[STICKY] ML Announcements and weekly emails

Greetings everyone!

It's October and we're back planning things for the kick-off party and write-ins for NaNoWriMo in Singapore! For those who have signed up and have no idea who I am, helloooo. I'm SarahColdheart on the forums and I will be your Municipal Liaison (ML) along with Raven Silvers.

Say hello on the Singapore bit of the Nano forums here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/148

Guess what! If you haven't heard/read, our kick-off party will be part of the programme in the Singapore Writers Festival at The Arts House and supported by the National Arts Council! Please RVSP on our thread for that as it'll be fun and we DO have a programme lined up for our slot that day. Details are on that thread too but here's the main stuff you need to know:

Location: Earshot Cafe (The Arts House, it's at the first level and the closest MRT is City Hall)
Date: 31st October, Saturday
Time: 2pm- 4pm
Dress code: Under Cover

Yes, you read that right. The SUGGESTED dress code is under cover which is the theme of this year's SWF. Heh, heh, heh. What's under cover? Well, imagine a character from a book/manga/comic/cartoon/anime/movie or any story that you know who's goes undercover or well, what would THEY wear if they were going under cover? More details on the thread on the forums so please check there! (Oh yeah, we've got the stickers from the HQ and they're oh so lovely.)

Also, say hello if you're reading this and coming back to do it again this year! I know it's just early October but it has been rather quiet compared to last year. Just so you know, YES, the forums are up as you can tell by this email. They're fixing things up in preparation for the November lag on the forums due to the influx of people.

Meanwhile, for our kick-off we have a bonus book launch featuring some of our NaNoWriMo writers of last year. It's an anthology of sci-fi stories and well... Heh, we have a preview of something else too that SHOULD appear at our TGIO but hey, TGIO's still far away so let's just concentrate on the kick-off first!

Yes, compared to other emails from me this one is 'normalish' but you'll get the funner storybased ones when November comes. As for now, get your friends to join Nanowrimo!

And check out http://www.singaporewritersfestival.com since we're all writers in NaNoWriMo Land and the festival is gonna be awesome for inspiration when we start our writing on the first of November.

That or it'll make you go "AAGH, I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS NOW, ARRRGH".

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Co-ML for Singapore

Hullo everyone! I'm Raven, your other ML and I just have a quickie announcement. Glad to see the forums more active since our last regional email!

It's always to good to see old names and new ones. Some of you might have not received Sarah's previous regional email because you just signed up (in which case, hello and welcome!) or you don't have Singapore set as your location.

So, in order to receive the regional emails -- which contain important information and scintillating stories -- you need to put Singapore somewhere in your location and/or as your Home Region.

As a location
You can set your location to anything as long as there's Singapore in it, so we can find you! You can put just plain vanilla 'Singapore' or be a bit more creative. Take a look at my location; I'm set to 'Singapore, Earth Alternate-56' which is fine because there's the word 'Singapore' in it.

To change your location, go to My Nanowrimo > Edit Author Info.

As a Home Region
In order to get our weekly emails in November, you need to set Singapore as your Home Region! Doing so will also let you access the Asia :: Singapore forum from the main Forums page. You can also set several places as Home Regions.

To set Singapore as your Home Region, go to My Nanowrimo > My Regions > Regions tab > search for Asia :: Singapore > click 'Join'. And you're set!

Co-ML for Singapore

Hello!

To those who just signed up, I'm one of the MLs here for Singapore. Just a quick message! Check out the Singapore section in the forums at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/148

You can RSVP for the kick-off party in the thread there.

Location: Earshot Cafe, The Arts House
Date: 31st Oct 2009
Time: 2pm-4pm
Dresscode: Under Cover

And for those attending, you can print out your name tag set here:

http://www.singapore-novelists.com/downloads/nametagset09.pdf (7.7mb file)

PLEASE print it out so we can identify you as a Nanowrimo-er there at the party.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu26/sarahcoldheart/nanowrimo/nametag... <---- A picture how it looks like when you cut it out and fold. Okay, the wrist band might be kinda tight but that's just a bonus.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/uu26/sarahcoldheart/nanowrimo/nametag... <---- Fill in your name tag, you can use a pin or even one of those plastic card holders with a lanyard to wear it.

It'll be fun and for those who are free and are in Singapore... Wondering whether you should or should not come... COME. There's goodie bags and stickers to help you through the month. Plus, you'll get to know other people who're willing to get themselves through this. It'll be seriously fun.

