Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

The Last Thing You Wrote

TristanPEJ — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:06:19 +0000

Always funny, just give the last sentence of your nano novel. Less context the better.

"Edmund smiled inwardly as the diplomat ate what could probably be compared to shredded hot dogs swimming in garlic and pretended it tasted like gourmet."
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Chris' Night of Writing Dangerously adventure...

chrisk0 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:37:23 +0000

As some of you know, I'm going to San Fran to represent Hamilton at the Night of Writing Dangerously...

And my brother should be here within ten minutes to take me to the Toronto airport. Whoo-hoo! Watch this space for further updates. :-)
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

TGIO party?

Fyreflixie — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:51:29 +0000

The Google Calendar says that our TGIO party is at 12:30am on the 1st, which I think is probably not right :)

So what's the actual time & place?
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Please Read!! The Latest Write-In News

Gale M-N — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:42:40 +0000

We're having difficulty revising the Google Calendar, so I thought I should post the updated version of when Write-Ins are happening:

Williams at the Pier
Sunday, Nov. 22, 1 - 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 24, evening (people arrive between 6 and 7, and depart between 8 and 9, depending on their schedules)
Sunday, Nov 29, 1 - 3 p.m.

Williams in Westdale (across from the Medical Centre)
Wednesday, Nov 24, evening

Starbucks on Upper James
These seem to have fizzled. However, if anyone would like to meet there, just post to say so and perhaps others will join you.

Burlington
If people want a Burlington write-in, they could post in the "Burlington" thread. Some Hamiltonians would likely join you, if the timing were right.
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Gale . . . www.ThornesQuest.com . . . or . . . www.stringingwords.com

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Novel Title Challenge

Gale M-N — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:17:24 +0000

We were talking about this at the Kick-Off yesterday. I think it was Ziggie's idea. Or maybe girlwithapearl's. Anyway, here's the challenge:

Include as many of your fellow region members' novel titles as you can somewhere in your own novel.

The way to participate is to add your novel's working title to the list. By doing so, you are committing to try to include all the other novel titles somewhere in your own novel. Yes, you can take them out on the edit if you need to!

NOVEL TITLE LIST
"Intentions" - Gale M-N

Copy and paste the list and add your own title in! It'll be fun!
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Gale . . . www.ThornesQuest.com . . . or . . . www.stringingwords.com

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Sunday to Wednesday: The BACK ON TRACK Challenge

Gale M-N — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:41:38 +0000

I've noticed that there are a few of us who are somewhat behind schedule. I'm challenging us to try to get back on schedule by Wednesday so that the last few days of NaNo can be enjoyable rather than frantic.

The BACK ON TRACK Challenge, Sunday to Wednesday

32,791 / 41,675 - Gale M-N (approximately 2,500 words/day needed)

Anyone care to join me? Come on, folks! We CAN do this!

Add your name to the list, put in your word count right now and then figure out how many words you need to write each day for the next 4 days in order to be at 41,675 before you fall into bed on Wednesday night.
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Gale . . . www.ThornesQuest.com . . . or . . . www.stringingwords.com

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Teens in Hamilton!

Dj_Tigeress — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:52:10 +0000

Yeah, I'm looking for you. This is where we can battle between schools, figure out if there's anyone we really know that comes here, find more people.

So, basically about me:

Name's Jamie, I /am/ female, and I'm in Grade 9 at Parkside High School. Go Panthers!
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NaNo Story 2009: Binding Sands (Status: A bit of a fail)

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Mid-way meandering

girlwithapearl — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:33:17 +0000

For all my fellow Wrimos:

For 50-K the writer's strove,
Upon laptops and netbooks, the fingers drove.

For 30 days they swore to toil,
But at the halfway point, their heart's blood did roil.

For 25 thousand short words and long,
People scrambled and stuttered to make them sound strong.

Looking for sustenance, to meet others they went,
Seeing how friends their words had been spent.

With laughter and jostles, the words will come out,
Not perfect or pretty, but that's what Nano's all about.

Getting down something, romance, sci-fi,
Finding out at the halway point, your MC just must die.

We write for pleasure, though sometimes in pain,
Knowing at the end, confidence we'll gain.

So keep those hands moving, on paper or board,
And if you like, come visit, I'll be at 'The Vintage Horde.'

Keep writing everyone! Whether today you make 25k or 2000 words, keep going, there's magic to be found!

All the best,

Your humble (un-of) ML.

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Yes, I'm from Hamilton! Ask me about flying monkeys and dancing bananas!

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

How many words make up a book?

