Europe :: England :: Essex

The Highs and Lows of NaNo

moony_1986 — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 08:50:41 -0800

After falling foul to my first disaster this month I thought I’d start a thread where we could share disasters and hopefully achievements? A kind of place where we can remember that others are probably having just as a hard time or (hopefully) as good of a time.

Mine?

I reached 2339 words and Word crashed on me, I tired everything to save it but nothing worked, the worst part? I was just hitting save when it happened, apparently about a minuscule of a second to late.
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Higher count than some countries...?

Hanxa — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:48:47 -0800

That makes me feel... great and yet scared.... Come on Aisian countries and get writing... please?
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NaNoWriMo 2008
Highest Daily Word Count - 33,582
Current Word Count - 33,582
Daily Goal - 16667
Number of Deaths so far - 3
Number of Words Behind Daily Target - -17,185

Europe :: England :: Essex

Write-a-thon 2008: A night of writing dangerously

tekiegirl — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:16:33 -0700

Why should the Americans have all the fun? http://www.nanowrimo.org/writeathon

I'm up for organising one of these for Essex, but we need to find a venue. Any ideas?
The American one is from 6-11pm, but we could have it at any time.

I'm thinking somewhere in the Basildon/Laindon/Pitsea/Wickford/Billericay area, or near to that.
A restaurant/coffee shop?

Maybe we could make it a fund-raiser for the Young Writers Program. It's up to you.
We could get sponsorship for the amount of words we write on the day : )

Who's up for it?
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NaNoWriMo 2008
Highest daily word count: 5,495
Words behind target: 0
Cups of mint tea: 8
Cups of coffee: 9
Cups of Lemsip: 10

Europe :: England :: Essex

15K shout out!

Eveline_uk — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 11:37:46 -0800

I never thought I'd see this, as I'm not fully in love with my story which is causing me some problems, but here it is: 15K and a bit. Yayyy!

Anyone else celebrating with me?
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Limeric's

humphreys-about — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:02:30 -0700

On the topic of having fun lets see who can write the best limeric that includes the word NaNOWri Mo.
(W hat do they Call a Word like NaNoWri Mo)

There once was a young lady from Harlow
Who thought she was Shakespear or Marlow
Each November she wrote in a frenzy
With a speed her freinds could just envy
The result of a thing called NaNoWriMo

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Europe :: England :: Essex

Greetings

christmascakegirl — Sun, 5 Oct 2008 11:14:06 -0700

Thought I'd be the first from Essex Region to say Hello!

I'm doing Creative Writing as part of my OU degree and thought Nanowrimo would be a good discipline for me. That and I'm looking forward to writing without continuous editing as is my sad habit!

I live near Stansted Airport, so if there are any others from the area doing this that fancy getting together for a motivating beer, then drop me a mail!

Best wishes,

Sally ( Christmascakegirl!)
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Word Wars

Miss_Chant — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 09:32:46 -0800

Hi!

If anyone has AIM I've started a Chat Room for UKnanoers who are interested in warring - ukwordwars. There's quite a bit time difference between the UK and the USA and often I've found that I miss out on wars unless it's on the weekend where I can stay up longer. I was thinking it could be open:

Weekdays: 5PM-9PM ish
Weekends: 5PM-12AM+ ish (depending on interest)

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Europe :: England :: Essex

Top tips for giving your word-count a good kick in the pants!

tekiegirl — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 06:24:00 -0800

OK everyone, it's time to share your tops tips; things that you have now discovered can give your word-count a good kick in the pants and send you soaring past your word goal for the day.

How are you meeting your goal and pushing through those oh so many uninspired times, staring at the keyboard and willing it to type for you?

Here's what I have found works for me:

1. Turn the monitor off and just type. Did I just misspell that? Did I put in the quotation marks? It doesn't matter. Put in the space you aren't sure you typed already and carry on!

2. Take a break every so often, when you feel that a scene is at its end. Total up your word count for this writing session and work out your words per minute. Did you beat your wpm from your last session? Then treat yourself!

3. When you work out your word count for that last session, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever, reward yourself depending on how much you have written. I personally give myself a large sweet for every 100 words and a small sweet for every 50 words, so 657 words turns into three milk bottles, two skittles and five jelly beans. Yum!

4. Use the rewards from number 3 to fuel yourself through the next writing session.

5. Just stick to your word goal for the day. Even if it means writing the worst scene of drivel you have every come up with. It's quantity over quality. You may edit the whole scene out in the rewrite (if you do rewrite), but it doesn't matter now. It all counts towards your daily goal and that oh so important 50k.

6. Did you just let the reader know too much? Does that scene not fit in with your story at all? Don't delete it, leave it and continue. It all counts toward the 50k and you can always take it out in the rewrite!

