Introduction time -- we never really did that yet....

Hi my name is Sherri (aka PeachesNCream) and this is my first NaNo. I even talked my son into doing the youth program this year as he'll be on track break for November.

My story works around the Selkie myth and I'm billing it as romance at the moment. I've managed to work up a basic outline with the main plot points but haven't really focused on the characters yet.

"Lang may yir lum reek wi ither fowk's coal"

I'm Lauren. This is my 5th year doing Nano but only my 2nd participating in the group. You may hear me refered to as "the film student" because that is what I am. I will theoretically be shooting a movie during and about NaNo this year assuming I finish the script like, now and we finish our other project and get everything ready in time.

I'm pretty sure my novel is about werewolves. Specifically, I've described it at Rules of Attraction with werewolves. I'm trying something new with the writing style so I'm about 76% sure it's going to be a massive failure but I'm gonna give it a whirl anyway because there's a 24% chance it will be the most amazing piece of werewolf literature ever concieved (no inbetweens here).

2009- Will win with Yet Untitled
2008- Won with A Pale Moon in a Sunny Sky
2007- Lost with The Moonlighter
2006- Lost with Untitled
2005- Lost with Untitled

So I lose a lot, I'm still damned proud

I am Stevie (georgiana darcy). My novel is going to be a humorous story about my experience in the work world. Especially dealing with the business/office environment. It's going to center around Hannah, who is young and has ideas about how the world is supposed to work and finds that funny enough, things don't EVER turn out how she wants them to. I'm concerned that this story is going to turn out to be really depressing instead of funny (because I've never done comedy before) but I'm going to give it a try anyways.
I am SO excited about NaNo this year because I think we have a hilarious and awesome group and since I've lived in Vegas (going on four years) I've been busy working myself to death and going to school instead of making friends so it's GREAT to meet everyone.

"Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~Sylvia Plath

Rick Bentsen... inkstained wretch of a man.... Oops! Wrong story!

This will be my 4th NaNo and I'm hoping to build off last year's win. Traditionally, I write in the sci-fi (I will never write it SyFy like the silly channel changed the name to!) or fantasy.

This year though I'm breaking out of my normal mode and working on something outside my comfort zone. I think it will be a great challenge for me! The story I'm working on features a serial killer who bases his murders off an author's books. The agency investigating the murders calls the author in to consult. It's a gamble for me, but It's an enjoyable one.

Lookin' forward to actually seein' y'all this year!

Madam, I assure you, I am merely Ernest Pratt. Ink-stained wretch of a man, sometimes successful author - and free for the evening, incidentally.

-- Ernest Pratt (From "Birth of a Legend".... if you get the reference you get a cookie!)

Okay here is my indtroduction from the other page.

So I suppose I should also introduce myself. I haven't been on the boards recently but soon as Nano actually start kicking up I should be around a bit more. Then again with everything going on I might not. Who knows what time will tell.

Anyway my name is Sierra (hermionechick8 or MustLoveOdd or CiCi) I'm 18, last year I was pretty much the youngest person at the /meetings/ other than my friend Megan who showed up once in awhile. This is my second year of NaNo, last year I had "The Butterfly's Domain: A collection of Short stories" the short stories was unintentional but that's just the way it wanted to go. This year maybe it will be more intense. So I do have a plot for my story, here is the synopsis from my webpages. (Written in first person)

Synopsis: My Love
Jacob Winston a Spider prince of the Butterfly's Domain but he's a long ways away from home as a matter of fact he's here. Somehow he's manages to travel back trillions of years to before the polar switch to the present. Particularly to a girl named Sora. She's a high school student that loves to write. Jacob is her best friend, or more so her only friend. Jacob helps her though a typically rough high school life while in return Sora tries her best to help him find a way home. It's strange though, why doesn't anyone else know who Jacob is?

Time for Round Two

NaNoWriMo. Yeah I rocked the house.

2008:WIN: The Butterfly's Domain

Hi my name is Leah and I'm a..... oops wrong group (laughs). Along with Laura this is my second year as the ML for Las Vegas and my third NaNo. The first year I wrote inside my comfort zone with a great vampire novel trapped on a hardrive I can't get to. However, my beloved and spectacularly amazing boyfriend has promised he can retreive it for me because he is a computer god...Really he is, I swear it!