Scott487 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:29:40 +0000

Hi all, so since this is the first time I've tried anything like this, I was curious about where the bar lies in novel writing - how many words is 50,000... For instance, how would this compare to other books?

So I looked at Harry Potter... I assume most everyone is familiar with the works of JK... Love em or hate em, you can easily get an idea of the scope and breadth of these books by their thickness if nothing else.

So here goes:

Philosopher's Stone- 76,944 words

Chamber of Secrets - 85,141 words

Prisoner of Azkaban - 107,253 words

Goblet of Fire - 190,637 words

Order of the Phoenix - 257,045 words

Half-Blood Prince - 168,923 words

Deathly Hallows - 204,796 words

That gives me a much better idea about what this 50,000 words will result in. So I'm not going to feel bad if I get to the end of the month and still have more writing to do to finish the tale I've started! I'm just going to keep on plowing forward until I hit that 50 K goal and realize that this is easier than writing the first Harry Potter novel!

-S

(And now that I see the numbers I realize that there was an entire NaNoWriMo novel that could have been cut from the middle of Order of the Phoenix and it would have been much better... lol)
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Anyone else use Write or Die? (Tools thread?)

Scott487 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:40:29 +0000

I was just curious if anyone else used this tool - or what other tools you might use to plug ahead and force yourself to produce:

http://writeordie.drwicked.com/

So far, I've been mostly putting a word goal in for a specific time frame, then focussing on getting it done using Write or Die to keep me from procrastinating, then saving it out as a word doc with the date ... Everything is kept in order in a folder on my desktop by date (if I wrote two pieces that day, it'd be 091119 - 1.doc and 091119 - 2.doc for instance).

I decided not to break out chapters during the writing process, instead just forcing the story to flow along at whatever pace I could maintain, and then go back later and look at breaking it up, filling in the missing bits, revise and fix the text, write more for the beginning / introduction, fix inconsistencies etc...

Anyone else going this way? I'm wondering if I'm going to regret not having broken it up in chapters to begin with.

Anyways - I figured anything you wanted to talk about regarding how you're working, what tools and techniques you're using, would be worthwhile to share here. :)

-Scott
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Writing holy crap!

Scott487 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:23:52 +0000

So Fyreflyxie inspires me what with having already finished and continued on exceeding the 50K word mark... so I sorta did the "Wikipedia" buddies crawl, looking around at how other ppl are doing - you know, travelling down the six degrees of separation?

There's people in this contest who are over 500 thousand words.

One of them, if you look at their nanostats page, posted 50 thousand words on day 1.

Holy crap.

Anyways, if they can do 500 thousand... I can get to 50K no problem.

-S
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Donations, holy CRAP!!!

Scott487 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:23:14 +0000

What the hell happened?

This afternoon, the donation meter on the front of the site was at $250 K or so.

This evening it's at $330 K.

WTF? Who donated $80,000 in the last four hours?????????

Holy CRAP!!!
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

I'm sooooooo far behind...

twosolitudes — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:47:10 +0000

I was afraid this would happen.

last year I never let myself fall too far behind, but this year I figured that it wouldn't be much of a problem. But a few more days passed by and then the little voice started suggesting that maybe this year I shouldn't plan on finishing, and my motivation started to sag.

Now I'm finding myself counting how many words per day I'd have to produce to make it, and I think I may be up for the challenge.

Along those lines, what are the biggest deficits that people have come back from to finish on time? I could use an inspirational story here...

Rob
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

20 K more by end of the week

Lucy T. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:37:41 +0000

Hi all,

I want to have written 20K more words (bringing me to a bit over 30,000) this week by the time Sunday evening rolls around. I'm just posting that here to hold myself personally accountable. And if anyone wants to join me in this little pledge, all the better!

Lucy T.
0/20,000 words

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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Unofficial Write-ins

Ziggi — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:02:06 +0000

These happen when not scheduled by our lovely MLs.

As for me:
I have 10-12 off every day that is even [Nov 2, 4, 6, ect ect] from school.

I was wondering if anyone has that time available to meet in the West End somewhere [HPL, Second Cup, what have you]

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I'm from Hamilton, land of hysterical fiction filled with flying monkeys, dancing bananas, and sexy, cozy, violence

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Mid-way par-tay

girlwithapearl — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:13:07 +0000

Hello fellow Wrimos!

At our un-official write in at Williams on Sunday I brought up the idea of having a midway party, and (yikes) that would be this weekend. Elizabeth Twist rightly brought up that a week in NaNo terms was pretty far away, though.

