NaNoooooo!
Hello my lovelies! It is that time again! November, here we come!
This is your friendly neighbourhood ML who seems to be suffering from Bad Internet Timing (it is a disease that cripples young writers so that every time they get online, NaNoWriMo.org is DOWN DOWN DOWN). Hopefully I can rope someone else into this job with me because my schedule can change with an hour's notice -- I woke up yesterday and it was my day off until I was called in at the last minute to pull a double shift, woe! -- and someone needs to keep you kids in line. If you're up to the job, please let Erin (ML Headmistress) and I know ASAP. I know Erin's been swamped with emails, but I usually respond within a day.
Roll Call!
I am Sara(h) -- after years of people spelling it with and without the H, I've learned to respond to either spelling. Some of my favourite things in November are kittens, mittens, my iPod (when it works), chapstick, and Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccinos. And also yarn, which may or may not make an appearance at write-ins. I try to be witty, but you can only make so many inside jokes or giggle at double entendres before you become completely predictable and unfunny. This is my second official MLing year, third unofficial (I did a young adults group in Orlando).
I told myself I would not think about my plot until the last week of October so that I don't burn out too fast (as some saw last year), but of course I cannot stop thinking about who my MC's BFF is going to be and I have outlined Every Single Detail already. Anyone else in the same boat?
Today's Super Message Includes:
- Where We Are!
- Candy Incentives!
- Write-Ins!
- Snack-Ins!
- The Haunted Bookshop!
- Word Wars!
- Our Rivalry With Ottawa!
- Paaaaarties!
- Exclamation Point Abuse!
Where We Are!
Most of the attendees last year were students who lived on the east side of the river, so it's probably best to keep things in the general downtown area. I'm not a huge fan of House of Aromas, which was our meetup place last year. And Wild Bill's, which was the meetup for the year before, has crazy weird closing-early hours, so that's out of the question. What are good places you all would recommend? There are some couches and loungey type chairs in the Old Capitol Mall, but they'd probably kick us out around 9, and we have a tendency to stick around until An Absurd Hour.
Candy Incentives!
The First of November means only one thing. No, not the beginning of NaNoWriMo -- POST HALLOWEEN CANDY SALE! I will be bringing a bag or bowl of candy to the write-ins as an incentive to boost your word count during word wars. But if you're not a fast typer or your dog eats your computer, we won't just have word wars to win the candy -- sometimes we'll draw words from a hat and the writer who uses the word in the best (or most unconventional) way will win the candy, or whoever has the best final sentence will win the candy, or the writer who does X the most Y way will win the candy. There will be munchy-type candy to snack on along the way, too.
Write-Ins!
Write-ins will be held at least once a week -- sometimes more. I will start a thread of Official Meeting Days. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know which days work best for you. The meetings will not be held on the same day every week because that didn't work very well last year. As it is right now, my best days are Thursdays and weekends, although I can do Tuesdays if necessary (see The Haunted Bookshop section). When do you want to meet for Write-Ins? Where do you prefer to meet? Do you prefer wireless internet? Do you hate the mall? Is absolute silence neccessary? Tell me tell me tell me so we can get a schedule worked up soon.
Snack-Ins!
Clicking and clacking on computers gets boring after hours and hours of doing nothing else. We can't just word vomit our entire novels! I propose Snack-Ins -- meetings at The Mill, or another restaurant, depending on turnout and whether The Mill is having a show that night (I think at least one night is Skursula, which will be wonderful anyway). Computers are Not Allowed at Snack-Ins. Paper notebooks are okay for jotting notes down, but the goal of Snack-Ins is to take a break from the computer and participate in The JK Rowling Challenge -- at the beginning of the Snack-In, we will draw a challenge from a hat or bowl, and you write down as much as you can on a napkin. Hey, if JK Rowling can become the richest writer in the world from this, imagine what it'll do for us poor lowly NaNo writers! Bring a pen, bring a sharpie, bring a goodie bag, it doesn't matter. I'll provide writing supplies, but bring five or seven dollars for a snackie or two. These are tentatively set for Thursday afternoons at 5 until around 7 or 8, so that we hit Happy Hour and get the $3.50 Burger/Chicken basckets.
The Haunted Bookshop!
Every Tuesday night, The Haunted Bookshop hosts Game Night from 6 to 10. Usually ten or so people show up to play Killer Bunnies or ZOMBIES!!! and there is often pizza or some kind of munchy that everyone chips in to eat. It is tons of fun and full of funny writerly types. I and a few returning WriMos are regular attendees, but everyone is welcome! It'll make for a good break between writing sessions. Join us for geeky inside jokes and fluffy kittens and atomic cheese balls! (No bunnies are actually harmed in the game, btw.)
