gatherings - meetings, write-ins - see the first post and the calendar - last write-in is SUNDAY 11/25

Holley,
I'm not sure which Panera or Starbucks you mean because they are at least two of each in the over the mountain area. Hoover, The Summit, etc. are a no-go for me.

Mt. Brook is doable. I've been to the Emmet O'Neal Library once by getting off I-20 W right before Century Plaza (Exit 132), and taking Montevallo Rd. Mapquest lies sometimes but it shows Jonathan Benton as being only a couple of miles further. I know Marie Peerson, the manager there from her days at Crosshaven Books, before Sonny got sick. Marie's fun & always helpful. JB's hours are 9:00 am--8:00 pm Mon.--Sat. Closed on Sundays.

The number of computer hookups isn't an issue for me because the motherboard on my laptop died a couple of years ago. Sob, sniffle. I'll have to Old School it with pen & paper. Comfortable seats are a huge issue for me--I have a bad back. I teach class on Tuesdays, but I can manage any other days/nights, as long as it's noonish or later. I write way into the wee hours of night.

I'm off to tinker with my settings--make Birmingham my Home Region & add you to my Buddy List, in case you need to update me quickly.

Thanks,
Janice

I'll be in Gainesville this weekend, but for future gatherings, any of those locations works for me.

I am open for any of those options. I would probably car pool with Janice. It's almost here, I'm so excited.

Hi Holley,
I participated with the Birmingham group a couple years ago. I would be up for a meeting this weekend. Nothing ever seems to actually crystallize in Mississippi as far as an actual time, location and place for a meeting, and its always fun to talk to other Wrimos in person. So I'd like to be a part of the Birmingham group.

Looking forward to Nano this year. This year, unless a tree falls on my house or something really big happens in November, I'm going to make it to 50,000. Take care, Ed

28th looks clear for me at the moment .

I'm really busy the 27th, so I wouldn't be able to come then.

The 28th sounds awesome! How about we meet at Barnes and Noble at the Patton Creek? Or Panara.

I'm so excited!!

Patton Creek, Hoover, et al are way too far. Tim and I will already be driving 35 miles just to reach Mountain Brook. Both of the dates, Saturday the 27th and Sunday the 28th are fine. We can make either one.

Okay, looks like Jonathan Benton works for most people and they've been very good to us there. But if we meet there, we will have to do it Saturday the 27th as they are closed on Sundays.

Let's shoot for Saturday the 27th at Jonathan Benton at 4 p.m. Is 4 p.m. good for y'all? (I can meet any time after 3 p.m.) I'm sure we'll be there at least a couple hours, so say 4 - 6 p.m.

Info:

Jonathan Benton Bookseller
2705 Culver Road, Mountain Brook Village
Birmingham, AL 35223

This is very near the zoo and botanical gardens. You could actually walk there from the botanical gardens. Anyone who's unsure of the location, it's near Hollywood Blvd/Montevallo Rd and Cahaba Rd. Here's a map. Try MapQuest or GoogleMaps for directions from your location.

Hello Ed from Mississippi! I remember you. I think that was two years ago, yeah. You are definitely welcome at our gatherings. Do you remember how to get to the bookstore?

If anyone has any questions or concerns or needs any help, please don't hesitate to let me know.

For those of you who can't make the Kick-Off because of time or location or any other reason, we can meet at other locations that work better for others of you for our write-ins or whatever else y'all want to have. We should be meeting at least once during November, around half-way in, because, omg, the half-way point is rough for a lot of wrimos.

We should have official NaNo goodies by the midway point meeting or, failing that, for sure by our TGIO (which traditionally has been at Davenport's Pizza which is a block or two from Jonathan Benton).

I'll see y'all Saturday!

Sounds good. Count us in (Tim's riding shotgun).

I'd totally be in if I weren't going to be out of town this weekend. Hopefully the next one, though.

I'll be there - looking forward to it.

p.s. Is anyone else having trouble getting notified on posts to a thread. Previously, on logon there was a place where it showed mail/posts with links to new posts. I've checked all the boxes but I am not getting anything.

This morning I got an e-mail to my personal e-mail of a post on 10/10??

I've contacted tech and they've been no help so far. Any suggestions.

Perle
perlesink.blogspot.com

There are some forum kinks still being worked out now, I believe. I can't keep up with where I've posted or when more posts have been made in a thread since it doesn't seem to accurately show the date/time of the last post. Also, the forums are painfully slow except at about 3 a.m. I understand these things are being worked on. I am not sure about the notifications, but the problems are probably linked. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

Ha, forum problems are just part of the tradition of NaNoWriMo now, I think. At this point, it would feel odd to me not to be experiencing some problems.

