Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Word War Signup

Marie Rex — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:04:26 +0000

This is the thread to sign up for the word war.

Here are the rules again.

Please READ them and then put your name in only once. Don't chat in here, I'll set up a separate thread for that.

2009 Rules:
Eligibility
You must live within the UK or Ireland, and be relatively close to the region you wish to represent.
Sign-ups
Your ML will provide a "Word War Sign Up” thread on your local forum to track word count. Participants will post ONCE in the Word War Sign Up thread by 8pm on 10th November stating that they wish to participate. There is a minimum team size of five participants. If less than five people sign-up to take part, your ML has the option of joining forces with another region in order to increase the team size. If your ML is unwilling or unable to do so and you still wish to take part, you may go direct to another region and ask to join their team, but please give your ML time to arrange for the entire team to join another one before you do this.

The Regional Word War
You must update your word count every two days, on the even numbered days of the month, by 8pm. If you are unable to update your count, contact your ML. During the last partial week (26th –– 29th Nov), you must update your word count daily, by 8pm. If this isn't possible, contact your ML immediately.
If you do not update your word count on four consecutive occasions (8 days) it will be assumed that you have given up and you will be removed from the war (unless you already have more than 50k). If you know that you’re going to be away and won’t be able to update, let your ML know so that we can prevent this automatic removal. (The final date that non-updaters will be removed is the 24th Nov, after this date, all surviving participants will remain in the competition.)
You must input your final (verified) word count by midnight on 30th November. After midnight, you will no longer be able to update your count.
Scoring
You may drop out of the Regional Word War at any time up to 8pm on 20th November without affecting your region's count. If you do not drop out by messaging either myself or your ML, you will be in for the remainder of the competition, NO MATTER WHAT!
If, as a result of automatic elimination or voluntary removal, your team falls below five members, your ML will be given 48 hours to arrange to join another team (this may be extended slightly on negotiation with myself, this is the first time we've had this rule and I'm not sure how it's going to work yet) after which the team will be disqualified. Up to 8pm on the 24th of November, any remaining team members who wish to continue to take part can join one of the other teams (with that team's permission). After this deadline all teams will be fixed.

During the Regional Word War there will be a regularly updated leader board on an external web site. I'll post a link to this board to each competing region as soon as I've confirmed it.
Only the official word count from the "Word War Sign Up" threads on the NaNoWriMo web site will be considered when computing the final score.

After midnight on 30th November, I will ask the other MLs from competing regions (or their designated representatives) to verify the figures before declaring a winner.

Results
There will be two prizes:
The city/region with the highest average word count.
The city/region with the highest proportion of winners from the starting participants.
The MLs will compare results, and when all regions agree, the results will be posted on the NaNo boards.

Banter
Participants are encouraged to engage in good-natured banter with participants from other regions in the various Word War Banter threads. Banter should remain good-natured and within the bounds of good-sportsmanship. The use of 'smileys' in messages is actively encouraged.

Our God-like powers
MLs decide what "good-sportsmanship" means.
We reserve the right to remove folks from the competition for any violation of the rules and guidelines listed above.
MLs are the final authority in any dispute or question about the rules.

Trophies
Each team member receives a personalised winner's certificate, plus goodies to be determined...
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Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

'Padding' Your Word Count ~ You can make it, just believe in the Power of your NaNo! :)

orangetuna — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 22:22:22 +0000

Someone wrote to take out all of the hypens so that you will have two words instead of one.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

I am going to go back through and; spell out all of my numbers, take out the hypens, change compounds, change ECT to Et Cetera.

Someone is even using BLAH to replace; periods, commas. I guess any little bit that helps our NaNo is a plus! :)

You can make it to 50,000 ~ Good-luck everyone :)
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Orangetunawriter

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Ayrshire and Arran

Dominco Dancall — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:55:46 +0000

Hiii all!

Hope you are bountifully inspired and able to carry on in the same vein throughout the month. Here's to each and everyone's great success in a writing career.

Anyone around the North Ayrshire and Arran area? Gimme a Holla!

Any tips from anyone would be appreciated.

Much love
DJ
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Word War Info - Edited 6 Nov.

