USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

RSVP INSIDE: Ridiculous Blow Out of Achievement Party (THIO)

ColorOfSakura — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:27:51 +0000

NaNoWriMo is coming to a close. And we have a huge party for you all to celebrate another year of writing and generally being awesome.

The date is set for December 5th. The place and time have yet to be determined, but we'll probably be going out somewhere to eat (somewhere that won't kill Gayle with bread or wheat) in the early evening (6pm or so).

December 5th is a Saturday (and also my birthday :D), so places might be busier than usual due to holiday shopping rush.

Because of this, we'd like to gauge an accurate RSVP of who can attend the party, in case we need to reserve tables.

Please post here on whether or not you'll be able to make a dinner party on December 5th around 6 PM

Thanks guys, and congrats on another great year!
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

The White Lantern Corps [The Winners Circle!]

ColorOfSakura — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:19:23 +0000

So you've crossed into the realm of 50k or perhaps beat your own personal goal for the month. Then this place is for you. Welcome to the Sanctum of the White Lanterns. Winners of NaNoWriMo 2009!

Dance, shout it out, scream excitedly, or faint. Whatever it is you need to to do in order to celebrate how awesome the winningness is, you're free to do it here. Immortalize yourself in this electronic sanctuary.

Congratulations Lanterns, you did it.
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

How are we doing?

BethFB — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:57:54 +0000

I spent about twenty minutes right after midnight showed up on my computer and started typing away and got up to 2000 words. I woke up early this morning and spent about two hours working on my other five thousand words. I may have to rewrite some of it to make it clearer but I think I can make ten thousand by the end of this day and maybe beyond, if I don't have any interruptions.

I have a lofty goal set for this day, get up to ten thousand words, edit it all tomorrow and then the day after that write another ten thousand and edit that the next day till I finish this novel.

I have my wall covered in paper where it has all the information on my characters, locations and an outline of where the direction of the story is heading towards.

All I can hope for is no big time distraction to pull me away from writing this year since it is a subject that I like. :)

So how are you all doing on your first chapter or second chapter of your novels?

Beth
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Virtual Write-Ins

francis_grey — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:41:42 +0000

Here's the deal, ladies and gents: We're at Borders on Friday night (6:00 PM-10:30 PM, table in the back), and we're unsure about the outlet situation. Even if we were sure on the outlet situation, we'd be uneasy having snakes of wires leading every which way for some unsuspecting Borders customer to trip over.

So, this is what we're asking: If you've got an iffy laptop battery (and don't want to write by hand), join us right here, online, from 6:00 PM to 10:30 PM on Friday (November 6) for the Friday night Write-In. We're going to run it online the way we run it in person. There'll be a period to get comfy, then a period of timed writing (20 minutes or more), then a break (5 or 10 minutes), and then writing again. I'll also be running a version of this on twitter. You can find me here:

www.twitter.com/francis_grey

We don't want to exclude anyone from joining in, but we have to take into account space and outlet constraints, so we decided to give a virtual write-in a whirl. If you have ideas on how to make the virtual write-in better, drop a note!

Gayle
----------
Co-ML, Springfield, MO
7th year NaNoer
Previous NaNos: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Wins: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Lanterns in Formation! -Carpooling Thread-

francis_grey — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:00:50 +0000

Need a lift to a meeting? Willing to offer a lift to a meeting? Post about it here so other NaNoers can find you!

Name: Gayle
Car Seats: Three [four counting the driver]
Car is: red, three-door Yaris
Driver lives: Close to MSU campus

Special notes: As I'm an ML, I'll always be headed out the door early to set-up write-ins. If you ride with me, you'll have to show up early as well.

----------
Co-ML, Springfield, MO
7th year NaNoer
Previous NaNos: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Wins: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Better ways of convincing people you have to write?

idenitycrisis27 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:52:26 +0000

I don't have a lot of time to get writing done and the time I do have is usually filled up with chores. My parents have been pretty good about letting me off the hook on stuff to let me write for NaNo, but most of the time I've used some excuses on why I need to be writing. I'm starting to run out.

Anybody have any good excuses to get out of other situations to gain writing time?

I'm also kind of wondering what funny/ridiculous excuses people have actually used to get out of other things for NaNo's sake in the past.
----------
remnants.posterous.com
fadetoawesome.posterous.com
twitter.com/idenitycrisis27
idenitycrisis27.deviantart.com

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

[STICKY] The Lantern Battery -Mass ML Emails, Write In Info and all that other Official Crap-

ColorOfSakura — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:21:39 +0000

This thread is here specifically for various Official ML postings such as Write In information, an archive of Mass Emails, and anything else we might need to post in big important letters.