Last year a fairly large group of us met at Kelsey's just across from Westdale highschool. It's right on a direct bus route, and they have a downstairs room that is fairly large and party-esque. It's bright and easy to chat with folks. Other place suggestions would be appreciated, but just bear in mind we may be fairly rowdy, we definitely want to be able to talk and eat a variety of foods and the place should be fairly accessible.

At these parties we don't write but more chat about what we are doing, get advice, and chill out for a bit.

So, I am proposing a midway party, but the dates I am fairly open with. Most likely it should be in the evening hours, but nothing too late, say 7:00-9:00 Friday, Saturday, or Sunday of this week.

Unfortunately, whatever day we choose 'some' won't be able to make it, but hopefully we can celebrate with those at one of the weekend day write ins.

So, let me know what you think. If enough are interested, we can have a go.

I am sure I've forgotten to say something important so if anyone thinks of other important information I have forgotten to post here, let me know.

Rhonda.
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Yes, I'm from Hamilton! Ask me about flying monkeys and dancing bananas!

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Nagging Gale

Gale M-N — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:05:07 +0000

When I first joined NaNo in 2006, I was concerned that I would not be able to write 50K. So I started a thread here in the regional forum called "Nagging Gale". I asked the other members of the region to nag me if they did not see my word count go up EVERY day. In 2007 and 2008, "Nagging Gale" was part of our regional dynamic.

I wasn't sure if I was going to have Nagging Gale this year. Not that I don't need it, of course; I certainly do. Just ... didn't know.

Anyway, Ziggi got a jump-start on Nagging Gale and sent me a PM asking where the thread was. So, here it is.

This thread is not just for nagging Gale. You can also use it to nag Ziggi ... Laural ... Peter ... Tristan ... Cayte ... FWG ... Welestra ... and everyone else in the region. New members, along with old members -- this is an equal opoortunity nagging thread!

I think that Ziggi called it the "random chat" thread, which is also a good purpose.

So .... how is everyone doing? With 13 hours to go, ARE YOU READY?

And, do you realize that November 1 has 25 hours, because of the change in Daylight Savings Time? How cool is that?!?
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Gale . . . www.ThornesQuest.com . . . or . . . www.stringingwords.com

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Burlington?

Fyreflixie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:11:06 +0000

Anyone out this way? I know of one other WriMo here, who I've met for coffee, but it'd be great to find a few more & maybe organize another coffee date :)
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

(Published) Fiction Set in Hamilton

Lucy T. — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:36:01 +0000

I was curious how many books have been set in Hamilton, and googling wasn't turning up too much, so I wrote to the reference desk at the Hamilton Public Library. They responded (really quickly--awesome service) with this. Do you know of any others that aren't on this (sadly kind of short) list?

PS Interesting: the reference librarian who replied (Robert Oldham) is an author himself. He's having a book signing/reading at Titles (McMaster bookstore) on Tuesday 17 November from 11:30-:230 PM for Go For a Soldier, his fourth book in my alternative history of W.W. II series (with a Hamilton hero and a Montreal heroine).

OK, here's the little list:

There are unfortunately not a lot of books or stories set in Hamilton.

These could be helpful:

Novels either set in Hamilton or partly set in Hamilton:

Fic KIN James King. Blue Moon. novel about murderess Evelyn may be set in Hamilton
Available at Concession or Turner Park branches.

Fic OLD Robert OIdham. Saving the King (hope you don’t mind mentioning this alternative history of W.W. II with a Hamilton hero that I wrote, it has mention of Hamilton several times and may even have a chapter called ‘Hamilton’ can’t remember exactly.) the 2002 edition is out right now with two holds but the 2005 revised edition has five copies being processed for take home you could reserve it and get

Short stories set in Hamilton or partly set in Hamilton:

Fic IMA James Strecker editor. Image Fiction. 2nd flr. Central Library

819.3 WEA Gerard Dion editor. Weave and Spin. 4th flr. Central Library

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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Nano fail ... yet again

Ziggi — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:41:32 +0000

This first week have been ... well, depressing.
like srsly.
If there's one thing I *know* I'm good at, it's writing [especially during nano]

As many of you know, I've switched stories yet again and am on ... lucky number 3.
4K in
Everything is going smoothly ...

THEN!

My laptop breaks.
And, I live for my laptop.
My entire LIFE is on that thing. No joke.

I mean, I have my story on my junk drive and, obvisously, I have access to another computer, but it's just ...
I'm strained. I'm sad. I was >this< close to giving up last night, too.

And, it's not looking good to get my lappy fixed any time soon.

Cheer me up :<
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I'm from Hamilton, land of hysterical fiction filled with flying monkeys, dancing bananas, and sexy, cozy, violence

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

I feel dirty

FWG — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:33:51 +0000

Most of my chapter titles run three to six words long. Somehow this chapter title came out of me:

Chapter 7
Of the great celebration and a parade and much festivities and the departure of the heroes and a bunch of other things and of the shameless way that the author is padding - and I mean oh so ever shamelessly and vulgarly padding - his word count if you know what I mean and I think that you do, for such are the lengths a desperate man will go to in the course of a NaNoWriMo novel writing contest.

So what is your worst NaNo inspired crime against literature... so far...?
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http://fantasywriterguy.blogspot.com/

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Write-Ins

Welestra — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:19:44 +0000

Last year we did them on the weekends and I think Tuesday and Thursday? I think that was it. Anyway, I think three ‘official’ write-ins worked pretty well, everyone seemed to like that idea and it seemed to give everyone enough opportunity to come to a write-in so we can repeat that this year. Punchcards WILL be back this year, so that’s some extra incentive to come out to events ;) So let us know roughly what works for you guys so we can start getting some dates on the calendar.

By the way, if people want to hold write-ins on other days that’s fine too, and either Gale or I would be more than happy to throw it up on the calendar for you.
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Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

20K weekends

Ziggi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:03:14 +0000

Hai, newbies! You're in for a delectable treat! It's gunna be fab and you're going to think we're all nuts! [GO HAMILTON!]

For those not in the know:
one year [2 years ago, I believe] Ms Welestra made punch cards for everyone and handed them out at the kick-off. There was a punch for each 10K and then some other milestones like: 10K in one day, 20K in two days, ect ect.

The craziest of us were like, this is pretty wicked! Let's do a 20K weekend!! And the first weekend was such.
The next year, nano started on a friday [at midnight, mind] and a couple of us wanted to try and get the 20K before our lives on the Monday. [success was had by a few, and a couple others tried it the following full weekend]

THIS year, however, unfortunately, the first weekend only consists of 25 hours of Sunday. [Anyone awesome* enough to attempt the 20K this weekend has my congratulations, sympathies, and, of course, company!

So, I'm proposing this year we do it on the first full weekend [next week]. Anyone up for it?

The rules are as followed:
You can start whenever your life ends on the friday [after work, after school]
If you have that day off [by golly gosh] you can work from when you wake up that day [but not the Thursday night]
It ends when your life starts on the Monday [so, if it's 1 am on the Sunday and you're, say 1500 words from the end, but cannot possibly stay up, you can go to bed that night, wake up an hour earlier the following morning, and finish]

I think that's it ... Night shift on the friday? You have the whole day and let's hope you can write while at work :P

Good luck everyone!

00,000/20,000 - Ziggi

*crazy
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I'm from Hamilton, land of hysterical fiction filled with flying monkeys, dancing bananas, and sexy, cozy, violence

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

Double-Double Weekend Challenge, Nov 7 and 8

Gale M-N — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:13:06 +0000

Most of you probably know that the first Tim Horton's store, the home of the double-double (a large coffee with double cream and sugar) was in Hamilton. That's right! We are the home of the Double-Double!

In honour of this, I'd like to challenge you all (and myself as well!) to have a Double-Double Weekend. What's a Double-Double Weekend? It's a weekend when you aim to double-up on Saturday and then again on Sunday. This can be done. There is an official write-in on Saturday and an unofficial one on Sunday. Lots of support. Oh, and as an added bonus, if you write more than your quota today, Friday, you can count the extra words as part of the Double-Double. Cuz I'm nice like that!

So ... who's in?

DOUBLE-DOUBLE WEEKEND, Nov 7 and 8
0,000 / 6,668 - Gale M-N

To join the challenge, copy the list from the last post, add in your name and repost.

We can do this, folks!
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Gale . . . www.ThornesQuest.com . . . or . . . www.stringingwords.com

Canada :: Ontario :: Hamilton

So, what are YOU writing this year?

Welestra — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:43 +0000

We need some convo to stir up some excitement!

This year I'm working on a few stories. The first one is Redemption, which is a story I wrote last year that's undergone a complete change, so I'm basically starting from scratch but keeping the same concept. The second one is Chasing Dreams, a fantasy romance that is a lot simpler in concept than I'm used to. Usually I've got epic storylines going on, but this one focuses more on the two main characters and their angsty relationship. And the third (because the muse wouldn't leave me alone) is The Dragon King. It's fantasy, it's romance, and I have no idea what's going to happen in it. Yay!

So what are you writing?
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