I can't believe it's the end of Nanowrimo already. Where did the month go?
The novel count validation counter is on the edit profile page. The instructions seem pretty clear to me, but
I remember my first Nano well enough to suspect it feel a little intimidating. So, in no particular order:
The time zone setting on your edit profile (account settings) should be set for your local time. This allows you to work up until midnight. If it's set for, oh, East Coast time the Nano-counting robots will think you've hit midnight several hours too early.
The word count robots seem to count lower than Rough Draft's, and I'm sure other programs also use their own algorithims. The instructions on the page give you some ideas on what to do about this so you don't get caught at the last minute. My first year I added a 100 word author's thankyou to my file right before I sent it, just in case. Turned out I didn't need it but it soothed my nerves.
Speaking of the last minute, there's always a mad rush to validate word count as November 30 winds down. The earlier this evening you can try to validate your count, the better.
We'd like to remind everyone, regardless of word count, that we're gathering tomorrow (December )1 at the Old World Deli for a Thank God It's Over celebration at 2:30 PM. Hope to see you there.
Also, if you haven't done so already, please consider hitting the donate button in the Nanowrimo navigation bar. Each year thousands of folks take part in this event and fewer than 10% donate toward keeping the site running or furthering the site's charity activities. Many of the folks on staff, including some of the most prolific and helpful names in the forums, are unpaid volunteers. Next year will be the 10th annual Nanowrimo, and I know that Chris Baty and the gang would love to be able to put on a great event with a knock you out wonderful site. The donation page explains all about it, and what they do with your money. There's also a cool graph on the site's homepage which details more about the costs when you roll your cursor over it.
Plus, you'll get a nifty halo by your name on your forum posts.
I'm going to go buy myself this year's tee shirt now. See you all tomorrow!
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Co-ML Oregon: Albany/Corvallis