Keep a watch on this spot and see what gets posted.
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

What happens when people kill the enjoyment?

YamiIsilme — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:38:58 +0000

Okay so I know I'm writing something using mechas and space colonies and I wont claim to be an expert or anything...

but how do you re-inspire yourself when all your sci-fi friends kill any enjoyment for writing by demanding every detail on the Mecha and other technology? And this doesn't help that I'm very very behind, like beyond half-way behind... I really don't care about I-Feilds and M-Particles or how Carl Sagan was right and we should have never made it to the moon cause of a solar flare deep frying Armstrong and crew >< I care about the people and their actions. I have a basic understanding and I'm kinda happy with that, and if need be I can go into greater details later, like if I somehow cause a miracle and finish my word count or December when I can make sure all these damn formulas are correct, I mean one is completely wrong and yet it works anyway! That's also before you account for how much editing just this post needed from switching between about 3 very different keyboards!

Sorry, ranted, but I needed that ><
But this total killed my drive to write, how to you .Rev. yourself up again?
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Guy Gardner will do it; why won't you? -The Dares Thread-

ColorOfSakura — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:52:37 +0000

Dares. For those of you who are new, this is a fun way to extend your word count and have a bit of fun while doing so. As you'll come to find out, most NaNo novels are silly pieces of fiction that we giggle about as we pound away at our word processors throughout November. NaNo is supposed to be fun, and Dares just increase that fun exponentially.

How does a Dare work?

Think of the game Truth or Dare, it's pretty much the same premise minus the truth aspect (so I guess you'd call it "Or Dare", but whatever.) People will come up with silly ideas and post them here, essentially "daring" the other authors to incorporate those suggestions into their novels; with "Points" and "Cookies" generally being awarded to the authors who successfully slide their dares into their stories somehow.

An example of a dare:

Have your character go to the library to get some obscure book and when she/he opens it up, there’s an extremely old piece of thin sliced ham between two of the pages.
+ Bonus Points if the character eats the ham.
++ Double Bonus Points if the character gets severe food poisoning from it.
+++ Triple Bonus Points and a cookie if the character projectile vomits on the antagonist.

So there you have it, a quick breakdown of Dares. So I now dare you all to come up with some really fun ones for us to use this year!

Here are some staple dares to get you all started:

1) Have a cat randomly catch on fire at some point in your novel.
+ Bonus Points for context

2) Main Villain shows up eating a Tootsie Roll Pop.
+ Bonus Points if it happens every time they show up
++ Double Bonus Points for no repeats

3) Your Main Character dies. No take backs.

4) Name and/or base your characters after various Wrimos in the group.
(A word of caution here, you are more than free to participate in this dare. However, at the request of the MLs: PLEASE OBTAIN PERMISSION TO USE A WRIMO'S NAME AND/OR LIKENESS IN YOUR STORY. If the person says no, be polite and don't use them.)

5) Mention NaNoWriMo by name.
+ Bonus Points for context
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Mentioning real places/real things...

carolm — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:44:00 +0000

The question from someone else about things to do in Springfield as characters are driving through got me thinking...

This year, I am actually attempting original fiction - my other two 'wins' have been fanfiction where I didn't worry about this because, well, I was already stealing someone else's characters right?

This year, I'd like to actually at least try to get this thing published.

What are the... rules? guidelines? whatever? about using the names of real things in fiction? For instance, one character's favorite movie is Christmas Vacation which I have alluded to in the following ways but have never actually mentioned the name:

I grinned. "Great. Dreaming of a pool and getting a jelly of the month club bonus is just what we need to get in the Christmas spirit."
*
I grinned. "Watching my favorite Christmas movie with my favorite girl." My arm was around Mandie's shoulders as we sat on the oversized chair. "Nothing says 'Christmas spirit' like enough outdoor lights to make the whole city black out."
*
I popped a couple of the candies in my mouth. "You're more of a baseball girl," I said around the chocolate. "Besides, Liz stayed up at the other house with Joe and I know you love watching fumes from a motor home send reindeer flying as much as I do."

[no those aren't all back to back but here and there throughout the chapter where they're watching Christmas movies and I'm not sure I'm happy with all of them but I'm not about to edit now =D].

There's a number of other examples but that's the most recent one I can think of off the top of my head when my 4yo is whining and not napping... I did send them to a Stl Cards game, and will send them to Spf Cards later, and talked about the actual Busch Stadium, but only alluded to Spaghetti Factory and Gus' Pretzels.

So... what's the rule of thumb? If you're not bashing something they probably won't care? What about colleges? Books? Music? Movies? Toys? Games? Apartment complexes? Employers? Restaurants? I honestly have no idea what the protocol is...

I do live in one of the several small towns outside Springfield that I am basing their town on but was also planning on fictionalizing it's name at the very least.

