Central Jersey Intro Thread!

Hi Katie,

so nice to know someone besides myself considers us Central JerseyI (and not North Jersey because you live over the river) aways down 287 from you on the coast. This is also my fourth NaNo and I don't have a plot either. I guess we have a lot in common.

Last year, I attended a kick-off party at Rutgers and we had a write-in every Monday night at B&N in Menlo Mall. It worked out well. Can't wait to see what happens this year.

Oop, Hubby is home with the groceries. I'll be back later.

Pat

NaNo 2007 His Halloween Witches
NaNo 2006 Witch in Flames Winner
NaNo 2005 What Witch? Not My Witch! Winner
NaNo 2004 The Odd Cops: Love Undercover Winner

I'm Tatra, from Trenton. XD

This is my second year of Nanowrimo, and I think I have a plot for my story. Last year I wrote about insanity, so now I'm going to try to have something of a plot. But I'll have to see what happens when I actually start writing and let the characters loose.

I've started my first semester at Mercer County Community College, so I'm going to have a fun time trying to keep up with homework and Nano. But I shall go insane trying. XD

Nice to meet you all!

--
Screnzy 07: The State of Orange - Won!
NaNoWriMo 06: Dragons in the Bathtub; 07: Sidhe PD - Won!

Screnzy 08: The State of Green. Nathan Green has just woken up from his coma, but is being awake any better?

Greetings from Hamilton (Mercer County)!

This will be my second NaNoWriMo and I am hoping for my second win. Last year I mostly worked on my novel for a few hours at night and then on weekends as I was working on a heavy deadline at work (70-80 hour weeks, minimum) at the same time. This year, my heavy deadline ends on October 28th, so it should be better!

As for the novel, last year's novel started as a title with no plot and ended with the same title and around 50,050 loosly-coupled words at the end of November. It is now up to 85,000+ words! Alas, it is still incomplete. And, alas, it is still mostly plotless.

This year I am hoping to start the month with at least a kernel of a plot. All of my writing has always been essentially driven by the characters themselves, so I have not and will not do a whole lot of planning ahead of time, preferring instead to let the characters grow and mature along with the story itself. My novel's genre will likely be fantasy/sci-fi with a touch of comedy. But, you never know -- I could end up with a romantic drama with a touch of horror. How exciting!

Anyway, good luck to everyone and I'll see you on the other side of 50,000!

Best,
Rob

-----------------
NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

Howdy!

Like the last poster, I'm in Hamilton (in fact, I sleep right next to the guy- I'm married to Lousy Writer 13). I did Nano last year as well and won, too. That novel needs a lot of work still to make it even half decent, but this year I'm going in with a stronger outline (I hope).

This year I'm writing a children's science fiction (time travel) novel. It is semi-autobiographical as most of the characters and the setting will be embellished from my own family and childhood. It will require me to do a little research on history for accuracy, but that's what the internet's for right?

Good luck to everyone!

Ginny

Lucky for me! The Central Jersey forum was the only one that showed up!

Anyway, my name is N, and I live in Mountainside (Union County) by work in Manville and attend Raritan Valley College, so I'm all over the place! This is my second year participating and hopefully my first win...(my problem so far? No plot!)
I was really hoping to find some info on some school-related Wrimo-participants since I'm one of those people who does better when being pushed by others. Support groups and I are good friends! Sadly, no RVCC NaNoWriMo info that I can find.

As far as writing...I write mainly horror, and I'm a huge fan of authors like Lovecraft and Barker. Music is also a gigantic inspiration to me (hence the handle).
I really look forward to this year, hopefully finishing something I start (for once)!...

~ N.

Hi there Central Jersey Writers

My name is Penny and I live in Metuchen. This is my first NaNoWriMo (been thinking of doing it for years). As a copywriter I write all day - direct mail, ads, white papers - so I am a little scared at having to write even more and creative stuff to boot!
I belong to the New Jersey Romance Writers -- they are a great group and have very informative workshops. This weekend is their annual conference -- any NaNoWriMo people going there? I sort of have a plot idea, not a romance - more of a chick lit.

I like kayaking, gardening, knitting and being a passenger in boyfriends planes (flying out of Central Jersey Regional Airport, near Manville).

Check out my web site www.pennythomas.com for more info on me.

