Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Write-in @CB2, Thursday 26th Nov

Jez-thorpe — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:54:12 +0000

Hi, there.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows that there's also a meeting of CWIL (Cambridge Writers of Imaginative Literature) booked for 26th Nov at CB2? If, like me, you'll be there for both events, then I guess you'll be torn as to who to fight for when it all kicks off! I hope there's no broken bottles involved, though - let's please try to keep all brawling civilised...
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Potential write-in daytime Thurs 19th / Fri 20th

zooeyglass — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:59:40 +0000

Hello,

So I'll be in cambridge for two days, the days above, hanging around, with a bit of time on my hands for nano. I figured I might ensconce myself in a coffee shop in the centre of town some place, and if people want to come and join me nano-ing, their company would be gratefully received.

I don't know cambridge itself that well, so if anyone can recommend a coffee shop with wifi that's fairly reachable, that'd be great. Otherwise I'll just have a gander about time until I find somewhere with power and caffeine.

If you fancy it, do let me know, or just rock up. I know this isn't the best arranged of write-ins, but it's a bit of a one-off for a couple of days.

Hope writing's going well for all.

Frank
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Worst Sex Scene Competition

Loriba — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:44:22 +0000

Hi all,

Well it's almost that time of year again, time for you to start thinking about entries for the Worst Sex Scene Competition. Every year we have a contest to see who can write the most tasteless love scene imaginable. They're often sick and usually very funny, and extra merit is awarded if you manage to put everyone off a particular foodstuff or item for life. :-)

A prize will be awarded at the TGIO (assuming the winner is able to come along) and you will have the infamy associated with being champion for an entire year.

If you want to see the winning entry from last year, you can find it here: http://loriba-nano.livejournal.com/

along with several other entries from the past couple of years.

Needless to say, this competition is strictly Over-18s only! If you're under 18 and know your parents will not approve, DO NOT click on the above link.

Looking forward to seeing your entries already. :-)

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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Cambridge Nanoisms

Loriba — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:58:46 +0000

It's time to confess to the worst that you've written, or in most cases mistyped. If you have accidentally typed something funny and hopefully haven't deleted it and corrected, post it here and give us all a giggle.

I typed this yesterday:

About ten minutes into the job the phone behind the counter started ringing. It ran continuously for over five minutes until the gang leader snapped and pulled it out of the socket, then threw it hard into the sink where they all heard it crap. (er crack).
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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Winner's Lounge

Loriba — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:36:23 +0000

Hi all,

Well, some of us have been getting no sleep and are eating so badly that none of our clothes fit properly any more. :-o

However, it does mean that we've managed to cross the Winner's Line a bit earlier than planned, so here is the Winner's Lounge. Come and shout out when you've crossed the line and let us know what your 50,000th word was.

Mine was 'call'.

{takes comfy seat in the corner and waits for others to arrive}.

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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Word War Info - Updated 21 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
Wales

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 :: England :: Birmingham-West Midlands

Word War Sign-Up Thread

Loriba — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:52:43 +0000

Hi all,

Okay, enough of the other regions have expressed interest in the war to make it viable, so this is the Official Sign-Up thread. If you want to join the Cambridge team this year, please read the rules posted here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3318143 and then add a post to this thread, stating your intention to join. Sign-ups will close at 8pm on 10th November.

Needless to say, I'm in. :-)
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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Yes yes yes!

Ros Hardy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:54:52 +0000

Where's the winners lounge? Somebody find me a gin and tonic and a nice comfy chair.
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

The Dreaded Nano Curses.

Snarfgirl2007 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:40:30 +0000

I decidend to have a post for all the "bad stuff" that happens during the month of November. It could be a bad case of writer's block to your house blowing up (I pray that doesn't happen.)

The curse has already happen to me. I was planning to go to the Planning meet (Oct 24) when the starter on my car decided to die. I can tell it is going to be an interesting month for me.
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Take care,
Snarfgirl2007
Bad decisions make good stories.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Challenges!

elyoda — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:32:26 +0000

To stop Lottie having all the fun (and because she whined about it at the pub) I figured I should kickstart a topic, and here it is: the Challenges thread!