Hope meet went well. I thought I'd be back in time, but having to stay over in Atlanta til Monday. Maybe next time.
I hope they get the site running more smoothly soon. I'm getting no notifications at all, and my signature is not appearing on any of my posts. It's asham they've apparently expanded beyond their server capacity. So far this hasn't been as much fun as the past few years.

Hey, y'all. The Kick-Off went well. Janice and Tim, it was a pleasure to meet you. And, Andy, it was so nice to see you again. I hope the rest of you can make some of these other meetings.

Speaking of which!

We'll be meeting three Saturdays - 11/3, 11/10, and 11/24 at:

Little Professor Book Center
2717 S. 18th Street
Homewood, AL 35209

1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Here is a map. If you're familiar with the area, it's right near downtown Homewood across from the post office. It's near Hwy 31, so it should be fairly accessible to people coming from outside the area. You can use MapQuest or GoogleMaps for directions from your location.

We will be meeting in the cafe (Crepe Myrtle's), so if you'd like to get some lunch, that would be awesome. The food is excellent and there are vegetarian options if you're into that. They also have coffee, of course. I am all about the coffee.

Please feel free to bring along whatever you're working on. I am not sure they really have places to plug in laptops, so if you'd like to get some writing done, make sure your battery's all charged up. We will probably mostly be talking about our NaNo-novels.

Note: there is a slight possibility (unavoidable) that I will not be able to attend the first one (11/3), or that I will be late or will have to leave early, but there will be two other veteran wrimos there for sure, so you will be in good hands. I will definitely be at the other two meetings.

Also, just so y'all know - absolutely everyone who participates in NaNoWriMo is welcome at our TGIO, which will probably be December 1st. Traditionally, we have met at Davenport's Pizza. We can talk more about that later.

Happy noveling to you all! I'm wishing everyone the best this month. Please don't hesitate to shoot me a NaNoMail if you need me. I'll be checking in daily.

Holley,
I enjoyed talking writing with you and Andy. Tim and I left loaded up with NaNo tips for sticking 'til the end and reaching 50,000. I appreciated y'all sharing the wealth.

Tim and I can't be at the B'ham gathering this Saturday. But we're doing a Write-In at the Pell City Library this Thur Nov 1st from 5:00--7:00 PM. Fuller details on the Alabama: Elsewhere Region boards. We do plan on making one of your mid-month gatherings.

Hugs,
Janice

I'm a newbie to NaNoWriMo, but I do live in Birmingham, I go to UAB, and I will more than likely be showing up at Little Professor on Saturday! I'm super excited to meet some new people who have done this before!

- Jill

I am hoping to join the group of bham wrimos--just found ut about this a couple of weeks ago--please let me know how I can be a part of the community...I am going to do 50k if it kills me...

Welcome to the newcomers!

Janice, I added the Pell City write-in to the B'ham calendar since there are so many people here who're closer to Pell City. If you'll send me a NaNoMail with your other Pell City gatherings, I'll put them on our calendar, too. (The Elsewhere ML should also be able to do that for the Elsewhere calendar.)

Hey, Jill. Yay for more UAB people.

Josh, I replied to you in another thread about regional affiliations, but I'd say that if you're here, you're part of this region.

Everyone: Perhaps we can just meet at Little Professor for the mid-month crying festival. Or at Jonathan Benton, where we had our Kick-Off, if we meet on a Saturday. Does Saturday seem to work best for most people? And is an afternoon good? If y'all like the Little Professor thing, we could just go with that for our mid-month thing on Saturday 11/17. (Janice and Tim, Little Professor is about five minutes from Jonathan Benton and I would be happy to meet y'all at JB and let you follow me to LP if you'd like - if we do meet at LP, that is.)

Or, if y'all would prefer to meet in the evening for dinner and/or drinks or whatever, that would certainly be fine. Roll it around in your heads and we can decide for sure next week.

Holley,
Thanks for posting today's event in Pell City. Way easier than me posting in a bunch of boards, trying to notify everybody. Duh!

I haven't been to Little Professor in eons but I vaguely recall where it is ... I'll do the Mapquest thing to refresh my memory.

Later,

Holley,
Thanks for posting today's event in Pell City. Way easier than me posting in a bunch of boards, trying to notify everybody. Duh!

I haven't been to Little Professor in eons but I vaguely recall where it is ... I'll do the Mapquest thing to refresh my memory.