For those who are young and need parental permission, well, it's pretty educational and stuff too but yes, if your parents are wary, they are MORE than welcomed to come along! We've had parents (and children of parents who are nanowrimo-ers, heh) coming to the kick-off party so it's all good. It's an ALL ages event anyway.

Besides the kick-off party, we're having a book launch so if you have any friends interested in science-fiction short stories or books in general, bring them along too!

More details on kick-off at the thread in our forums so check it there!

From,
Sarah Coldheart

Ps. Really, rsvp us soon!
Pps. Make sure your timezone/location DOES state Singapore before November because your account will then take that timezone and the verification counter will end exactly on 30th November in whatever location you're stated at.

Co-ML for Singapore

Hello!

It's the last week before the kick-off and the start of November. Firstly, check in your "My NaNoWriMo" accounts page, go to Author info and make sure you have your LOCATION as Singapore in your user settings. At least something Singapore there so that it will be counted into the stats and we'll be able to see how we fare at the end of the month! Also make sure you're in the correct timezone, this is very important.

Secondly, back ups first! As we all know, it gets pretty laggy and sometimes the main website might go down so here's OUR backup forums and announcements page if we can't post anything in NaNoWriMoland.

Backup forums: http://forum1.aimoo.com/singaporenovelists
Our website (includes our name tag downloads etc): http://www.singapore-novelists.com

There, so don't panic or anything if the website is down for the first week or so of November. We'll mostly use the official Nano forums but just in case... Yes, there you go. Also, you can note the location and timing of our write-ins at the google calendar ( http://tinyurl.com/sgcalnano )

Now on to the kick-off! It's at the Earshot Cafe at The Arts House ( http://www.theartshouse.com.sg ), if you don't know how to get there, you can check their website but basically you drop off at City Hall MRT and walk straight down, past the courts and Funan and turn leftf to see the buildings there. (You can actually do the other way round where you're from the Padang side and past Victoria theatre, turn RIGHT instead)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/17882102@N07/sets/72157622672754828/

You can check the pictures in the above link to see the building, if you see an elephant, you're in the correct place! (If you're curious on past kick-offs and TGIO parties including write-ins, you can check the photo set here anyway http://www.flickr.com/photos/17882102@N07/ ).

And there you go. Thanks to those who emailed RSVPs telling that they can't come and for those who have just seen this, you still can RSVP on the forums and download your name tag set ( http://singapore-novelists.com/downloads/nametagset09.pdf )!

Kick-off aside, I hope all of you are anxious to begin your novels in November! It's just a few more days... Heh, heh, heh, heh...

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Co-ML for Singapore

[Contents]

1.1 Welcome to Nano
1.2 The Kick-Off Party Recap
1.3 Write-Ins
1.4 And Onwards with the Random

[End of Contents]

1.1 Welcome to Nano

And helloooooooooo everyone! Yes, it's November once more and it's time to write on...and on and on. Remember it's quantity over quality. You can edit AFTER November since you need SOMETHING to edit. So chiiiiill. My own first few pages are rubbish. Literary rubbish because I wanted to just write, well, they have some vague plot things in there but it's still rubbish at the moment. So you know, no one really cares how well it is at the moment. Kill your inner editor and ramble on. It takes quite a bit of time to get into the groove, I know.

Which will also be one reason why weekly emails will tend to be longer and longer since I might get into the nano-mood to just elaborate.

Anyway, we've grown a LOT for our region of Singapore that we can't do individual welcome PMs any more and your municipal liaisons are after all just TWO people. So here's a little shout out from the members who joined from 20th October according to the stats that we have received (previous ones had shout outs on the forums itself):

bookworm1858
Dpak
danhsin
renate-dark
MuFiBo
chipro
Esky
gringottsbank
petrolandpeach
Makanator
kailath
minrl
zephyr-sky
spacechiggeredh...
TimeDragon888
tmeiyii
Ebola_Zaire
medusah
LHupp
yoli
happenstances
Sanatoria
Sanatorium
jenxi

Welcome guys! Hope you all will meet your targets for having this as your first year!

1.2 The Kick-Off Party Recap

We have a flickr album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17882102@N07/sets/72157622714520246/ That you can see. This year's kick-off cake was a ship and we FINISHED it.