Thanks to anyone who might have a clue and help a WriMo out :).

Carol [who was going to go to Rendezvous for a bit yesterday but it was almost 5 and she was at Toys R Us and it seemed too far to go so she camped out with her laptop at Culver's instead [they have two tables with plugins and wifi that was down] and pounded out a total of over 4K words :)]
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

The WriSynSGFMo Word Count Graph - Opt-In Here!

ColorOfSakura — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:27:24 +0000

Hey guys! One of your MLs coming at you with a neat little idea.

The ML of the Naperville, IL region has created a program that generates a graph of all users in a region and how they're doing in comparison to everyone else and versus the 50k goal.

Instructions
Please reply to this post if you want to be included in the graph. The scanposts tool automatically scans this thread and updates the graph about once an hour, so be patient in waiting to be added.

As an extra fun point, please include the last interesting exchange of dialogue in your novel (please censor it if it isn't family friendly!)

Enjoy!

----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Any other neebies here?

rkgibbs — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:06:24 +0000

I was wondering if there was anyone else here that's new to NaNoWriMo besides me :) If so, speak up!
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Oh, God, oh, God, I'm starting to think!

ar_cummings — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:41:58 +0000

This awful! I can't not edit. I have to! The MMC and the FMC got into a fight and then they made up and now the plot is going too fast and I didn't plot anything after chapter seven and we're almost there and I don't know what happens. Something has to stop the MMC and the FMC from that fight, but what?! Stupid MCs.
----------
A. R.
http://arcummings.blogspot.com
"We have done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Joplin Write-in?

paperprincess — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:11:35 +0000

Back at the beginning of NaNo, I thought I saw a post about Joplin writers. It seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, I'm in the Joplin area and wondered if anyone wants to try a write-in this week. My schedule is all over the place next week so I would have to see what others have available before naming a time/place. I like to write at Columbia Traders downtown but they close at 3 except for Thursdays - open mike night - and Mondays - football nights. BAM is a good place, as is Panera.

This weekend I might be able to meet for a while on Sunday afternoon. Other times - Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon or those evenings (if I know ahead of time so I can rearrange schedule).

----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

my characters are passing through your town.

mdieva — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:25:05 +0000

howdy, all. i know absolutely nothing about the midwest at all, but my story has taken me right through it, and i figured that it would be a better idea to take my questions straight to the source, rather than muck about with the realism forums or what have you.

my characters are two dudes in their mid-twenties, on a road trip from philly to phoenix. they'll be exiting interstate 44 in or near springfield, looking for food and a place to stay. where should they eat? anything else they can do to kill a couple hours on a weeknight? and what is the worst and/or most ridiculous hotel that they could possibly find?

you can respond here or via nanomail. thanks a million for the assist, and good luck to you all.
----------
"the difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter--it's the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."
- mark twain

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Hal Jordan can wear all the rings, can you? -Milestones and Shout Outs-

ColorOfSakura — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:58:38 +0000

Have an accomplishment you feel particularly proud of? Excited to reach word count for day one (or even day thirty?) Then post all about those accomplishments here. They can be anything, big or small. Celebrate and cheer yourself and your other Wrimos along to the finish line.
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

ML Appreciation Day

paperprincess — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 08:17:07 +0000

Since today is ML Appreciation Day, I wanted to start things off by sending a large batch of freshly baked cyber-cookies to our two wonder MLs!! I'm too far away to join in with the write-ins but I did have a quick pop-in with the Virtual Write-in Friday and want to thank frances_grey for putting that together. I did finish several pages before I showed up. And colorofsakura's email tonight was a cheerful and motivating push to keep our word count going.

So thanks for putting yourselves out there for all of us. Here's to many more words from our amazing Lanterns!
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Rage Kitty says Hi! (with Plasma!) -Venting Your Frustrations-

ColorOfSakura — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:46:59 +0000

Hate your novel? Hate planning for your novel? Hate yourself for even getting into this stupid thing in the first place? This is the place to vent about it.

Feel free to vent free and clear in this thread about any novel related frustrations that come upon you during NaNo. We only request two small things:

1) No vulgar language. This is an all-ages forum!
and 2) Please don't vent about other participants in this area. If you have an issue that needs addressing in that neighborhood, please message the MLs.

That's it! Vent away!
----------
2005 Novel: The Mists of Centarium
2006 Winning Novel: Dancing Into The Night
2007 Winning Novel: PARALLAX
2008 Winning Novel: Keys in the Lock
NaNo 2009 Project: FUSiONFaLL

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Any Thanksgiving plans?

rkgibbs — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:28:46 +0000

With Thanksgiving being about 20 days away, it has been on my mind constantly. I am excited about Thanksgiving because each year I get up early, bake a ton of food in the morning, than we head to hubby's parents house for our first Thanksgiving meal around noon, then around 2 or 3 we head to my folks house for yet another meal (we eat light at both meals, but it's fun to have so much variety of food in one day and see so many people!). After that we'll hang out at my folks for an hour or so after we've eaten and then we head back to his folks house to play video games with his brothers and board games with our neices! And any other game or movie anyone else wants to play/watch.
It's a lot of fun, but I am nervous about keeping up with the writing.
Those of you who have been participating in NaNoWriMo for previous years, how do you do it?
I am hoping I can get a lot of writing done before Thanksgiving so I don' thave to spend as much time on the computer while family is done, but I am not sure if I'll be able to. The hard part is, everyone comes Wed and they don't leave until Sunday night. And staying up late isn't an option because that weekend is a weekend of staying up until 2-4am playing video games...maybe I can go to bed early and wake up early....but then again, early morning hours I'll have the kids climbing on me....
I guess I'll figure it out when it gets here, lol!
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

In need of a break

rkgibbs — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:09:53 +0000

I can't take the heat! I needed to pull myself out of my novel, lol.
I just finished the first section of my book and it's freakin me out! My book is about a girl and the dreams she has at night. I just finished writing about the first dream that I mention in the book and man it's intense! At the end of the month I'll go back and re edit it to put more details in it that will make it more intense for the reader, but as the author who can see everything in my head (just don't know exactly how to put it all done yet) as I typed up the dream, I had to stop and take a breather once I typed it all up.
This is exciting! Man, once you get into your story, the words just roll out. I went from writing 1400 last night to writing 1800 more words tonight with still more to come once I regather my thoughts. So now I'm at 3300!
Well, breather time is over, now it's time to dive back in, I just wanted to type that up and update my word count before jumping back in :)
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Any older folks

Sereana — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:49:23 +0000

I don't have anything against the youngins, but I was wondering if there were any 40 or 50 year old NaNo'ers out there that might go to some write-ins?
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Lanterns, Check In! -Social Networking/You on the Webbernets-

francis_grey — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:57:09 +0000

Got a twitter? Got a blog? Got a website? Don't mind your fellow WriMos seeing any of these nifty things? Then tell us about them here! Yes, you can link at least some of this stuff in your profile page, but this way you can stay on the boards!

I'll go first:

blog: perpet.livejournal.com [Be warned, I swear. A lot. And I'll occasionally throw down a post of super-rage just to keep my blood flowing.]

twitter: francis_grey Just started that yesterday, so it's not super interesting yet, but give me time.

website: In transition because googlepages is closing down, and I'd rather set fire to my own hair than use googlesites. If I get a new website up before the end of November [oh, man, wouldn't that be great?], I'll get a new link.

Gayle
----------
Co-ML, Springfield, MO
7th year NaNoer
Previous NaNos: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Wins: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Tuesday and Thursday Night Write-Ins at the Drury CX

Jayke — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:37:35 +0000

Hey Guys,

I forgot to post this when it was, you know, useful, but as far as weekday write-ins, I usually am down for running some on Tuesday and Thursday nights in the CX on Drury's campus. Pretty much you get there by following the directions to where we had the kick-off, but you'll stop early on Drury Lane at Springfield Hall, go in the door, and it's the second door on the left. It's big, open and red. I'll be in the back section with all the windows. Please, bring power strips.

Summary for the TL;DR group:

What: Weekday Write-In
Where: Springfield Hall on Drury Campus
When: 5pm to 11pm
Who: NaNo'ers that like the writing.
----------
NaNo 2009: kthanxbai

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

The First time is a long time coming.

Maria_hbnr — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:59:09 +0000

I've wanted to be a writer since i was in the fifth grade. But life has a way of getting in the way. I have had some great ideas for a novel, but when it comes to actually putting it down I get lost. Is this just a mental block, or should I just give up on the dream. I don't know. My soul says. " write write write write." My brain says, " you're too dumb to write a book. Who would want to read it any way." Am I the only one with this problem?
----------

USA :: Missouri :: Springfield

Mini write-ins on twitter

francis_grey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:54:31 +0000

I did this last night, and it worked really well.

I write at weird times, and when I do, I make a note on twitter that I'm starting. If you want to jump in and join me, you can find me at:

www.twitter.com/francis_grey

I'm mostly writing later at night right now because my daytime schedule is so booked. I plan to start writing tonight between 10:30 and 11:00 if you want to follow me and keep up.

No matter where you're writing or how, I hope it's productive!

Gayle
----------
Co-ML, Springfield, MO
7th year NaNoer
Previous NaNos: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Wins: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006