Later,

Holley,
Thanks for posting today's event in Pell City. Way easier than me posting in a bunch of boards, trying to notify everybody. Duh!

I haven't been to Little Professor in eons but I vaguely recall where it is ... I'll do the Mapquest thing to refresh my memory.

Later,

Holley,
Thanks for posting today's event in Pell City. Way easier than me posting in a bunch of boards, trying to notify everybody. Duh!

I haven't been to Little Professor in eons but I vaguely recall where it is ... I'll do the Mapquest thing to refresh my memory.

Later,

i'm not sure if i'll be able to make Saturday the 3rd's meeting....i'd love to, since this is my first NANO and i'd love to meet you guys, but i have my mother in law's b'day this weekend and as of right now (friday morning) i still don't know the schedule of festivities.

Two new dates for write-ins in Pell City. (spamalope, check the calendar for dates and times. If you can't make the B'ham stuff, maybe you can some of the Pell City write-ins.)

I hope to see y'all tomorrow at Little Professor at 1 p.m., but there is still a chance I will not be able to make it (or will be late or will have to leave early). Whenever I next see everyone, I have some fun stickers from NaNo HQ.

Hope everyone has a good and productive weekend!

I'll see you all at the Little Professor on the 10th. :)

~Ann

All right Holley, I'm thouroughly confused. Which of the Birmingham meetings is the mid-month, we should be halfway there, oh God we have a whole half to go, can I cry on your shoulder meeting? I can't make a lot, but I want to make sure I come to that one.

Looks like we might have a decent group this Saturday, the 10th. (We had a very decent group last Saturday, but half the group isn't posting, so they are, like, invisible wrimos. You know who you are.)

Tim, that meeting should be next Saturday, the 17th. I posted this bit upthread:

If no one has objections, we can just stick with the usual 1-3 p.m. at Little Professor. But, Tim, I know you and Janice were planning on a write-in in Pell City that overlaps with that. So...would Pell City prefer to have your write-in activities here in B'ham that day or would you rather shuffle your write-in time/date and do both your write-in and our mid-month celebration/venting session/crying festival? We still have time to iron this out, since it's a week away.

I'll see y'all at Little Professor in the cafe Saturday the 10th at 1 p.m. I will have stickers from NaNo HQ. Yay!

Oh, by the way, at the last meeting, we agreed to bring along an excerpt, maybe just a few pages, to share. No one has to share who doesn't want to, but it will be super awesome for you if you need some plot bunnies. I promise, you have never seen a plot bunny infestation like the plot bunny infestation we can create at a meeting. We will bury all of Homewood in delicious plot bunnies! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

I don't know what to do about the schedule. I originally set the Pell City meeting on the 17th because there wasn't & still isn't anything listed for B'ham on the 17th in the Events listing at the bottom of the main Regions page so I thought we wouldn't be conflicting. Changing the Pell City Sat. to a different Sat. is no big deal but ...

I have to drive to B'ham Sunday the 18th for my B'ham writers crit group from 2:00--5:00 PM. It would be killer hard on my back/hips/knees for me to make the trip two days in a row.

Janice ... wanders off ...
... muttering to self in Hobbit-Speak ...
wondering if this plot complication can be shoe-horned into her Kin Keeper novel ...

I'm not the biggest fan of forums, which I suppose is not the best trait for a wrimo, but I'll try to be more visible.
And make it to the meeting on Saturday...excerpt in hand.

Dinner and drinks sounds great to me, I can't do Mondays or Wednesdays. Saturdays are the best for me in general (oh, the joys of working 9-5).

I assume I should just look for the harried-looking folks with laptops and piles of paper on Saturday?

-Jason

Janice, I have an idea. Perhaps we can do both days. We'll go ahead and meet Saturday afternoon at Little Professor and then whoever is available and wants to could meet somewhere for dinner Sunday evening, say around 5:30 or 6 p.m.? How does that sound? People can come to both events if they like or just one if that works better for them. (Janice, what part of town is your meeting in?)

How does that sound to everyone? I am talking about meeting 1-3 p.m. Saturday 11/17 at Little Professor and also meeting somewhere for dinner on Sunday 11/18 around 6 p.m.

Jason, I'm glad you'll be making it to Little Professor Saturday. We'll probably be outside in the back if it's reasonably warm. I am not sure who all else is coming, but I will definitely be there. Me: chunky, curly brown hair, wearing a "Careful, Or You'll End Up In My Novel" shirt.

Happy noveling, everyone!