40 something people RSVPED, 56 signed in (not including some of us who were rushing to give out goodie bags or latecomers) and dozens more who came for the book launch part of it. In total there were at LEAST more than 70 people in Earshot Cafe. There was a lack of standing room even but it was all cool! For those wondering what were in the goodie bags, you can see the picture in the album on what the people got. But here are the meanings of each of the items.

NANO GOODIE BAG:

1) Cookies and candy, includes white rabbit sweets - Plot bunnies and sweet stuff to keep you awake when writing, there's a sour candy there too

2) Surgical mask - To prevent yourself from catching colds and other stuff from the surrounding people

3) Clocking in work time card - An excuse to say you're actually working on things

4) Notebook and pen - Emergency writing items

5) CDR - To burn backups

6) Artistic License - Literally, you can paste your picture and write your name on it and laminate to show you have artistic license

7) Key - To unlock creativity

8) Paperclip - To pick the lock of creativity if the freaking key doesn't work

9) Sock - To pull up your socks

10) Toy block - You're a writer, this is your block, thus this is a writer's block. Hide it, deal with it, smash it, whatever, DO something to it.

11) Colour pencil - To write colourful descriptions. To elaborate and pad up your words.

12) Fake eyes glasses - To hide eyebags and it's pretty funny and cool to wear since it's also gets you in disguise according to the Under Cover theme of the Singapore Writers Festival

13) Invoice to Mr Sandman - Invoices usually charge after maximum of 30 days and this is for your sleep debt

14) Nano handbooklet - You can actually download it here: http://www.silveragebooks.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mag/ns/ns_2007.htm

And I think that's it really. You can tell there was much fun to be had at the kick-off! We'll have the Thank Goodness It's Over party in December.

1.3 Write-Ins

Write-ins will start this weekend (7 and 8 November) at The Arts House from 2pm to 4pm. There's no food available there on Sundays if I remember correctly but the cafe now sells cake and other stuff besides drinks then. You're welcomed to come any time during then and leave any time too. We'll be sitting around and WRITING so feel free to join us even though there will be minimal conversation once we get intensive in our word count for the day. Please check for any further announcements in case the location is changed on the google calendar here:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=pbsbvsf9k8ep5h0bt7f67jqrq8%40gr...

Check it especially the day before write-in just in case since the APEC people are coming in and we don't know how they're rerouting traffic and such for the month of November. Or heck, if they've closed off some areas.

1.4 And Onwards with the Random

And now onwards with the random! The kick-off was a blast and now we're on starting our own stories. It's just the beginning and you might be wondering "WHYYY, WHY AM I DOING THIS?" or even perhaps, "I SHALL DO THIS... TOMORROW..." or "...After my pizza finishes cooking in Cafe World...and my banana tree has finished growing OOH WHAT'S THIS, A NEW GAME?".

No.

Do it now. Now, now, now. Noooow, meow, now. A little bit goes a long way and that works for saving money too. You're reading this, you have time for a sentence or two, just write it. Also, in the coming weeks (you'll probably get at least 5 emails in total since I do it weekly plus one bonus one before the last day) I'll be cheering you guys on in writing!

Oh yes, just before I forget, please set your TIMEZONES CORRECTLY in your profile and if you're in Singapore, put your location as it somewhere so it'll be counted in the country's wordcount! Alright. That's all for now, until next time...

This is Sarah Coldheart.

Co-ML for Singapore.

Co-ML for Singapore

[Contents]

-Announcements
-Newbie Welcome
-Other Stuff
-2nd week of Whatsits

[ Announcements ]

Hello everyone!

It is I! Your Municipal liaison. One of them anyway, Raven Silvers is the other one who's on the forums and write-ins but I'm the one who mostly sends out the emails. OKAY TRES IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT.

PLEASE be PG in your words and postings on the forums. We are an ALL AGES forum which means people 12 years and under can come along and look see and OH WHAT IS THIS? A parent overlooking said under 12 year old person who reads the forums in Singapore and spies a pretty non-PG post? Oh gasp and damnation! Frowns are all about and complains can be had!

No, seriously. Be PG, you can never know who's reading the forums since we ARE stated all ages and I'm more than sure you can READ if you can write (the announcement to keep PG is pretty much on the main page including the universal Sun symbol there stated by Nanowrimo) keep to it. People can always complain and stuff and Singapore is pretty tiny. After all, we don't want silly people of the likes of Stomp going all "Tsk, tsk, this is what Singapore writers are up to?" (if you don't know what is Stomp, don't bother searching for it. It's the hive of villainy and scum - points if you get that reference).

And if you do so post a non-PG post, this is the process that goes through before it disappears, TRUE STORY, so do not let this be you:

1) People inform the MLs if we haven't seen it yet.
2) MLs go "GAAAH, WHY! WHYYYYYYYY!" and press report and encourage others to press report to get rid of the post while hoping said post is not seen by too concerned parents or children of young age.
3) People go "Tsk, tsk etc etc" at write-ins while eating candy and typing their stories but go "Tsk, tsk" nonetheless amusingly with non-PG words because write-ins are pretty much held in a public place and the only sun symbol we have is the one in the sky.
4) Post disappears once report button notifies main US people wake up in their timezone.
5) Everyone goes hurray, the day is saved.

Moral of the story, just DON'T do it since it's not our rules but Nano's forums rules as a whole.

Oh and other announcements, write-ins as usual! Check our calendar at least before the day of it but so far, traffic due to APEC seems okay and no road closures towards The Arts House.

[ Newbie Welcome! ]

With the stats counting from the people who had joined from 26 October 2009, I'd like to say helloooo new people! Welcome to NaNoWriMo! Well, except for baghead since you told us that switched nicks from your previous one but still, it counts since it's in the stats! Remember to check your TIMEZONE and set it to +8 gmt for that is Singapore's. Anyway, let's welcome:

moonwings enigmaya triplealfa autumnsg TransLorentz baghead. no0biekidz Singspike Bryz kshiying davidateyou Kahlua Alexis.Wen soratian Enrico Varella Sultan_of_Westphalia yui lomoroco tanmanc buttons pyrofalcon honx theredbombEibhlaan McGriaggruit jane88horan sniffy Raeny Smilefaced coffeeflavoured Jwly07 enamour

That's quite a bunch of you, say hello to us on the forums! And that whole paragraph of names there makes it look like some odd spam thing.

[Other Stuff]

Remember the round robin thing we did at kick-off? For those who didn't make it or are overseas, you can play it here with your own friends! It's done by nescienx (if you check author search). http://ratal.random-wish.net/roundrobin/offline.html It's available in mac or windows. Basically, it's round robin that can be used on your laptops or netbooks in which you can pass around to your friends to play together when bored, at your own party or in a lecture theatre when the lecturer is late for some reason and everyone's sitting boredly and so you pass around your tiny laptop for others to type in.. You get the idea. Thanks nescienx! Yes, we'll be using this again for the Thank Goodness It's Over party in December too.

[2 week of Whatsits]

I call this the second week of Whatsits because it's past the 7th and most of us have typed something.

Whatever it is.

Whatsits.

For those who have just joined or haven't written anything yet, there is still time to catch up! It's all good, you just have to write as much as you can for each day and every little word COUNTS. First draft of whatever you're writing, it's cool. You can word pad you stuff with lyrics, monologues and blatant descriptions or even get all nonsensical. After all, I did have at least 6 and a half pages filled with just "9" on it (admittedly that counts as just ONE word) because I fell asleep on the computer... Even as I woke up to stare at all the 9s and go, "What... the heck did I just type? And why... OH MEIN GOTT, WHY IS THERE SIX AND A HALF PAGES FILLED WITH NINES?!", I did not delete it!

DO NOT DELETE WHAT YOU HAVE. Just keep on writing, skip scenes if you feel you need to but just keep on writing! Do not look at your grammar mistakes nor typoes or think that what you wrote was rubbish. Because it probably is but hey FIRST DRAFT. Remember this point, fix it later, if you must, use another notepad or something to note where you want to fix it when you're done with it but ONLY when you're done with it. That was rambly but yes, get your inner editor out! Send said inner editor to vacation because we totally don't need them for November.

Thus, let"S dO thhis/

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Co-ML for Singapore

Hi ho!

Tis I, Sarah! And we're halfway through the month. Sorta. Firstly, there's no contents menu since this email will be short, I think. Anyway, let's welcome the new nanoers who had joined from 1st Nov till 8 Nov list!

They are:

Brenda Tan, collateral_circulation, FelixEsthapan, iangobardja, iamnotsane, fleaflyflooflum, ozlady, lezah, Jeremy Huang. Lady_Merlin, jbabyroo, piggyboo, ann727704, ofphenwa, Ebelle, OOTZA, indiegirl96, myrdrall, chriswong74 and donnysoh

Hello, hello indeed! Some of you might be tired or going what the heck or WHY the heck am I doing this by now. It shall be clear to you by the end of the November. That's when most of you will at least reach the target or have written more than you have ever done before!

Heck editing or proper use of language or even spelling. Just chug it out with insane descriptions of every tiny thing to get to your 50,000 words. Oh yes, congrats to mandy_raz for the first one (who has at least Singapore listed in the home region or location) to reach 50,000 words! For those who have reached past the minimum word count... PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO VERIFY. I do not think the word counter is up yet but once it is, DO IT, we have had past people going way beyond 50,000 words only to forget to verify and get their purple bars and nifty printable certificate. Do not let it be you!

Also, you should be backing up every so often and ctrl+s or apple+s every few minutes or so when you type (that's the shortcut for save by the way).

Meanwhile, announcements on our write-ins! Use public transport to get to the Arts House, so far, it hasn't been too difficult to get here and those who came have said that write-ins are clearly very good for their word count! So, you still have at least two more weekends to come to if you want to experience one!

Now... I shall go away and wallow in the pain and angst of the torturous feeling of an erupting wisdom tooth, much like the pain of the dark sorrow of a cabbage.

I word padded there you see, if you can't remember a word, just replace it with something else cause hey, you can always come back later to elaborate when you remember what that specific word is!

And in the words of any cop in a story...

Move along people!

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Co-ML for Singapore

Good day my fellow fictioneers (or non-fictioneers too)!

It's a Thursday here and tomorrow is a public holiday so hurray (Hari Raya Haji for those currently not in SG)! It either means more time for you to type OR that you will less time since some of you might be visiting your relatives etc. No matter! 30th November is in four days more and we know what THAT means.

Yes.

It's the day to give me birthday presents.

Now, I actually typed a birthday list of things to get me in this url... OH WAIT, I mean it's also the last day of NANOWRIMO! Oh GASP.

Time flies fast when you're procrastinating eh? Yes, I'm looking at you. Congratulations to those who have hit or passed 50k by the way! The VALIDATION counter is UP! You can still update your word count even if you've hit past 50k just so you know.

For those confused on how to verify, it's under your "My NaNoWriMo" and it's the one that says "Verify & Win". You can copy paste your whole story in the text box there. If you're paranoid about the 'system' stealing your work, read the scrambling faq there. WARNING! WARNING. I suggest you save another version of your story before doing the scrambling.

You do not want to have near misses where you scramble your story to to random text, save over it, verify and win ONLY TO REALIZE THAT YOUR CURRENT STORY IS MESSED UP. Yes, just remember it's always safety first! Save another copy if you're doing scramble text and in an obvious file name too.

Right, now for the rest of you who haven't caught up with the word count, THERE IS STILL TIME. The first time I did nano, I was like, "Ha... I'll do it tomorrow/tonight/after my sandwich/after TV/after meeting a sparkly vampire/after homework/after some strong black coffee".

Oh I lie.

I never did drink black coffee.

But I did ever so procrastinate until the week before the end! It is very possible to write a few thousand words in a day just so you know. So there's always hope if you're willing to go through to the last day. There's been a lot of dramatic finishes in the years past where SG nanowrimoers typed on rapidly to verify a few minutes before the end of the last day. It's POSSIBLE.

So we'll cheer you on! Anyone else from the SG side of the forums, please cheer these people on to the finish and give them encouraging private messages! Just don't spam them, obviously.

Oh yes, since we're close to the end, remember to donate to NANOWRIMO. If not for the Office of Light and Letters, there wouldn't be this in the first place. If you don't have money to donate, never fear! You can do so by doing searches.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/donatingwhenbroke

That's the faq on how to "donate" while doing online searches. There was a time when I did a lot of online searches about cats because I was going all, "What would Mother Theresa do an online search on?". And so cats it was because they are cute and cuddly.

Which brings me to the last point for today's email.

Check out our regional forum and respond to the TGIO Party RSVP! Yes, there's cake again and bonus info on things that can be done after you completed your Nano. Of course I'll be nice and post the info up for those currently not in Singapore but that info will be some days after the main party day. You don't have to "win" nano to come for this by the way. All that matters is that you've tried and written more than you've ever written before or that you did reach that goal of trying this out and seeing how far you can make it!

So there you go, go forth and write on or validate!

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Ps. I wish there was italics or bold on this Nano email thing here so I wouldn't use caps so much. So imagine they're in italics or bold instead!