The idea is to post here any madcap challenges you have for people to incorporate into the NaNo plots, this can be anything from a ludicriously named village to the discovery of a room full of kittens named Steve (both of which I remember reading somewhere last year).

Lazy person that I am I'm starting the thread by stealing the first challenge issued on the boards by Mr Prophet to RikGG:

Mr Prophet wrote:

RikGG wrote:

Also, after Elyoda had been playing around with an ideas generator thingie, a secret society of ninja nuns, and also druid smuggling.

I hereby challenge you - because someone has to - to include, as naturalistically as possible, the line: "These aren't the druids you're looking for."

Now, this unfortunately means I can't come up with a Star Wars challenge of my own (yet, give it time!) so I'm going for something else instead:

+ In some way, shape or form, let there be a Keith Richards cameo in your novel
+ 1 - Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
+ 2 - Keith Richards as Captain Teague
+ 3 - Cliff Richard as Keith Richards as Captain Teague

IMPORTANT NOTE: all points strictly a guideline, this is for fun. And if you can get +6 above that's going to be legen-and-I-hope-you're-not-lactose-intolerant-dary
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2004: Merging of Worlds: The Rising Darkness (32K)
2005: 8-I (51K)
2006: Dreamweaver (53K)
2007: Timeshift (51K)
2008: 8-I: Second Iteration (53K)
2009: Emissaries (??)

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

halfway

Ros Hardy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:13:31 +0000

Twenty-five thousand! Yes yes yes!!
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Clowns closed!

nlubbren — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:49:20 +0000

Every Friday at 11 am, I note, a write-in is scheduled at Clowns Cafe on King Street. Today I cycled past there and it was closed! A sign in the window told me that they were having building work done and that the cafe was going to be 'closed until further notice'!

Any thoughts on an alternative venue??

Nina
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Meets - Final (ish)

Loriba — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:46:57 +0000

Hi all,

First, please ignore the meets given for November in the calendar. These are an artifact of the way the interim meets were set up and will change significantly before Nanowrimo actually begins.

Second, those who have done Nano before with us will know that we try to have as many Write-Ins and social meets throughout November as we can. Experience has shown that people tend to write more and faster if they're part of a group, and actually being in the same room as other writers seems to be the most effective of all. Over previous years we've realised that if you come along to just one meet you are far more likely to reach 50k and get that prized purple word count bar and winner's banner.

For the past two years the meets have followed this schedule:

Mon - Write-In: 11am-2pm at Le Gros Franck cafe on Hills Road (at the end of Station Road).
Tues - Write-In: 5pm-approx 7pm (sometimes later) at CB2 cafe on Norfolk Street.
Wed - Social Meet: 7pm-at least 9pm at The Cambridge Blue public house on Gwydir Street
Thurs - Write-In: 5pm-approx 7pm (sometimes later) at CB2 cafe on Norfolk Street.
Fri - Write-In: 11am-2pm at Clowns Cafe on King Street.
2nd & 4th Sat - Write-In: 11am-2pm at CB2 cafe on Norfolk Street.
1st, 3rd & 5th Sun - Write-In: 3pm-6pm at CB2 cafe on Norfolk Street.

This always left us with one day free at the weekend to think about other things.

In addition, we have a chat room, the details for which I'll post in a moment, and if we're at CB2 or there isn't a meet and we're at home there is usually someone in the chat room - CB2 has free wi-fi, the other places don't.

Last year we had official Virtual Write-Ins in the chat room on Monday nights and Friday nights, but as I said there were usually people in the chat room even when there wasn't an official meet taking place.

So, the question is, will everyone be happy for us to arrange the same meets this time around? If not, would you prefer a different time and more importantly, a different place. Our Write-In locations aren't particularly wheelchair friendly and if you know of somewhere that is, please speak up and we'll check it out. It has to be somewhere that is quiet and preferably gives us access to electricity sockets, and won't mind if we sit there for 3 hours and only buy a couple of cups of coffee/tea. We want as many people as possible to be able to come along to the meets so suggestions to improve the meet schedule will be gratefully received.

Thanks for your input. :-)

Lottie
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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Happy ML Appreciation Day

Snarfgirl2007 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:42:45 +0000

thank you to Lorbida and siglet,

I don't know how you do it. Write a novel, Keep up with the word war, plan our meets and still live a day to day life.

