the Writing Journey, a writing community near Chicago that grew from a core group that bonded over NaNoWriMo participation. Tim’s short stories and poems appear in the Journey anthologies.

“As NewMexicoKid, I served as a Municipal Liaison for nineteen years before stepping away from NaNo in 2024 due to disagreements over the direction NaNo was heading, but was drawn back by Chris Baty’s vision to make the original, whimsical, fun NaNo available again to new writers. NaNo 2.0 is perhaps less ambitious to avoid the pitfalls, but it is focused on the community, on transparency, and the joy of NaNo.”