Loriba — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:22:52 +0000

Hi all,

This thread is primarily for me to post info about the Word War to all competitors, so it's being cross-posted to all the regions taking part. If you want to make any comments, however, feel free. :-)

ETA: Here's the link to the leader board: http://www.annelyle.com/projects/scoreboard.html

The regions currently signed up are:

Birmingham
Brighton
Cambridge
Darlington
Devon & Cornwall
Essex
Gloustershire
Lancaster & Cumbria
Leicester
London
Manchester
Newcastle
Norfolk
Oxfordshire
York & Leeds
Dublin
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Eng: Elsewhere
Scot: Elsewhere

Birmingham have made enquiries about joining too. I'm waiting to hear back from them.

Only one region has given a definite No, so we may get a lot more before the 10th. Here's hoping. :-)

All those regions that are signed up should have a Banter thread, so feel free to go over and give them hell (but in a nice way). :-)

There may be a slight delay in the War starting up, as we're reliant on the site API working and the site is notoriously slow during the first few days of Nano, plus we're running it in a slightly different way this year and I'm not sure what problems will crop up because of that. In addition, one of Anne's cats is very seriously ill at the moment, so she may not have time to work on it. I'll be in touch with her and will let all the relevant MLs know if we have to make other arrangements at all. I'll also be in touch when I know the URL of the leader board. :-)

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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: Scotland :: Isle of Skye

Interested in a word war?

Marie Rex — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:43:20 +0000

Folks we have been offered the chance to join the UK/Ireland Word War. I'm posting the rules below.
PLEASE read them.

We need a team of no less than 5.

Consider them and if there is enough interest I'll do the sign up thread.

After midnight on 30th November, I will ask the other MLs from competing regions (or their designated representatives) to verify the figures before declaring a winner.

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Buddy Up Here

Marie Rex — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:22:03 +0000

This is to encourage those of you who have done this before, win or lose, to help out new folks. Or get help for yourself.

If you are willing to help, put your name in the hat here. If you need help do the same.

Then send messages back and forth to keep it going.

I have found that some kind of daily check in with each other really helps.

So go to it folks!
----------
Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

chapters

crimsontwilight — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:14:07 +0000

ive managed to sort out my work into twenty two chapters i have a few more to add and will be around thirty chapters is this enough and how long should a chapter be as some of them are quite short but they dont fit into other chapters so need their own.

also im thinking of giving each chapter a title of their own but not sure.

i would be interested to know how others are sorting their work
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Inverness Meet Up - Saturday the 14th

Marie Rex — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:04:55 +0000

The Marvelous Melody has come through for us and sent me the following information:

"I gave Leakey's a call today about the Inverness meet up and they seem happy to have us. However, it does get very busy on Saturdays so we would either have to go not long after they open or before they close so as to miss the lunch-time rush. Charles said it would probably only manage to be about an hour and a half and we would all need to purchase something (even just a drink) from the cafe to be there.

Anyway, to cut to the jist of it, they are happy to take us but would like it formalised. They would like to know an idea of how many people would be attended (as accurate a number as possible) as soon as possible. I was wondering if perhaps you could ask people somehow if they would be attending to get numbers as quickly as I can for Charles."

So folks this is your chance. The afternoon would be best for me, say about 3 to half 4. I know they make wonderful chocolate cake.

So if you can make it the afternoon of the 14th. I need an RSVP in here.

Well done and many thanks to Melody.

----------
Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Word War Banter

Marie Rex — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:06:30 +0000

This is the place for all the word warriors to be repeatedly encouraged and chat.

I expect you all to play nice and work double hard. It is about time we had a win here.

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Dumfries & Galloway?

jmkirk — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:22:49 +0000

I'm sure I asked this before the forums were scrubbed for a new year. I'm in Castle Douglas about 16 miles from Dumfries. Anyone else in this region?
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http://jmkirk.blogspot.com
http://fantasy-scribbler.blogspot.com

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Anyone in the Highlands? Especially around Inverness?

melodyheckyeah — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:25:45 +0000

I've just discovered this project and think it's a brilliant idea, although I'm really rubbish at writing and probably won't have the time to do 50,000 words since I'm doing a couple of advanced highers an am pretty busy!
Anyway, I live outside of a little (terrible) village called Muir of Ord which is about 13 miles north of Inverness. If any of you guys out in the big, bad cyber space that is this forum are from anywhere near Inverness reply and let me know. Would be cool to talk to you and maybe eventually meet up :)

I'm Melody, by the way. Pleased to meet you!
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Welcome Folks!

