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Get Ready for NoNotWriMo

Annie Cosby
October 26, 2025 | 2 min read

Welcome, writer-warriors! NoNotWriMo is our take on the classic National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge.

Whether you're a current Freewrite user or new to the Freewrite community, make sure to register here. Participating in NoNotWriMo is absolutely free!

Once you're registered, follow the steps below to get ready before the challenge kicks off on November 1.

1) Decide how you'll be writing.

To take advantage of automatic stats tracking and leaderboard, you'll need to write on a Freewrite device or in our FREE in-browser app, Sprinter.

Don't forget we have an exclusive Freewrite discount for NoNotWriMo participants who want to complete the challenge on a new Freewrite. Register here to get the discount.

2) Create a Postbox account.

Our free platform, Postbox, will automatically keep track of your word count in November.

👉 If you already have a Postbox account, you can skip ahead to Step 3.

In order to track your word count and participate in the community-favorite leaderboard, you'll need to create a Postbox account. There are several ways to do this:

  1. Purchase a Freewrite. We even have an exclusive NoNotWriMo discount for participants. Make sure to register here for access to the discount. When you set up your new Freewrite, you'll be guided through the process of creating a Postbox account.
  2. Use our free in-browser app, SprinterSimply begin writing in Sprinter and the first time you hit "save," you'll be prompted to set up your Postbox account.

3) Create your Postbox Profile.

In order to participate in the leaderboard, you'll need to set up a public Postbox Profile.  

👉 If you already have a Postbox Profile, make sure it is set to "public" and continue to Step 4.

If you haven't set up your Postbox Profile yet, go to Postbox.GetFreewrite.com and log in to your new Postbox account. Navigate to the "My Account" page and fill out the "Pen Name" field, along with any other info you'd like to add.

Set your profile to public by selecting "Everyone (public)."

4) Join the leaderboard.

Race your fellow writers to the 50K finish line and watch your word count soar by opting in to the leaderboard.

To opt in, click here and hit the red “JOIN” button.
 
The leaderboard is automatic. After you opt in, all work written on your Freewrite devices or in Sprinter and synced to Postbox in November will automatically update your word count and your place on the leaderboard.
 
At the end of November, one participant will be chosen at random to win a special prize!

5) Keep up the momentum with live writing sprints.

Throughout the month, we'll send check-ins and invites to live community writing sprints with the Freewrite team and special guests. Make sure you're registered to receive these invites!

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The winning short story in the 2026 Freewrite 500 is "Deathbed Victory" by Rocky Halpern.

I wish my mother could be a little less enthusiastic about losing weight from chemotherapy. Her sharp wrists and angular neck are trophies others remark upon. They look past her hair and eyebrows that are like hay carried away by a thunderstorm and ask if she’s doing keto or mediterranean. 

The world is mesmerized by shrinking things. Mini candy bars, happy meal toys, tiny dogs that fit inside a purse, dollhouses, adults who weigh as much as children. 

My mother wants me to go on Ozempic. I sit next to her hospital bed, and she wraps her wisp of a hand around my thick, pulsing wrist. She asks me to dream of wearing matching bikinis on the shores of a tropical beach. She wants me to share in her religion, recite the sacred text: Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels. 

But chemo has rubbed her tastebuds down to a dull throb, so what does she know about it anyway? 

She dozes off as evening begins to creep. The TV mounted to the wall across from the bed plays a muted rerun of Friends, the one where Monica wears a fatsuit. She is half my size, at least. I turn off the TV, let go of my mother’s hand, and head toward the cafeteria. 

I examine limp premade salads, gray tuna fish sandwiches, and an unmanned make-your-own smoothie station. Eating dinner here doesn’t leave me with much of an appetite. Maybe I don’t need weight loss medication after all, I can just skulk the halls and wonder how much time we have left together. 

How much of that time will my mother spend wishing there was less of me? 

How much less of her can there be before she disappears? 

A nurse is checking her vitals when I return to the room. My mother looks at me, laughs softly, and asks the nurse, Can you believe she used to fit inside of me? 

I think of how we must have been, her warm body encasing mine like a bacon-wrapped date. I wonder if she ate hot fudge sundaes when she was pregnant with me. I wonder if there is a single moment of her life where she didn’t feel terrified of her body. 

My mother is a ghost and it’s the proudest she’s ever been, her deathbed victory lap. Somewhere, Jenny Craig sheds a tear and whispers into the ether, It’s not just about losing weight; it's about gaining life.