7. Add some NaNoWriMo love to your computer desktop. There are many to choose from in the forums, or try my own:
800x600 pixels, 1024x768 pixels, 1280x1024 pixels

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NaNoWriMo 2008
Highest daily word count: 5,495
Words behind target: 0
Cups of mint tea: 8
Cups of coffee: 9
Cups of Lemsip: 10

Europe :: England :: Essex

Ok, we have a really slow moving, boring regional area here!

Capricious_Angel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:23:06 -0700

so, we should have some fun!

if anyone can think of any games (i know of a couple of appropriate ones which i will start) or something, we should!
cos seriously, these 'lets meet up ahhgh when?' and 'plotline' topics are all very well, but lets have some FUN!!!!

so, anything no nanowrimo you've written, post in this topic. i'll make another one for games, when i have some agreement that we need fun. maybe this is just a boring region, i don't know, but seriously...
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to write? or... not to write. hmmm...
.....
....
...
..
.
Write.
xox Capricious_Angel xox

Europe :: England :: Essex

Meeting in Braintree

psychedelic_silence — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 07:01:03 -0700

Braintree is the easiest place for me to get to, so I was wondering if anyone else was able to get to a meet up in Braintree library in November?
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Forming a Writing Group

Hanxa — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:02:30 -0700

Was just thinking, coming off the brainstorming night idea, who would be happy with an "unofficial" writing group held at chelmsford library... maybe one a fortnight or something. It wouldn't just have to be writing... But we could bring stuff along to get tips for improvement or to see if it gets the reaction you want, or we could discuss various plots... we could talk about books we like to read and be pciky over fine details (love picking out errors :p). Some weeks we could just get together for the sake of getting together and talking, hanging out and stuff. Just wondering what people would think of that.

Ideally every other Saturday afternoon, but Sunday afternoons are good too. I say every fortnight so we aren't giving up every week for it.

Another plus is, for those of us who (and I admit to this) have had their souls eaten by NaNoWriMo and are planning in february or whenever (I started in December ><) then its something else we can do.

It's just an idea. Any other suggestions and anyone who's interested, please let me know. Would be fun to get together with people who hold the same interest in writing etc.
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NaNoWriMo 2008
Highest Daily Word Count - 33,582
Current Word Count - 33,582
Daily Goal - 16667
Number of Deaths so far - 3
Number of Words Behind Daily Target - -17,185

Europe :: England :: Essex

Not Long Now

Hurley Murley — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:15:22 -0700

4 hours and 45 minutes to go, and counting! Bring on midnight!
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Genre?

Hurley Murley — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:12:58 -0700

What genre are you doing this year and why ?

I'm doing horror, because I haven't read much horror but watch lots of horror films so I have a good idea of what scares me but not many preconceptions of how it should be written.

Could be a recipe for disaster, but I'm willing to take the risk!
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Europe :: England :: Essex

Title and Plot

humphreys-about — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:46:01 -0700

Hi all,
Thought I'd Get started On the nitty Gritty ,
Whats Your Title and Plot.

At the momment I'm Toying with the idea of "The Four Leaved Clover"
Following a "magical" Four leaf Clover and the effect it has on different lives
Starting with an infant in the first cahapter , then a toddler in the next etc , etc
Fantasy of course

Anybody else got they're main ideas Yet.

Cyril

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Europe :: England :: Essex

Carry on the story - This is one of my favourite story games!

tekiegirl — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:51:02 -0700

The idea is for each person to continue the story. You only write a paragraph or so, and leave it at a point that the next person can continue from, in the most interesting/funny/stupid way they can. Here's your starter for 10...

The moonlight dripped sluggishly through the twisted trees. Creeping along the path, Marlo was wishing that he had waited till morning to traverse the forest.
The shadows began to form strange shapes in his mind. Just as he was sure there was something huge stalking beside him the moon was eclipsed by a cloud. Sweat trickled between his shoulder blades. He turned at the crack of a twig...
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NaNoWriMo 2008
Highest daily word count: 5,495
Words behind target: 0
Cups of mint tea: 8
Cups of coffee: 9
Cups of Lemsip: 10

Europe :: England :: Essex

Brainstorming Night?

kj_canuck — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 02:41:50 -0700

Hey all,
I am new to England and know no one over here. Being as it is coming to a close to the first week of October I was wondering if there was anyone in teh region that wanted to get togeher and swap a few ideas they have going around in there head. Get some feed back and expand the ideas a little.
I am not sure where we can meet, but if anyone is interested then let me know and we can plan from there.
Looking forward to meeting some of you.
KJ x
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KJ x