Last year mid-way through NaNo and mid-way through book two of the vampire serious a new novel and new cast of characters kept me awake at night, entered my thoughts at the worst times and demanded to have their story told, so I scratched the vampire novel and stepped outside my comfort zone to write A Journey of Hope which is I am editing now.

This year, I am writing for the first time in first person (I think) about a girl and a boy (go figure) the girl is severely abused as a child and it is the boy who is always there for her and finally rescues her and she escaped the abuse. They marry and all should be happily ever after, but Nope boy dies. It is more or less the girls struggle to over come her past, to heal and ultimatly forgive so she can move forward in her life. (Yeah, yeah I know soooo Oprah book club, but yet another one of those stories that are demanding to be told).

As for Laura not being as crazy as she seems on paper, I assure you she is probably the more sane person I know. or at least in the top three. I on the other hand live in constant insanity, but have come to like it here.

I am looking forward to November and getting started, as well as seeing everyone for the fun we have in our journies to write a novel in thirty days.

2007-Won with True Born (Nicolas and Megan's Story)
2008-Won with A Journey of Hope
2009- Can't wait to begin
2008 and 2009 Co-ML of Las Vegas NaNoWriMo

My name Mikki (IAmMikki)

This is my second year doing NaNoWriMo. This is the first year I will likely be able to come out to the meet up events, which is exciting. I had a wonderful time last year so I'm looking forward to this year, although now I'm more "prepared". Last year I came in about a week before Nov 1st and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write or how the whole thing was actually going to pan out. I found a plot that struck me in the Adopt-a-plot forum and ran with it, I didn't finish but I enjoyed myself. This year I have time to pre-plan a bit but I also find a bit more apprehension now that I'm not just jumping in and going it.

I have an idea that's been bugging clinging to me for a few months now, I have tried to brush it off, but it simply won't go away. I will be doing another sci-fi novel (Agreed that SyFy is a ridicules term). My story is sparked from reading "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" is a postapocalyptic science fiction short story by Harlan Ellison. Unfortunately, the idea was sparked because I wasn't all that impressed with the story itself and the many plot holes but adored the concept.

My NaNo this year will be about the final group of people left after the world wars have eliminated/killed most humans. This world is also largely controlled by a single computer, the ultimate war machine which now struggles with the programing of destruction and not wanting to be obsolete (ie: without human subjects) so a lot of the time the humans that remain are being all but tortured by this computer. I haven't worked out the details, in fact, I'm still working on the basics but I think the story has potential and I look forward to giving it my best effort.

"Man is least himself when he is in his own person, give him a mask and he'll tell you the truth" - Velvet Goldmine
2008 - Untitled

My name is Tabetha! I'm an Air Force contractor with a wonky schedule. I've been doing NaNoWriMo since '03 (with a year skipped in '07), but only participating in the social aspects for the past few years. I usually tend to write fantasy or science fiction, and my losses can be blamed on life-changes (relationship and finishing college) or genre changes (romance and historical fiction).

This year, I'm going back to my roots and writing space opera! A new subset of citizens of the Solar System's allied governments are increasingly feared; this fear is leading to societal injustices and unfairness on Earth. This grates on the tenuous peace agreements between the mother planet and the Jupiterian Empire. A third-party-organized spaceship crew of "experts in their fields" (ignoring slight personality dysfunctions) is dedicated to keeping up this peace, even if it means changing the bigots into that which they despise.

It's one part Black Rights Movement, one part Holocaust, one part Star Trek, one part Sneetches, one part C.J. Friedman, one part Neon Genesis Evangelion, one part Gravitation, one part X-Men, and one part Circle of Magic. That's a lot of parts. But with something so sweeping and varied, how can I lose?

'03 Winner: A Harmony of Grays
'04 Loser: Mastigophobia
'05 Winner: Power to Lose
'06 Winner: False Influence
'08 Loser: Maelstrom and Undertow
'09 Contender: Calm Percussion
My Blog: http://coup-de-plume.blogspot.com

Hi All!

I'm Gregory (gak13). I'm a psychic intuitive, bestselling author (nonfiction), and co-founder of the Patchwork Path anthology series, Laudably Tarnished poetry workshop, and the Writer's Pen & Grill (which meets the second Wed. of the month and is open to all writers. Visit http://www.penandgrill.com). A few of you may also know me from the Las Vegas Writer's Conference which I coordinated in 2005 & 2006.

I'm so looking forward to another NaNo. I won last year. I'm trying hard again this year not to plot or plan the book I'll be writing to make it another intense NaNo experience. All I know so far is that it centers on Flash Mobs.