Looking forward to November 1

Penny

Another Trentonian.
This is my fifth year doing NaNo (2 wins, 2 losses).
Former member of NJRW (they're a great bunch of people).
Stuck between 2 plots and building a wiki (http://www.tiddlywiki.com) for both plots. I may try to pull off both, but Ill doubtless think better of that as November comes.

Greetings all,

First time nano writer, here. Have no clue how you get your writing on the site, or the words counted, etc. Any help/advice/info would be appreciated. Wandering around the site right now is painfully slow. Does it get better once Nov 1st rolls around?

I'm in Neptune, near Asbury Park. In the midst of a career change (as in I have not ever really had one) but have always loved writing. Is anyone else a Backspace member?

AAAAAAAAAGGHHHHH! ~Teenagers.

Good morning and welcome to the family! I am sure you will find NaNoWriMo to be an exciting challenge and something to remember fondly in the future, as I have.

The site is very slow right now due to changes that have been made to it. Since this is October, it is the period where the kinks and bugs are getting worked out. I am confident that these will get taken care of before November 1. There are updates on the home page each day and today's update seems to imply that they have an idea as to what the real problem is and are hoping to try a fix for it in the next day or so.

As to your other questions, let me see if I can help:

question: "How do you get your writing on the site?"
answer: "You don't. Well, you can put an excerpt of your nano novel up on your profile once November 1 hits, but that's about it."

question: "How do you get the words counted?"
answer: "Unofficially, you can do a manual count of the words using your word processor. I don't know what tool you use for writing, but in Microsoft Word this is a relatively easy task. So, unless it is different this year, starting November 1, you can manually update the word count on your profile each day, as often as you like. It is a "honor system" type of thing. Then, towards the end of November, the official word counter will come online. You would save your novel to a text format (again, assuming it is the same as in the past) and scramble the words (there is an FAQ page about this, I believe), then you would upload it to the word counter. The word counter will give you an official tally (it will likely vary from what your word processor states -- mine was different by like 13 words last year) and it will update your profile automatically. It then deletes the file you uploaded. Realistically, you would only do this when you think you are finished with the 50,000 words, but there are no real rules about that."

I hope these answers help explain what is going on. Good luck with your first nano novel!

Best,
Rob

-----------------
NaNo 2006(win): "Children of the Stars"
NaNo 2007(win): "Darkness Falls"

Hello everyone,
I'm back for my second year. This time a friend of mine and I will be co-writing a fantasy novel together. It should be interesting. Glad to see some familiar names and some new ones. Looking forward to our kickoff party. Hey Katie, I started a new job and got put on nights just the opposite of your situation, congrats on your engagement, and yes I remember your fiance's door situation, glad to see that's been fixed. See you soon.
2006 "Sewer Run" Winner

Hi all!

I've done Nano since '04, but have always had finals in the middle of it, leaving me stuck at about 30k every year. This is my first year without finals and also first year in Jersey. I'm hoping I can finally make it this year.

I'm in Plainsboro/Princeton area and I love finding good coffee shops to read in.

-Cara

~~
"When writing a novel that's pretty much entirely what life turns into: 'House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.'"

~ Neil Gaiman

Hey All,

I'm Bob from Toms River, NJ. I could be wrong but I thought Central Jersey was from Barnegat to New Brunswick? Guess I was taught wrong :D Seems like the borders got pushed north. Oh well.

Anyway, this is my second year participating in NaNoWriMo. Last year I tried out for a bit but got side tracked with work. Same thing may come true this time around too since I just started my MBA but I will give it my best. I may actually do alright since I have an idea of what I am going to write. Anyone know if memoirs are acceptable as submissions? It's not any old memoir, it is one of my service in Iraq as an infantryman. So, it is full of adventure and information. If not, I'll still use this event as an excuse to write it and get it off my mind.

I'm up for a get together but I'll have to wait til some come a bit closer to my neck of the woods. Maybe something in Red Bank, Point Pleasant or Freehold?

Hi all. I'm Jamie. This will be my 4th year and hopefully 4th win. This year I'm planning a paranormal romance, but so far all I have is a strange MMC, a weirder situation/scene and no FMC and no plot. Oh well, that's that magic of nano.

Katie- Congrats on your engagement!

Penny & Pat- Great to see you here. Yay NJRW! The conference was wonderful. I pitched to an agent and she asked to see 3 chapters & synopsis of the story that began as my '04 nano.

2004: Forest Adventitious (Missing Magic)
2005: The Spear's Soul (More Than Magic & Word of Magic)
2006: Rule of Magic
2007: Deeper Than Bone

Greetings everyone.

My name is Ashley. This will be my second nano experience. This year, I'm planning a romance/adventure novel for the event. I'm from Paramus, NJ (Bergen County)... Whether or not I belong here, I'm beginning to question. I can probably get to some of the meetings in multiple regions, thus why I joined three.

Congrats on the engagement, Katie! I hope everything works out well.

Let's all give it our all again this year! ^^

~May the light bless you with eternal happiness~

Hey people. I'm Snorlax4222, or Snorlax422, or just Snorlax. I don't give out names or where I live...except for the ffact that I'm in the central Jersey region. My second attempt at NaNoWriMo.

Mine is about the dead that come back to earth as zombies and they realize that the world is stereotypically portraying them. And that no one will learn to accept them just because they used to be dead. It's kinda of about prejudice (wow! A new theme in books! :P )...except with zombies. I call it "Zombie Rights".

Zombie Rights 10,022/50,000

Hello everyone!

My name is Brittany and it's my second year here...Completed last years novel with just barely over 50,000 words and sadly my computer crashed and I lost the very end of the story =( Hoping to do better this year and actually have a running plot.

I absolutely love the month of November...Birthday and Nanowrimo yay! Hopefully people will be meeting up at the Menlo Park B&N again this year, i'd love to join in.

Hi Everyone,

This is my first attempt at nanowrimo and I'm looking forward to the upcoming challenge! I was introduced to the site by Lousy Writer 13 and I live down in Bordentown (Burlington County) NJ.

Hey hey!

My name's Jax and I live in the Carteret/Rahway area. I actually wasn't sure if that counted as Central or North or what, but I'll just go ahead and assume it is. This is my first time trying out NaNoWriMo and I'm really excited, though I have no clue at all what I'm writing yet. I'm bouncing between trying to do something original or going the way of fanfiction. Either way, I would certainly like ot try a writing group sometime. Sounds like a blast!

Here's wishing everyone luck in November!

--Jax

Hey...if you think you live in Central, I sure won't argue.

Fanfic or original...whatever feels the most comfortable. Last year I wrote fanfic and I was kinda embarrassed to admit it because some people consider it a crutch and gets in the way of true creativity.

I don't remember who it was but someone at the Kickoff basically debunked the whole thing by pointing out that fanfiction has existed for centuries..."Paradise Lost " is basically Bible fanfiction. :P

Municipal Liasion for Central New Jersey
All Ages Coffehouse Moderator

'04 - "The Blue Notebook" - Win
'05 - "Windsong" - Win
'06 - "An Incomplete Circle" - Win
'07 - "Untitled" - ???

I look on fanfic as sort of a training ground. The world building has been done (well, what parts we are shown), the characters are established, and it's a good place to cut your teeth as it were.

I can understand why people would be quick to brush off the idea of fanfic writing (and why people would be embarrassed). All fanfiction does is offer something to start with rather than a completely blank slate. I'd hate to see people looked down upon just for using it. Admittingly, I'm only going to go the route of fanfiction if I can't think of anywhere to start by November 2, hahaha.

Actually that's a really good point. Dante's Divine Comedy is essentially fanfiction in itself, too. And I'm sure everyone mixes a little bit of everything into their own writing, consciously or not.

--Jax

Hey all! I'm Therese from North Brunswick. That's still Central NJ, right? 0.0

This is my third year of NaNo'ing, and hopefully, as they say, "third time's a charm". I look forward to writing groups and meet-ups; I'm familiar with Menlo Park and Rt. 1 South B&N stores. But as long as there's a coffeeshop nearby, I'm so there. =)

'05 - Latch
'06 - Main Street
'07 - Coffee, Love and Jealousy
[100% Pinay carefully avoiding the cliched American Dream]

[note: could somebody please delete the above post? thread or forum moderator, anyone? so sorry for the hassle. >_<]

Hey all! I'm Therese from North Brunswick. That's still Central NJ, right? 0.0

This is my third year of NaNo'ing, and hopefully, as they say, "third time's a charm". I look forward to writing groups and meet-ups; I'm familiar with Menlo Park and Rt. 1 South B&N stores. But as long as there's a coffeeshop nearby, I'm so there. =)

As for the ongoing topic...ITA that fanfiction could be used as a starting point in writing. It seems like taking the easy way when choosing fanfiction first instead of diving into original fiction. But in reality, fanfic writers have to take into consideration the established aspects of their chosen 'verse and then plot out the stories accordingly. Some might even flat out disregard canon and make their own, ie. fanon. And that's when writers start concentrating in making their own 'verse, that's when originality, slowly but surely, starts seeping into their stories. But that's the rosy view of it.