Co-ML for Singapore

Good day passengers,

This is your Captain of the SS Nanowrimo speaking. We've embarked on a journey on the first and now this ship is docking into the port at midnight of 30th November when it will all end!

Now, there HAD been panics last night of an unforeseen iceberg of a TECHNICAL BUG. For those that have encountered that error of not being to update your word count, it has been fixed! If not, go and head down to the technical forum side of Nanowrimo and check what might be the problem. Or maybe your browser is doing a stupid thing and you need to clear the cache.

At the moment of this email, there is STILL time to go on and write thousands of words to the end. WE CHEER YOU ON!! If you're far... far behind and wish not to continue on, it's okay, think back in slow motion of all the wonderful times you had when you typed what you typed.

Preferably with a happy montage soundtrack and people high fiving each other and the sort.

Something like Phantom Planet's California ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st33j4zlEVo ) and you can imagine your words scrolling on your screen, the times you have typed... The coffee you have guzzled. The number of words you have typed more than usual!

Before I go with the (somewhat traditional) random story at the end that previous nanoers would know about, a few announcements!

TGIO party RSVP is on the forum threads. Please reply to it if you're attending! You don't have to "win" Nano to attend! You just had to attempt it. Also, there's a Best Ending Lines competition. Deadline for that is 11 Dec, 4.30pm. Prizes for ANY competition will only be available at the TGIO party.

This isn't the last email you'll hear from me. Well, the last one would be just before or after the TGIO party because hey, you might want to know what's next to do after Nano when you've finished things and have a manuscript in your hands.

For now, YES!! ON TO THE LAST STRETCH OF HOURS!

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Ps. Semi traditional last day of Nano story for MOTIVATION!! is after the ps. Also, yes I know grammar, spelling and made up words are part of it. If I can do this within minutes, you have hope in rambling on!

MISTRESS TINATION AND THE BOOK OF FACES

by Sarah Coldheart

It was the last day of NaNoWriMo when a large burly suited man pressed the doorbell of a rather cozy home. The door opened to reveal a leather clad vixen wearing a white apron and a chef's hat.

"Where have you been?" asked the man.

"Tssk, tssk, not even a hello Mister Eddy Tor? How impolite of you," she tssked.

"You look different. I did get the correct address, right? Last name Procras, first name Tination?" asked Eddy cautiously.

"Oh for goodness' sake, just cause I'm wearing glasses this time you can't recognize me instead. Enter!" she ordered and ushered him in.

There were smells of pumpkin pie, burgers and turkeys roasting in the air. He followed her to the kitchen where she was sitting on a chair and waiting for the timers to ding.

"You should be out there making the nanoers lose word counts! It's the last day and I haven't seen you around much!" exclaimed Eddy.

"I am! I am! Not to worry dear Eddy Tor, I have stalled people for quite a bit through this month... By cooking!" and as she exclaimed, the timer dinged and she pulled out a turkey roast for 1000 people and placed it onto the counter.

"By cooking? Look, is this your idea of a joke, Mistress Tination? I have been out there making people spell correctly and annoying them to fix their grammar after every sentence or so," he growled.

"Tsk, tsk. That's so old school. I have come to a magical book," she whispered.

Pulling out a large leather bound tomb from the fridge, she showed it to him and opened it.

"It is the book of faces," she said reverently.

"What does it do?" he asked curiously.

"It makes people want to cook, farm for vegetables and fruits, make zoos of animals, tag each other, play games with each other and most of all... exclaim their state of emoness," she answered.

"Oooooh," oohed Eddy.

"And that's what I had been doing. It's much, much easier when the nanoers are more subjective to things they think are under their control," said Mistress Tination flippantly.

"Quite right you are!" he exclaimed happily.

They paused looking at each other in the kitchen as another timer dinged and then she had to remove 500 pumpkin pies and put it on the counter next to the turkeys. Then, they continued to look romantically at each other as romantic as two cats eyeing each other for the last piece of tuna.

"So... what do we do now? It's just hours left to the end and the Nanoers won't know what hit them once they look up from their farming or games," asked Eddy.

"I have an idea," said Tination as she suggestively flipped some pancakes.

"Yes... Mistre... I mean Tina? You mean we should..." asked Eddy hopefully.

"Yes. I DO mean that, let's do it," she stated firmly.

And so together, they trussed another batch of turkeys to roast in the oven.

THE END.