Word Wars!
Iowa City Word Wars usually last either ten or thirty minutes. Write as much as you can.
Our Rivalry With Ottawa!
One of my best friends moved from Iowa City to Ottawa and she is now the ML there. We need to show her that Iowa City is better than Ottawa, and she feels the need to show us that Canada is better. Who ever heard of The Great Canadian Novel? So we are locked in a competition of Whose NaNo Group Is Better -- I think ours is, of course, so we need to write more and finish faster than her group. Are you guys up to the challenge?!
PAAAAARTIES!
There will be parties. I don't know when or where, but there will be pre- and post-NaNo parties.
Cheers,
Sara(h)
ETA: Oh, of course the site ignores my mad HTML skill0z.
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"Words, Words, Words!" - Hamlet, 2.2.192
2006/2007 Iowa City, IA ML, iowa_city_ia@nanowrimo.org
2005: "Landed" - 51,313
2006: "Porn in a Book" - 31, 876
2007: "Think of the Children! (but not in THAT way)"
53,469 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2007 - 17 15
Sarah!
I LOVE your ideas, first of all. It looks like this is going to be much more exciting than last year, where both my regions were rather dead. I went to one write in where four people showed up and no one talked - not even just to say hello! *shudders*
I think Snack-Ins are a great idea, and I love the Mill! It's always good to have a chance to talk to each other and meet our fellow writers without going crazy in terms of "must write now can't talk" syndrome. I work Thursdays, but my bus gets downtown by six or so. Also, Skursula? I am completely down with that. They're my favourite local band and Skye's father happens to have been one of my law professors. Go figure!
Game nights are also very cool, and I love all the word war/challenge ideas.
In terms of times and locations, I'm in law school and I work during the week so weekends are always the best. I can also do super early morning write ins on Thursdays and Fridays or afternoon/early evenings Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I am personally on the west side but I work on the east side, so downtown is great for me. Also if I get the ML gig (see below) I'd be happy to host write ins at the law school for west side folks/undergrads who live over on this side of the river. We have two student lounges that are medium loud during the week and pretty silent on weekends, and of course the law library is completely silent. There's internet for those who have university net access. As far as the type of location, I like anything that's comfy. The internet is good but not necessary. Outlets! Outlets! A must. There are some comfy chairs at the Iowa City Public Library. As far as coffee shop type hangouts I like, Java House is nice but a bit loud - Java Juice might be better. There's also the Cottage.
Finally, about the ML thing - I sent you an e-mail a few days ago, hopefully you received it? I also sent a second e-mail to Erin so hopefully she'll reply soon! I know things are always crazy in October but I did e-mail her early in September so I'm hoping there's not just an e-mail problem. Eep!
Best,
Judith
53,469 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2007 - 17 21
Oops. I forgot to mention in terms of location preferences - I don't have a car, so the mall or anywhere that I can't get to easily by bus (and by easily I mean not Coralville) won't work for me. There is a bus that gets to Sycamore but it really is a pain. Anywhere in the wider downtown area is good except on freezing cold Sundays (no buses).
74,446 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2007 - 14 30
I had a lovely and wonderful post written for this thread, but then the campus wireless died for the fourth time in an hour and I lost it, so I'll just throw something together and call it good enough, which coincidentally is precisely the same policy I applied to my novel last year.
Why don't you like House of Aromas, Sarahh? Before I make any suggestions, most of which are also coffee shops, I'd like to know why specifically you want to find somewhere else.
Regarding location, I live in Coralville. I have a car and a bus pass. Therefore, my status as a Coralvillager doesn't effect any locational difficulties.
Also, my car has a passenger seat and a trunk. Therefore, I can provide transportation for a couple persons, or possibly more if they are very small.
The rest of what you talked about is very good, Sarahh, except for Ottawa, which sucks.
And I am, as always, in awe of your mad HTML skill0z.
20,493 / 50,000
Oct 16, 2007 - 16 53
House of Aromas has recently rearranged their furniture in such a way that if we have more than three people at the meetings, we will have to split up around the entire shop (or tell people to GTFO). Remember our spot last year with the couch and chairs? Now it's a couch and tables. I'm looking into places with more seats (and fewer people, so we can take over an entire area), more electrical outlets, and cheaper food (or a lax outside food policy). Java Juice doesn't sound bad, and they even have computers there if you forget yours, but I'm not sure what their peak hours are and whether there will be space for us during meetings. Every time I've gone in, there has been plenty of space, but that was over the summer, when the town is empty. But I'd love to hear other suggestions, since I never really sit around in hanging-out spaces other than the library, which is Not An Option for me, unless the other ML wants to meet there.