I've seen the ugly, and I hope I won't degenerate into that.

'05 - Latch
'06 - Main Street
'07 - Coffee, Love and Jealousy
[100% Pinay carefully avoiding the cliched American Dream]

Hey'a! all!

I'm Roh! I can't get too specific, but I will say I'm from Somerset County...
this ish my second year doing NaNo, and I hope to win this year...
last year I didn't, but that story ish still going strong...

I'm not entirely sure what genre to call mine... tis fantasy, and tis sorta fanfic... 'cept, I'm just using the world... past the fact that this years NaNo will be set in Robert Jordan's world of the Wheel of Time ((also in honor of his memory)) but the charries are entirely made up by me, or based on my friends (with their permission of course)

Part of my reasoning for doing it this way, ish I want to finish writing last years NaNo, 'cause my dream ish to get it published some day...

but I seem to be rambling... didn't make it to any kickoff's/write ins last year... and probably won't this year either, unless they are close to me, and I have the time... 'cause time ish in short supply, and high demand 'round these parts...

I'm afraid I can't just yet. I'll take care of that (and this) post soon though. In the meantime, no worries. :)

Municipal Liasion for Central New Jersey
All Ages Coffehouse Moderator

'04 - "The Blue Notebook" - Win
'05 - "Windsong" - Win
'06 - "An Incomplete Circle" - Win
'07 - "Untitled" - ???

Hey all!

My name's Melissa and I'm a youngin and still in high school (GO HIGHTSTOWN RAMS)! This is my first nanowrimo though I have written a 200 page play with my friends and it's sequel (about 150 pages). I'm hoping to win but ith all my extra things and colleges and stuff I'm worried I might run out of time.

I've done a lot of outlining to get a clear picture of my main charecters, my story is called Changing Fate (working title) and it's a realistic fiction/fantasy/historical fiction/romance. I can't wait to meet with everyone though I'll probably be the only one not drinking coffee! I'll stick to tea thanks.

If you're not living life on the edge, then you're taking up too much space!!

Hi Katie and Central Jersey
I'm from Old Bridge. This is my second Nanowrimo. It's great to meet all of you.

Hello fellow New Jersians,

I'm iffy about exact location and name online, but I live close to the Menlo Park mall, and was wondering if the meetup was open to newbies?

This is my first NaNoWriMo, and I'm hopeful it's a win.

Hey fellow Central Jerseyans, it's awesome to see so many Hamilton and Trenton people here! My name's Sam, and since I've been in Maryland for school the past 4 and a half years, this is my first NaNo in Jersey. I've participated in NaNo the past 3 years, but I've only won once. Here's hoping for number two! Due to a total lack of ideas, it looks like I'm going to be writing a sequel to last year's novel this year. I'm looking forward to revisiting the characters, but part of me is a little sad because I always liked that starting from scratch feeling.

We definitely need to set up a Hamilton write-in sometime on the weekends, maybe in the Barnes & Noble in Hamilton Marketplace or the Borders on Route 1. I'd love to meet some of you!

Happy writing,

Sam

'04 - Here's to You, Ms. Robinson ~ 23,000
'05 - Copycats - 50k!
'06 - Name ~ 39,000
'07 - ?

Of course!

Actually...as of right now, it looks like Menlo B&N is going to be the place for the Kickoff as well. I spoke to the events coordinator and I'm just waiting for the official "yes" but I think it's looking good. I hope to see you there. :-)

Municipal Liasion for Central New Jersey
All Ages Coffehouse Moderator

'04 - "The Blue Notebook" - Win
'05 - "Windsong" - Win
'06 - "An Incomplete Circle" - Win
'07 - "Untitled" - ???