Moral of the story: Stop with the casual games! They will eat up into your time before you know it.

Co-ML for Singapore

Hi ho fictioneers,

This is the last email you'll hear from me this year! It's the recap of the TGIO party on the 12th December. Heh, for those who missed it, you can check the gallery here: http://is.gd/5qzIH

If you're wondering what the gold bars on the cake is made of, it's made of milk chocolate. Also, it broke a lot of plastic forks before we got a real one to cut it up instead. Imagine at least five nanoers trying to stab at it while everyone else goes, "BREAK IT, BREAK IT!!!", yeah that's how a TGIO party is like.

Prizes were given out including the Valerie cup! So too bad for those who didn't come. Also, there was much screaming in horror/delight (YOU decide) when we realized how Stephanie Meyer got published and other literary talk/gossip over the food.

Now, what to do after TGIO? Well, there's Script Frenzy in April for those interested in writing 100 script pages in 30 days.

For everything else, there's Mastercard.

Oh wait, no. Ha, since (for those currently in) Singapore is quite small and our "system" is different from any other country in trying to break out in publishing etc, we did have a few pointers in getting your manuscript published!

Of course, after editing but hey people, it's actually POSSIBLE.

Super recap of what I said during the party, we've got agencies like Jacaranda ( http://www.jacaranda-press.com/ ) who're wanting to get submissions from Singapore, so feel free to email them and then in this coming year, Ethos Books ( http://www.ethosbooks.com.sg/store/index4.html ) is having some joint award thing with an Italian press for literary books to be published in SG/Italy. You'll probably see their official announcement in the coming year or something but that's certainly something to look out for.

For those who're into Fantasy/Sci-fi, well... You know how somethings can't be said in emails due to uncertainty or "rumours" etc buuut, there's still hope in getting your stuff published here. Romance/chic-lit/etc, there's quite a few publishers who would do it here, but you got to just search for it. I'm being kinda vague on this paragraph because if you want to know more, you need to either open up a thread on the Nano forums or email me or something. Preferably the former in case anyone else wants to know too. (Fun note, forums are all up through the year so I'll check it now and then if anyone posts anything!)

Even if you're not going to try to get published "here", you can always apply to NAC ( http://www.nac.gov.sg/ ) under their grants for editing! Yes, at least with edits you can get it polished and send it to wherever you want to send. Also DO check out their other grants. There's one for printing/publishing too. If you're confused on the whole shebang, you can always email them to ask how it works.

Or you can email us for any questions regarding how the whole process works too. (Yes, there's a later paragraph in this email on how to contact "us".)

Just DO check their grants out since it might help you.

Also, fanficcers, don't think I'm forgetting you lot. Even if you can't publish your material in a book, you can still upload them to the various fanfic sites. DO IT, you might never know if you would be a Big Name Fan and be like Cassandra Claire who's now a published author with her own original books or Cleolinda Jones and various other fanfic writers who are now authors with their stuff in bookstores!

As I'm not going to spam the Nanomail list with literary events in Singapore, you may check out the blogs of your MLs( and group!) for them. Usually, we won't do adverts in an email but this would be silly not to since Singapore IS quite a small island and you might go "AAAAAAGH" when you realize some of these events are free or have visiting famous authors coming along in bookstores etc.

You can find all our blog links technically on http://singapore-novelists.com/ but to be specific, mine is http://www.seriouslysarah.com/blog and Ravensilvers' is at http://www.ravensilvers.com/blog. You can actually check under our blog roll to see the other people in our group who'd post about literary things too. So yes, if you DO have any trouble/problems in figuring out some publish-y stuff, you can email us since we MIGHT have an answer.

As Nanowrimo is at an end (until next year), feel free to make your own writer groups and continue writing/editing! And have a great holiday ahead.

Unless you have exams.

Then oh sad for you.

From,
Sarah Coldheart
Co-ML for Singapore

Ps. You must always be stubborn in wanting to get your stories out there. No matter if you're in Singapore or out of it, you still got to be stubborn everywhere and keep on trying! Most famous authors persevere until they got their big break so keep on doing what you do!

Co-ML for Singapore

Farewell Sarah,

I'm still on the other side of the world--180 degrees both east or west of you--in Maryland, USA.

I'll be checking to see what you all (as we say in my native state of Kentucky) have written.

Good Luck and Good writing to all of you there in Singapore.

Until NaNoWriMo 2010.

NaNoPerk