Hertfordshire Checking in!!!

I'm in Hatfield.

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

I'm in Stevenage

Ha I'm in between you guys, Welwyn Garden City!
How did you guys get on with nano last year??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2007 - ??? - ???
2006 - Fortitude - 50,106

It was my first time doing Nano last year, and somehow (in amongst working night-shifts) I actually managed to succeed with a word count of 50,142 (though I was starting to worry by the time I eventually reached the 25,000 mark on the 25th).

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

Woah, that must have been an insane push those last five days! I remember falling a thousand words behind and feeling like it was the end of the world!
It's my other halfs first time this year, so now when hes moaning I can go "Sailor Girl managed 25,000 in 5 days so shhh your moaning and type!" Did you spend five entire days with coffee hooked up to your veins?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2007 - ??? - ???
2006 - Fortitude - 50,106

*waves*

It is possible to do a mammoth catch up - a weekend helps, and if you're writing too, then he'll have support and encouragement.

Maybe it's a first year thing - I wrote 26K in the last few days of my first NaNo. Started Friday night, wrote Saturday, Sunday, Monday evening (and commute), and Tuesday lunchbreak, commute and evening. I finished 20 minutes before deadline.

If you have access to a PC or something at work, then use a flash drive, and write on your lunchbreak. He's got an advantage in that you've done it before and can help him along - if he slacks and thinks "No worries, I can crank out 4K tomorrow night" - well you can point out just how many 4000 words is, and how long it would take, even with a 60wpm typing speed!

Good luck Herfordshire!

BFS goals - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1075131

Oh I panicked so much last year (my first time) that I got it done four days early, but this year I'll be more chilled out, so I fully expect to be writing until 11.59 on the 30th!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2007 - ??? - ???
2006 - Fortitude - 50,106

I actually wrote my last 18,000 words in my last 24 hours of typing (almost non-stop). By the end of that sleep deprived period, I was making massive numbers of spelling errors, due amazingly not to tiredness, but simply because I could barely move my fingers by then.

So I definitely agree that it is a hideously difficult task to catch up if you have a word shortage on some days.
I wouldn't recommend letting yourself get that far behind mind you.

I also very unfortunately was working on the last Nano night last year, so couldn't write up to the very end. (Instead I went and started a 10 hour shift on just 2 hours of sleep in 30 hours)

Again, not something I would recommend. (I'm just chock full of helpful advice of things not to do, on account of going and doing all of them last year).

Did anyone else spend last november eating and drinking nothing but microwave meals and coffee?

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

*waves*

I'm in Hertford :)

Hello,

I'm also in Stevenage. It's my second time (the first was 05).

Does anyone have any ideas yet?

Vague plottish type ideas.
I currently have 2 main characters and a few known situations gonna happen, but absolutely no clue HOW or WHY anything is actually going to be happening (not got an ending yet either).

I don't have anything plotted out coherently in writing yet, but I plan to have the main stuff all sorted out before Nov 1st.
(Dived in last year with a mental vision of a plot, but no real direction. I want to do better this time.)

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

I skipped Nano last year. Think my last successful one was in 2004? 2005 I moved house halfway through the month and just never got back into the swing of things. Am hoping this Nov will go a bit more smoothly :)

Hi Hertfordshire WriMos! I know there's a few Hitchin-ers, who's in this year? Anyone wandered in from the flyers we put up in the Hitchin Girls' School library? :)

We should maybe think about trying to organise a couple of write-ins for during November. Figure out when the largest number of people could make it.

I went to a couple of the London - Hammersmith(?) ones last year, and it was actually a great help to just get together with other Nanoers, and talk about how things were going, and do some writing whilst drinking copious amounts of overpriced Starbucks coffee. It would be nice, however, to be able to avoid the £13 train fare into London. :-)

Anybody interested? And if so, any ideas on possible times and places? (We would need to be able to seat a group for a couple of hours, and possibly with access to plugs for laptops.)

[F.Y.I - I'm always available on Saturday afternoons - evenings since that's my fixed rest day. As to the rest of the days, I'll have to wait till I get my rota sometime this week (hopefully).]