I appeciate all the work you do to make the month of November a little eaiser for us here in Cambridge and surrounding areas.

Thanks again and keep up the good work.

Jami (a.k.a.) Snarfgirl 2007
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Take care,
Snarfgirl2007
Bad decisions make good stories.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

I must not edit, I must not edit

Ros Hardy — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:20:47 +0000

Bother bother bother! I have written three chapters and now find that I've written the beginning and the end of my book, so am having to fill the middle in. I really shouldn't read what I've written as I go.
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Anyone in/near Cambourne?

ethelthefrog — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:11:47 +0000

I live in Cambourne and the young family restricts my geographic options. Anyone nearby fancy a brief meet?
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Word War Banter

Loriba — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:01:15 +0000

As it says on the tin :-)

This thread is for light-hearted banter between rival Word War teams - there should be similar ones in the other regions by the time November starts. Please keep such banter friendly. The use of smileys is actively encouraged. :-)
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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

The Boy Who Talks to Eightballs

Yorrix — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:03:14 +0000

Because I can, and I do. And it's funny. :D

For those of you with no clue, we have an area for real-time chat using IRC. If you would like to access it we have instructions on the forum.

To continue explanations, this chat also has several features thanks to a bot, including word wars, dice rolling and a dictionary. Another of the commands is an integrated eightball.

I am quickly gaining a reputation for my conversations with the eightball, and after having another particularly fun one just now (with no one else to share it with) I thought I would start a thread and share it.

Please feel free to quote any further hilarity with the eightball here (or indeed anything funny from chat :P).

irc.mibbit.com #cambridgenano wrote:

Yorrix !eightball So, Eightball, my old buddy, my old pal. Looks like it's just you and me. :)
cambot Yorrix: You're kidding, right?
Yorrix !eightball No, unfortunately not.
cambot Yorrix: NO!

Please note: Eightball lies; he has confessed to this more than once to me, and I have witnesses. Please bear this in mind. ;)
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- Yoz -
2007: The Dust on the Wind - 50K
2008: The Rise of King Drust - 50K
2009: Terrebus Rundstadt: From Child to Lord

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Introductions

Loriba — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:30:43 +0000

Hi again,

I'm Lottie, I'll be 38 by the time November rolls around, and this is the fifth time that I've taken part in Nanowrimo, and my fourth as Municipal Liason for Cambridge.

I work in a Cancer Research Lab up at the Addenbrookes site, and have done so for more years than is strictly healthy for me. I think I've managed to persuade a couple of other people there to come and join us this year too, so hopefully they'll turn up here before too long. You know who you are! :-) I grew up in Norwich so haven't moved too far away from home, I came to Cambridge in May 2000.

I tend to write Horror or Supernatural stories, no idea why, they're just the ones that tend to occur to me. Whereas I'll read just about anything except romance or chick-lit {shudder}. I've managed to win every year so far, and am hoping that won't change this time around. I now have four finished first drafts and a few unfinished ones and am starting to think that maybe I should do something with them. :-o

I'll be around on the site most days, though for the first couple of weeks of October there are things going on in my life which are outside of my control, so if it takes me a short time to get back to you about anything please don't worry about it. I'll reply as soon as I'm able to.

Looking forward to getting to know you all.

Lottie

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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Photos

sniglet — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:07:38 +0000

Kick-off photos now up on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snigl3t/sets/72157622582706991/

Will get them properly tagged with usernames etc eventually.
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Anne-Lise [ML for Europe::England::Cambridge]
2009: valkyrie
2008: penumbra: the mighty scree
2007: the umbran alliance
2006: adaptation
2005: a life in the day
2004: trinity

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Other places to meet

Ros Hardy — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:11:41 +0000

Anybody up for meeting nearer Peterborough? Cambridge is rather a long way to go, espiecially since I'm still doing the day job (which often involves evening meetings too.)
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

World War

Tempewytch — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:26:43 +0000

I ended up with medical appointments yesterday and I am not sure when I am going to be able to write, and I am thinking that you need to take me off the World War listing as I don't want to drag Cambridge down.

I hope to get the 50k done but I am not sure at the moment (they may need to hospitalise me)
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Europe :: England :: Cambridge

So, what's everyone writing this year?