Cheers,

Gregory

----
NANO '09: Will win again with Flash Mob
NANO '08: Won with The Middleman

Gregory A. Kompes
The Writerpreneur
http://www.kompes.com

Hello everyone,

I'm Brian. I'm active duty Air Force out at the lovely oasis of Indian Springs (Creech AFB). This is my first year as a participant in nanowrimo, though I found it last year. Unfortunately, I discovered it near the end of November so had to wait a year. I'm friends with Danothan who I talked into joining. I really enjoy writing but suffer from severe self-critism which is why I've never been able to finish my past works. The furthest I've made it is 7 chapters of one story. We'll see how I do with this adventure. lol

I have several ideas for stories but still haven't nailed one down. First is the story of a man bent on vengeance towards an apathetic justice system that allowed his daughter's murderers to go free. The next one is of a futuristic earth where a genetically modified special unit's officer attempts to uncover the government's cover-up of genetic population control. Last, a fantasy novel about a prince's attempts to save his father from prophesied doom.

I'm not entirely sure about the three ideas but I'm gonna try to make one work.

Well, I totally didn't see this thread which makes mine obsolete. I am Dan, I work with jnbkilkenny at Creech in the Air Force. This'll be my first year doing nano, just heard about it a couple weeks back and have high hopes/low expectations. I've had many dreams of being an author back in high school, but now that I'm out and doing not-writing in my daily activities, that dream has pretty much faded away. I've had two ideas for novels, a Star Wars one that I got 50 or so pages into and then just stopped, and then a fantasy one that I had much more preparation for and a big outline for and only got about 15 pages into. Poop. So hopefully this will give me the motivation necessary to start and hopefully finish an actual novel this time, even if it is only 50,000 words. If I even get close to that, I'll have surpassed what I've ever written before for a story, so win-win. Unless I don't get close. Then it will be lose-lose. I don't think there is a win-lose scenario for this. Copy/pasta my synopsis:

A man wakes up 700 years after Earth's Ozone layers were affected by astral radiation, killing most life on Earth and destroying most over-ground terrain/buildings. He was part of an experiment to harness the radiation and wake up after the Earth was habitable again and start over. Things did not go exactly as planned, however, and the Earth isn't as it was predicted to be after the appocalyplse. I'm expecting to include special powers imbued by the astral radiation, although I don't know how far fetched they will be, or if they will be fantastical special powers or more believable ones. I still have a lot of ideas to get through as far as plot, characters, nemesi, romance etc...

Well welcome Brian, hope you guys can come out for the Kick Off Party... it should be fun.... At least you have any idea what you will write about... I am clueless....

Well hope to meet you soon... have fun writing and don't get too stressed, with the help of the rest of us crazy writers also, you can accomplish your goal next month...

co-ML for Vegas -- High Stakes Writing.... and looking for that Jackpot
Nano 06 -- Lost, but I was sick
Nano 07 -- Won with Cat Scratch
Nano 08 -- Won with Ryan Says
Nano 09 -- Real Men Don't Drink Pink Martini's

Introduction thread is an excellent idea...

My name is Jaime and this is my second year doing Nano. I recently was laid off my job of 9 years, so I will have plenty of time to write this November. I am hoping to get to some of the write-a-thons and meetups, somehow I never made it last year but I need to stay busy and productive while I figure out my next career path!

Last year, I wrote a historical fiction novel that was light on research and not the most original work I've ever done (I figured out one of my scenes was pretty much straight out of Gone With The Wind ;)!) but to actually complete a whole novel was a great experience. This year I'm really not sure where I will go story wise- I may attempt something modern, semi-autobiographical or I have an idea for another historical fiction. Maybe a trash novel featuring a daughter of a mob gangster. Or I'll just write a sequel to my first! We will see on Nov. 1st!

"Sheep do not so much fly....as plummet." Monty Python

Jaime

Hi, my name is Litho, and I figured now is probably the best time to participate in NaNoWriMo, since I'd known about it for years through my college (went to UNLV, BA in English), but didn't have time to pursue it in the previous years. This year, I'm gainfully unemployed, and after a year out of school, really feeling the urge to write something again, so here I am.

My story idea is one I've had for a while, but never got a chance to do much with, including finish characters or direction, lol. It's somewhat of an urban fantasy, set right before Xmas a few years from now, when the Veil separating this world from the other realms starts to break down, and the insanity that ensues. I'm trying to work on chapter outlines and naming characters and stuff right now, we'll see how well all my work is helping.

This is my first time writing anything more substantial than a 5,000-word short story or an intense essay, and I can only hope with the support of everyone I'll be able to get to my goal, and maybe even get the book edited and published in the next year. :)

-L

I feel like I work at the welcoming center: Welcome to all of our new and return writers. Please try to make it out to our get togethers. As you can see there are events planned on Monday mornings, Tues and Thurs evenings, some weekends and still looking to add more events....

We also have a great kick off party planned and some fun Swag from OLL HQ

If you have any questions, please post them in the forums or send direct nanomail to myself or LeahWells, we would be more than willing to help with questions, directions on getting to events, etc...

Have a wonderful second part of Oct since when that's over the fun begans!!!!

co-ML for Vegas -- High Stakes Writing.... and looking for that Jackpot
Nano 06 -- Lost, but I was sick
Nano 07 -- Won with Cat Scratch
Nano 08 -- Won with Ryan Says
Nano 09 -- Real Men Don't Drink Pink Martini's

Hey everyone!

My name is Vicci, Aka Jade. This is my second year of Nano. I'm totally PSYCHED!!! I'm participating on my own this year, as well as with my third grade class in the young writers program Nano.

My husband and I made it to a few events last year. However due to my refusal to drive past the I15, we miss out on a lot of the west side of town get togethers. Our ML's do an awesome job of trying to mix up the locations so that we get some get togethers in every part of town, so we'll be at a few of the events this year as well.

My story is going to be the sequel to the book I won with last year about mermaids. I must continue the saga, so why not do it for Nano? =)

Hope to see ya'll soon!

Vicci

Nano 08 -- Won with Troubled Waters
SF 09 -- not even close, but was fun none the less
Nano 09 -- ready for my own Nano and Nano with the kids!

I love deadlines. I especially love the whizzing sound they make as they pass by...

Hello everybody!

My name is Emily, but many people refer to me as 'Teacher' because I teach high school chemistry. Luckily for me November has less teaching days than any other month of the school year! I won last year and will do my best to do so again. I will be everywhere doing everything except for the 5th-8th when Neoncon goes up!

Along with Laura I want to welcome our returning writers and those new to NaNoWriMo. We hope to see you at our events and we both do our best to find locations around the city so everyone can participate in the get togethers.

And Jade I love the idea of getting a class of 3rd graders involved in the Young Writer's Program. I would love to visit your classroom at sometime during November and perhaps write some with the students if that is possible? I can bring cookies and juice and I have stickers kids love stickers.

Also not sure if possible to let the parents know about the kick off party. Since we are open to all ages perhap some of the parents would like to brin the kids out for pizza?

Ok so I'm a sucker for kids. I was a foster parent for years and anything which gets kids to write is a great thing.

2007-Won with True Born (Nicolas and Megan's Story)
2008-Won with A Journey of Hope
2009- Can't wait to begin
2008 and 2009 Co-ML of Las Vegas NaNoWriMo

Hello Everyone! My name is Hannah, and I'm probably one of the youngest writers here being 14 and all. I go to one of the technical high schools in the valley. Last year I attempted NaNoWriMo, but I lost with about 12,000 words because my schedule went kind of crazy during the last two weeks of November. I've loved writing my entire life, and I made my first "novel" in 3rd grade.

My story this time around is a young adult novel about five teenagers spending the summer up at one of their cabins. The main point is that one of their friends goes missing in the woods an ultimately gets murdered. There's more, but it's hard to explain.

Well, it's nice to meet you all.

That's awesome that young people such as yourself actually are involved in writing and participating in things like these... So refreshing to see some of today's youth not wasted to believing that all literature, reading, etc is a waste of their time. If it weren't for the court order saying I can't be within 1000 feet of a school I'd love to visit and help out haha.......

But really, I can't.

Just kidding. Or am I?

Cat here.

I'm new in the Henderson/Vegas area, so this is definitely my first time socially participating in NanoWrimo. I've pretty much lost every year since I started about 2 years ago, but this time, I'm hoping that having other people around will motivate me enough to finally "win" this year.

I like to start the planning phases a few days before it starts (otherwise, I feel like I'm cheating), so at the moment, I'm keeping my mind open to different ideas. Usually, though, I like writing children's fiction best.

Looking forward to writing with everyone!

Hello! I am Donelle, aka Wordlover. This will be my third year doing Nanowrimo, but I've never made it to the 50,000 word mark or participated in any of the events. This year my goal is to participate and WIN! I teach by day and write whenever I can. I'm a member of the Las Vegas Writer's Group & belong to a bi-weekly novel critique group.
The new novel I'll be working on for Nanowrimo will be about a woman who is unhappily married to a wealthy Hollywood celebrity. She has remained married to the guy because of the lifestyle and prestige she enjoys in Hollywood. She's forced to visit her father in Pioche, Nevada, where she will meet lots of quirky characters and realize that the simple life with people you truly care about is a whole lot better than the shallow rat race she has been existing in for several years. Some humorous and tragic things will happen, along with a mystery involving gold & silver nuggets worth a fortune.

By the way, everyone, I follow a few writer's blogs of people who have participated in Nanowrimo. Two of these writers have recently made book deals from their Nanowrimo projects! What kind of motivation is that to do this thing :D !!!

Hi Hannah,
My character name is Hannah in the novel I am working on.
If you love to write just a note The Henderson Writers Group sponsors a Student Writing Contest. High School and College Students eligible. 1st place is full attendance to the Las Vegas Writers Conference in April (15-17).
We also have a student attendance day on Saturday. You can email me private and I'll give you details of everything if anyone is interested. teresawatts@cox.net

I am very excited this year for Nano. I signed up last year and lost - I was just lost all the way around as far as my writing career was going. This year, more together and on track! I will work the 1st draft of book 2 out for Nano while I continue working on my 1st book. All I do is write and work on publicity for the HWG and Writers Conference.

Getting closer we are down to 2 weeks.

Teresa

I was going to write a Hannah this year as well. That's a lot of Hannahs

"Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~Sylvia Plath

You can't go wrong with a good palindrome.

I remembered the long one: Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog.

Perhaps that should go in with the challenges instead? :)

2008: An Initial Love; 50,048 words; Region: Seoul, South Korea

2009:???; Goal of 100,000 words; Region: Las Vegas, Nevada

Another good palindrome was the name of one of Soundgarden's albums:

satan oscillate my metallic sonatas

Awesome! lol

Welcome to everyone once again. We look forward to seeing you all at the get togethers.

And Hannah as someone mentioned is is great to see today's youth interested in writing. Good luck!

2007-Won with True Born (Nicolas and Megan's Story)
2008-Won with A Journey of Hope
2009- Can't wait to begin
2008 and 2009 Co-ML of Las Vegas NaNoWriMo

Hey all.

Short intro: I am a father, a soulless office-worker, a lover of ephemera, and a proud member of the Typewriter Brigade.

This year's novel is a big secret! I've decided not to share with anyone what the story is "about," but it is set in Live Oak, California. It's a sleepy little hamlet that is home to about 8,000 souls, most of which are involved in agribusiness in some way. The story proper takes place in 1984, fourteen years after mass-murderer Juan Corona is said to have killed as many as 40 migrant workers and buried them in the fragrant peach orchards of the region...

I'm pretty excited.

http://justwriteblog.blogspot.com/

Howdy Y'all!

My name is Dawn (user name is a great departure from that, I know) and I've participated in NaNo for a few years now. The only year I won was '05, while I was in Brazil taking a very intense course called Children at Risk...guess there was just something about the added pressure that made it possible to zip through. Or maybe it was being OUT of Vegas. :o)

So, here we go again! I really want to build on a couple previous starts, but instead am going to run with something I started some months back. I only wrote 1 chapter, so have PLENTY to go to get a fresh November 50K.

A Thousand Words: Craig and Cassidy have known each other since they were in high school. Her love of photography and his love of journalism have taken them around the world, most times in opposite directions. They meet up again after years of no contact, and come up with an idea - a project called "A Thousand Words" - One phenomenal picture with one thousand words to tell the story - based on the well-known line "A picture is worth a thousand words." Their project takes them on the ride of their lives, filled with joy and sorrow.

I'm not sure what genre it would be. Definitely not chick lit. It'll be too heavy for that.

I'm SOOO glad one of the meets is on Tuesday night at B&N on Maryland! YAY! I can go! :o)

I am a souless office-worker too! It's nice to know there are others out there.
I cannot believe you're writing about Live Oak! My parents own a house in Biggs and I lived there for quite a while. I really love that part of CA.

"Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." ~Sylvia Plath