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

Places that are good for write ins are libraries (especially if they have a room where small amounts of talk and much typing wouldn't disturb readers), or coffee shops - I know our local Starbucks has power points. We used a Wetherspoons, which had power points too - just out of courtesy though, someone should stop by the venue to mention there'll be a few of you (especially if you start getting to say 6 or more people), and to ask if they would mind you using the power points. If you explain that you'll arrive with fully charged laptops, but just want to check that if needed, you could give them a quick burst of charge, it should be OK. Electricity costs, but not THAT much. If you can get 2 hours of use out of your laptop, you're unlikely to be there longer than that (if you are, it would probably be eating lunch after 2 hours' writing...)

If you find out how wants to meet up, then what days/times are possible, and any transport considerations, I'm sure you'll end up with a great write in!

I's good to meet up and write with others - if everyone else is working, you're less likely to sit there and not write! Plus, word wars are always helpful!

(if you want any ideas or anything - just shout. If NaNoMail isn't working (you'll know, I always reply), then stop by the Exeter thread :-) )

BFS goals - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1075131

*waves*

I'm in St Albans. Started a week late last year but some how managed to finish.
Hoping to do just as well this time round! :)

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people. ~Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades, 1947

I might be interested - anywhere I can get to relatively easy by train (while being cheaper than a London write-in) would be good! I work Mon-Fri so it's pretty much just weekends available for me.

Hurrah! Also in Hitchin, although I confess to being sadly some 20 years too old to be reading Girls' School flyers. Although Beloved Other Half (not participating this year, he claims) is a HBS alumnus.

My fourth year doing NaNoWriMo, which I only managed to win for the first time last year. This year's effort comes under the banner of romance, to my great disquietude. Usually I write thrillers.

Good luck to all them that's local (as well as them that's not).

> If you have access to a PC or something at work, then use a flash drive, and write on your lunchbreak.

Google Docs is also your friend here - storing a document in there that you can discreetly work on all day is a winner. Just for goodness sake remember to back it up at the end of each day...

After a quick look at my train map, it looks to me as if Stevenage or Hitchin might be easiest to get to for most of us Herts. folks (except from St. Albans).

So are there any likely coffee shops/cafes/anything else in either of those two places?

Or, of course, any other suggestions for meeting spots in other convenient towns.

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

Coffee shops in Hitchin seem to be largely concentrated in the Market Place and Arcade area.

The library/museum seems quite a friendly place, and may well have a function room...

Hope this is helpful! A meet-up in Hitchin would be great.

**The library/museum seems quite a friendly place, and may well have a function room...**

Any idea on what kind of opening times they might have, and, of course, availability of snacks?

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

*waves* I'm in Watford. Pity me. :)

--------------------------------------------------------
Grammar is your friend. Even the gerund.

Hello
I'm in Welwyn Garden City.

I am just south of Bishop Stortford:)

Hiya all! *waves hand in air* I'm a Hertfordshire-ian. Anyone heard of St Albans? Yah, that's me. 9Well, actualyl just outside of it)

This is my first tiem doing NaNo - though I have done Script Frenzy - so I am mega-excited about this. :D

How about the Comet (if it's still called that)? Straight up / down the A1. Pretty central to all I think? I'm sure if they get notice that they're about to be bombarded by huge numbers of NaNoWrMos they'd be able to ply us with coffee. However - if anyone finds a huge Starbucks in a book shop with tons of overpriced coffee and comfy sofas / airmchairs - your coffee's on me!

Sorry - it's been a long weekend. Comets @ Hatfield nr Galleria x

I can check the Comet(?) on Wednesday.

Also, I've just been told that there is a coffee shop in the Westgate shopping center that may be open till around 8 on Saturdays. Can anyone in Stevenage confirm that?

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.

I can check the Comet(?) on Wednesday.

Also, I've just been told that there is a coffee shop in the Westgate shopping center in Stevanage that may be open till around 8 on Saturdays. Can anyone in Stevenage confirm that?

There is an exception to every rule.

But there are some exceptions.