Loriba — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:31:36 +0000

The title pretty much says it all. :-)

I'm going for a kind of thriller --> horror kind of thing this year. Last year was straight horror, the year before that straight thriller, so this time I'm going for a combination of the two.

It's going to start off with a hold-up in a restaurant going horribly wrong, some people getting hurt, some people being taken hostage. Eventually one of the hostages will offer to get those remaining out of the situation, if they'll agree to pay her price. The remainder of the story will be about them trying to cope with the consequences of their decisions.

I'm looking forward to it. :-)
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Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

NaMoGroMo

elyoda — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:50:07 +0000

What? What the family-friendly-star is Dave on about?

Well, as well as NaNo taking place in November, it's also host to what I have christened NaMoGroMo - National Moustache Growing Month*.

It started out, either in 1999 or 2003 (depending on who you belive!) as a challenge to bring back the moustache. Personally I'm opting for 2003 so we can thank the Melbournites who kickstarted it then :-D The following year, it evolved into a fundraising event for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia before spreading worldwide with the UK (through The Prostate Cancer Charity), US, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Spain joining in (at last count).

To sum up what happens, I'm going to borrow from the website the following description:

Quote:

Mo Bros, supported by their Mo Sistas, start Movember (November 1st) clean shaven and then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache. During Movember, each Mo Bro effectively becomes a walking billboard for men’s health and, via their Mo, raises essential funds and awareness for Movember’s men’s health partner – The Prostate Cancer Charity.

Now, because my 'tasche is not the best and I'm lazy, I usually run on a variation of this during Movember. Because of NaNo I always grow 'the writer's beard', which is definitely not groomed and by the end of it all I do tend to resemble something related to swamp thing. This is not, of course, following the specific guidelines of Movember, but under the guidance of Cap'n Paul from my first year in Movember, we devised the following strategy:
1). Dave grows beard rather than 'tasche
2). If enough money is raised, Dave shaves beard/'tasche into something hilarious.

The very first year it involved shaving out just the goatee, creating a continuous line of face-fuzz that looked like I was wearing a cycle helmet strap permanently... held on by my nose.

The plan this year, devised by friend at work, is for the 'Braveheart' approach - if I can hit a target of donations (and probably 'in any case') the 'tasche will go on one side, the beard on the other. And if anyone can figure out a reasonably non-permanent way of dyeing that blue... well I wouldn't say 'never'**.

So now, to save myself embarassment, because it's not fun if it's only one person who gets all the fun/attention/mockery***, I call upon others to join the crusade. I've signed up to the Movember website and have created a profile here and also a NaMoGroMo Cambridge group. I plan on posting the details on both Twitter and Facebook (you can find me through the groups Loriba has set up) and cordially invite Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to sign up to the group. If you don't use Facebook or Twitter but would like to join, I can e-mail you an invite - please contact me by PM (or in person if you come to the meetings) and I'll get in touch.

Now, if you feel this is a worthy cause (i.e. the charity bit, although making me look stupid probably also appeals) then there are two ways that you can donate:
1). Go online through the profile page
2). Go offline through various pieces of paper I haven't got yet - but will have with me throughout November, and also at the kickoff party.

So, be ye a Bro or a Sista, please consider getting involved with the Mo, and let's add another good cause to the month.

As well as all of this blurb from me, you can get further info from the official websites:
http://uk.movember.com/ - the Movember website for the UK
http://uk.movemberfoundation.com/ - the Movember charity website

Well, that's my lot - better go plan this novel-thingy now.
Dave

*officially & unofficially known as Movember
**my mum will hunt you down and kill you though (on the other hand, my sister will probably give you money)
***excluding Slowbergine!
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2004: Merging of Worlds: The Rising Darkness (32K)
2005: 8-I (51K)
2006: Dreamweaver (53K)
2007: Timeshift (51K)
2008: 8-I: Second Iteration (53K)
2009: Emissaries (??)

Europe :: England :: Cambridge

Anyone off to CB2 today?

mentalsarcasm — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 09:43:59 +0000

I couldn't attend the party yesterday as I work Saturdays and tend to be knackered by the end.

Soooo, anyone going to the CB2 write-in today? I'm driving up from Royston so I just want to make sure I'm not the only one there XD
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Remember, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose.