USA :: Massachusetts :: Norfolk/Bristol Counties

I missed the Write-in scheduled yesterday afternoon at Plainville Panera due to two family emergencies that happened. One was transportation related and the other was an emergent legal matter. Thankfully, the car fix was $13.99! Whew! and the legal matter is resolved, as well. However, I was not home to send an email to cancel and want to apologize.

Thanks in advance for understanding! So sorry!

Since the broadcast message feature is not working today, here is the week one message for this group:

Most of my tips and words of encouragement this year will be drawn from Stephen King’s On Writing (Scribner, 2000). I love this book because like Chris Baty, King keeps it real, very real. (Speaking of real…does it get any more “real” than living without power when you’re used to having it? It makes writing at Panera quite inviting: there’s hot food, heat and power! Woo hoo!) Back to our regularly scheduled weekly Bristol/Norfolk update:

“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.” (p. 37)

I love this quote when I think about writing because especially for NaNoWriMo, if we’re honest, sometimes we’re just typing and we can call it writing only because there are likely some coherent sentences in what goes into the computer. Our story idea might seem far-fetched to others, or even to ourselves. NaNoWriMo gives us permission to pursue these ideas because, let’s face it, we’re not devoting our lives to them, we’re just giving up a month. It’s time to let the “chocolate meets peanut butter” idea masher have free reign. We just recognize the ideas as fitting in some way we can imagine and we have an entire month to just play around. Use NaNoWriMo to have fun, to throw in some totally weird stuff just to make the story work, or to see if it will.

Just four days to go! Be sure to check the Google calendar for the most up-to-date information about write-ins.

Write-ins are informal gatherings where fellow Wrimos get together to write for a couple of hours. I will try to be sure to designate myself as a ML at all those I attend. I will place a postcard or wear my ML t-shirt so you can find me. Feel free to "check in" and say hi!

Also, write-ins at coffee shops or places that sell refreshments do not require a purchase, per se. However, out of courtesy, we ask that you buy something while you're taking up table space. Nothing major, just something small is fine for the short time we're writing usually.

Write-ins are just so people can get together and meet one another and have some shared writing time. JOIN US!

Google Calendar: There is a Google calendar entitled: NaNoWriMo Bristol/Norfolk Counties. You should be able to search for it to see scheduled write-ins. I am not sure if anyone can add to it, so there is a thread entitled "write-ins scheduled." Feel free to add write-ins "near you" and don't worry if they're at the same time as elsewhere - the more write-ins, the better!

Greetings everyone! I am in the process of making sure I can communicate with all of you via this region as your ML. This is my second year as an ML as last year I was co-ML in another region. The closest Panera to me is Plainville, MA. I will create a thread topic so that we can see where most people are near in this group and adjust write-ins accordingly. This is YOUR group, so feel free to post write-ins that you will host anywhere/anytime. Let me know what you need from me, too. I'm happy to help out with whatever you might need for a reference, encouragement and motivation!