I love that you're willing to store people in your trunk to transport them. XD That's the kind of attitude we need this year!
How come Ottawa sucks? Come on, we can totally kick their asses!
53,469 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2007 - 03 48
I've been to JJ a lot during the summer as well when it was empty, but also at night during the school year and the situation was the same. I'm not sure about super-peak hours, but the place is huge, so that might help. Maybe if one of us is downtown soon we can pop in and see what it looks like?
Also, did I mention Capanna yet? Expensive coffee, but also rather large.
20,493 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2007 - 10 26
Oh, I forgot about Capanna. They've got gelato as well, which is delicious!
0 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2007 - 22 39
ummmmmmmmmm I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to go about this but...
Hi! I'm Liz! I'm 21 and I just moved here from Chicago where I was a Fiction Writing major at Columbia. I'm not a student currently, but I work nearly 40 hours a week at The Pita Pit in Iowa City. (Awesome?)
I've been interested in NaNoWriMo for years, but for some reason I just haven't even given it a shot, so it's super exciting to find other people in the area! Yes!
I've been a part of creative writing clubs in the past so I'm all for everything that's been mentioned. This will be especially awesome because I haven't met very many people in IC yet. (boo).
As far as good days for me, I work every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night but I can do Sunday - Wednesday given enough notice so I can request time off.
Er, anything I missed? Oh, I live on the east side, about a 15 minute walk from downtown, so anywhere downtown or within reasonable walking distance from downtown works for me.
52,109 / 50,000
Oct 27, 2007 - 03 26
*waves at all of the Iowa City crew from Cedar Rapids*
*waltzes back to the Iowa:Elsewhere forum*
(Yes, I'm sleep deprived and bored :))
4,987 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 13 20
Hello everyone! My name is Marcy and I'm a first time participant. I'm 32 and live in Iowa City. I work full time at a bank and write purely for fun. I got excited abou the idea of NaNoWriMo last year but didn't settle in and do it. This year I just want to go for it and see what comes. I don't know yet how much I'll be able to be involved in Write-Ins and Snack-Ins but they sound like a lot of fun and I'd like to check them out at least once!
35,223 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2007 - 19 20
Are you all college students...except for Marcy? If so, I'm old enough to be your mother...in fact, I may, or may not, actually be one of your mothers. Are there likely to be any other old people at any of these gatherings?
14,829 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 05 40
I'm a father as well. My 14 and 8 year olds say I'm old. I disagree however.
So no, not everyone is in college here. I plan to make the Tues night write ins as much as possible. Pub quiz sounds fun too. I might actually drag my wife out to one of those.
53,469 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 06 11
Zalaster- Definitely bring your wife to the pub quiz if you like! I plan to bring some of my law school buddies to the non-writing events myself.
As for the age of participants, I think we've got a lot of students but not all. I'm a student, but a law student, so I feel a bit removed from the undergrad population myself. Everyone is welcome!
50,185 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2007 - 06 48
Hi! I'm Britt, another oldster here--I witnessed the first moon walk (Neil Armstrong--not Michael Jackson), though I was a baby and my mom propped me in front of the TV. My job is flexible so I'll try to make some of the daytime events. Evenings are harder with family/kid stuff. Thanks to those organizing the events!
14,322 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2007 - 14 52
Hello world! (Well, Iowa City anyhow.)
This is my first year and I'm totally clueless. Is the purpose of the ML just to plan write-ins and such?
WEEKENDS!! I work full-time during the week and take a class Monday nights, so some evenings would be possible. However, my employer is currently looking for some people to work overtime evenings for, that's right, one month. And money is a very good thing.
How will I get all my writing done and work all day and pass my class? I'm not sure. :-/ Of course, I might not do the overtime anyhow.
53,469 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2007 - 18 24
Welcome!
Yes, you're pretty much right. MLs plan events, as well as moderating the boards and providing things like encouragement and candy. We're here for when you have questions about NaNo, or suggestions for what we could do to make writing in Iowa City better this month, or just need a bit of moral support.
I think a lot of people agree with weekends, so there should be plenty to write with. I'm going to be at the IMU writing tomorrow from noon to three thirty. I'm not sure where exactly, as I'm not familiar with the building, but feel free to look for me if you feel like writing with a buddy. I'm the brown-haired girl with the glasses, the red backpack, and the Mac laptop. I'll probably be on the ground floor somewhere.