Marie Rex — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:12:23 +0000

Hi everyone,

Just want you all to know that I'm here and on watch.

Spent the summer in remodeling hell. We are on week 28 of the 12 week project to rebuild my porch. But it is starting to look as if there is an end in sight.

How was everyone's summer?

Are you all ready to write?

Post a hello and a quick intro.

I'm Anastasia aka Marie Rex
I'm on the Isle of Skye
This is my 8th year of doing NaNoWriMo
I've won 7 times
This is my 3rd year of being an ML
I am still not a writer, I'm still a seamstress.
I'm happy to be back

Cheers
Anastasia
----------
Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

People in Falkirk

dreadfulscathe — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:29:49 +0000

Anyone in the Falkirk area ? We have no "region" of our own - boohoo etc...

I really doubt I'll find time to get 50,000 words but i'm going to give it a shot anyway and would be happy to meet up with a few of you.
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

How do you overcome the initial blank page

pepperminty12 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:50:36 +0000

I'm very new to this (around an hour old!) but since joining all buoyed up with a load of ideas, I have suddenly got immediate writers block when faced with a blank page...

can anyone give me some tips on starting?

how did you do it?
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

What will you be cooking/baking to keep your spirits up?

orangetuna — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:01:58 +0000

I haven't decided on my 'Home' Region as yet, but it will be the midwest somewhere USA. Scotland is one of my faved regions. I'm baking a host of goodies before hand to have ready, and freezing alot of cookie dough and such. All recipes welcome! :)
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Orangetunawriter

Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

What I learned...

1Bigdog — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:47:27 +0000

Here is a (hopefully) encouraging post for those of you taking up pens/typewriters/notebooks etc this year.

Here's what I learned last year, my very first.

1. It's only 1666 words per day.

2. I managed 50,001 words on one idea, no plan. If I can - you can.

3. Pay attention to the other established author tips that come in, I found I had more in common with regard to their writing dilemmas and problems than I could have imagined.

4. Don't wait for inspiration. Write!

5. You've reached that point, you think what you're writing is guff! Write it anyway! Between 39,000 and 43,000 I thought what I had written was indeed utter guff, it took me ages, it made no sense. I read it back after, I couldn't tell where it was, it did make sense (perhaps because it was all guff!? No matter! It was my guff!). It's the equivalent of a runners stitch.

6. Once you get going, you wont want to stop (until 5 happens and even then you can write through that).

7. Finishing is amazing.

8. If you are thinking about it and not writing, stop. Start writing. If you are thinking about it and can't wait to get back to writing regardless of the circumstances, then you are hooked, keep going!

9. Only you will stop you from writing.

10. Apologise in advance to relatives/ friends/ team mates/ work colleagues. You are going to be busy and selfish for 1 month. Now...write!

I can't join you this year- work and children have to take precedence. I am sad about that, but I did win last year "grins". I really enjoyed it.

I hope you do too! Good luck!

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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Anyone in the Scottish Borders

newhousehaugh — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:18:03 +0000

I live in kelso and would be interested in contacting anyone in the Scottish Borders.
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Good to go!

Scottish Diva — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:26:36 +0000

I've designed my cover and a brief synopsis - just waiting for my new Moleskine notebook to arrive from Amazon and then I can start making notes. I have a plan! hehe

Anyone else already preparing?
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

anyone in st andrews?

maliaphire — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:38:49 +0000

Hi,
I'm a first year student in st andrews and was wondering if there's anyone else out there?
Maliaphire.
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Are we doing Buddy-ing this year?

Spa-Town-Girl — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:42:38 +0000

It was a big help to me last year to have someone who had signed up to nag me, and I hope it worked both ways.

if anyone is intersted in volunteering to be a buddy for anyone else and cheer them on to keep their word count up, perhaps we can use this thread to volunteer and pair up?

Anyone wanna be my buddy?
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Europe :: Scotland :: Elsewhere

Event Calendar notes

Marie Rex — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:16:05 +0000

This topic is for folks to let me know of things they would like on the calendar.

Providing, of course that I can figure out how to get the stupid thing working.

I do not like the Google calendar and as near as I can tell the feeling is mutual. *mutter....grumble...fuss*

To have something on the calender please leave the following information:

Date
Time
Location

I'm sure I'll figure it out, eventually.
----------
Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening