Hello Akron Wrimos!

Hi Renae! Welcome back!

As mentioned earlier this year, I'm probably not going to write a novel this time around. I'm going to attempt it, but not necessarily make it a priority. We just bought our first home this summer and are swamped with everything that entails, including a gigantic housewarming Halloween Costume party. As a result, I also stepped down as ML. Amy and Shannon are going to do an awesome job and I'm excited to see all of the fun things they plan out.

Good luck, friends! I'll be watching Akron kick butt again this year from the sidelines! Consider me the AkronNaNo cheerleader!

NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!
NaNo 2009- The Domestic

Hi! I'm from Hudson--just thought I'd check this site out and see what it's all about. NaNo is a pretty awesome site and since this is my first year in the program, I hope this goes well.

It's really cool to meet everyone who lives in my area. I was amazed at how many regions there are and how many participants! So far people I've meet are incredibly nice and supportive.

Do you have any advice for me as a new writer? When do you usually find time to write?

My name is Amy. This will be my fifth attempt: lost the first 2, won the last 2. (Actually I should say that this is my sixth attempt: lost the first 3, won the last 2, but since I tried in 2006 for all of 3 days and had less than 1000 words, I don't count that year.)

I probably won't be too involved with the in-person stuff this year either since I too have a lot on my plate at the moment, but I'll still probably be on the forums.

I'm really not sure what I'm going to write. I think I might write the sequel to my last year's novel, but I might do something completely different, b/c I have about a dozen stories floating around in my head that need written at some point. Who knows right now. I'll decide that about a week before NaNo starts.

I don't write too much outside of NaNo. If I do, it's just short stories. But when I do complete NaNo, my novels are wicked long (for me at least). Last years story was 60K at the end of November, but then I ended up writing an additional 70K in the 3 months that followed in order to finish the story.

My advice... don't worry about whatever you write being ANY good. Seriously. All you care about during the month of November is spewing out the story and trying to get characters to come to life, even if they don't obey you. (If you haven't written much, this may come as a shock, that your characters have the potential to run away with themselves, but that's another topic altogether.) In the end, you might find a bit that is good, but generally wonderful prose, etc. comes later when editing it. I didn't truly understand this the first few times I tried NaNo. I didn't let myself write crap, so I didn't get very far. Once I gave myself a bit of room to screw up I ended up being able to finish my stories and I'm very proud of them. One I didn't do anything with after NaNo, but the other has been edited and "published" (just for myself on lulu.com)

Since you are still in high school, I'd just recommend working on it whenever you have time and your school work is done or at least when you know you'll have time for school stuff later. You don't want to neglect your studies. (Sorry... had to say that.) When I was in school, I wrote during study hall periods and sometimes lunch, and left my school work for after school, because I liked breaking up the boredom of school with my make believe worlds, but whatever works for you is what matters. Just make sure you write EVERY day. If you don't, you lose the inertia you started with, and you also run the chance of forgetting what you had been writing about and it'll take up too much time trying to figure out where you left off. I personally have to write at least 1000 words a day to keep from forgetting stuff. If I write any less than that I'm inevitably splitting up scenes into two or more days and that just doesn't work for me. So in other words, I guess I'd say not to split up a scene over two or more days, if that's possible. For me that's not a problem. It may not be as easy for you depending on how you write.

These days, I typically write only at night, because I have two young kids and that's the only time I can sit down for any reasonable length of time.

Hi All

I just got back from being out of town for work so I have lots of catching up to do. Nikki, thanks for reposting the welcome email. There were some bugs and glitches with the cutover but they all appear to be fixed now.

Renae, welcome back! And welcome to all the other new and veteran AkronNaNos! I'm looking forward to hearing about what everyone decides to write this year.

It seems like each person's approach to NaNo is as unique as their story, their voice, and their writing style -- which is pretty dang cool. Some people work up a pre-outline to help them through the month, others (like me!) have absolutely no idea what they're going to write until the day we start. Regardless, I agree with Colubrilady who says don't worry about what you write being any good. Just get the words out.

Shannon and I will post some writing prompts and other fun stuff to kickstart your word count on days when coffee isn't doing the trick. Here are a few things to put in your back pocket if you find yourself lagging behind in Week One. Number Three is my all-time favorite writing prompt.

1. Write a sentence that begins, “My mother always…” (or use the name of one of your characters to replace "mother")
2. Write a sentence that begins, “My father never…” (same applies here)
3. Make a list of 100 Things That Could Happen (within the reality of your story).
4. Begin as many passages as you can describing your main character, “He was the sort of person who…”
5. Describe in great detail what your character ate last night.
6. Set the kitchen timer for ten minutes. Start writing and do not stop to think:
7. Write a scene from your past when you expected one thing and got another, and give that scene to your character.

COMING SOON! Our AkronNaNo Write-In calendar and kickoff event announcement!

A. Purcell
www.amypurcell.com/blog

Hello everyone!

I am Ashley or Rojo, whichever you prefer. Being sixteen and not actually living in Akron, just close-ish, you will probably never see me at write-ins, even though I would love to attend. They sound like great fun.

Last year was my first year participating in NaNo, and I won. This year, I am becoming a NaNo Rebel and writing a memoir styled book thing. Coffee and tea truly are poisonous, in my opinion, so I tend to stick with hot chocolate to keep me going through the long mornings and longer classes I would rather spend writing. Is anyone else with me?

I am not sure at this point if I will make an outline. Last year, I managed to win without one, but since then, I have fallen in love with outlines. All the same, NaNo's craziness would probably seem slightly less crazy if I actually had a marginal idea of how my "novel" is going to work out (Is that a sin?).

So, um, yeah. I think I am just going to shut up now and hit the "Post comment" button. =}

Hi there!

Sorry for the random post but this is my first time doing NaNoWriMo, (I quite literally learned about it last night) and I just kinda wanted to get my name out there and see if anyone had any advice.

Nice to be here
---> SLR

'Ello everyone! This is my first year doing NaNo as well. A friend of mine asked me to do it and I thought it was an awesome idea. So we'll see if I actually manage to get it written, despite all my schoolwork. Not much else to say, except it's nice to meet you all.

Howdy everyone. I'm Kev.

I am a returning NaNoWriMoer. this will be attempt number four. I won for the first time last year. My work this year will be totally different from what I did last year although I will be staying in the Science Fiction genre. I am trying to encourage some of my friends to participate but so far no luck.

I have a couple questions to last years winners. Are you going to write a sequel (or prequel) to your work of last year or will it be something completely new? Did you take advantage of the CreateSpace free printed draft? I wanted to but never got around to it.

Hey Kev,

Welcome back! I'm a science fiction writer, too. I did win last year, and had a great time, but I'm ready to move on from last year's characters. I don't know if I'll ever get completely away from science fiction. I just can't seem to write more than 6500 words before I HAVE to throw in something supernatural.

I was really excited about the CreateSpace free printed draft, but I kept wanting to polish, polish, polish and managed to let the deadline slip by.

Has anyone followed through on the free printed draft? Were you happy with it?

Write on!

Shannon

I got a CreateSpace draft. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I didn't like how they have the process set up. I prefer lulu.com, but the actual book ended up lovely.

I too wanted to polish it up before I got mine (I did minor spell checking, etc., but that's it), but just decided to order it as is, and edit it in book form. I've yet to do any editing though... It's just TOO dang pretty to bleed all over it... and it NEEDS it.

I'm really hoping that some printing company gives us a code for this year too.

I wanted to do the CreateSpace draft but I too wanted to polish it a bit before submitting it and the deadline got away from me. I was also waiting on some cover art which never materialized. Oh well. Live and learn.

I'm back this year, and like previous attempts, this year will be a novel I promised to a publisher.

So I'm going to work toward yet another publication. WOOT!

I'll have my current one with me at every write-in, in case people want motivation to finish that novel. You, too, can have it in a shiny, real form.

Sounds great, CBair! We look forward to seeing you.

Shannon

Hello All,
I usually stare at a blank page until something comes out. I plan on winging it for Nanowrimos. I won't outline or put any thought into it until November 1st. However hitting 50,000 words on the fly will be a challenge. This should make November a REAL pressure cooker.
Normally I write science fiction. Sometimes the occassional horror story appears. We'll see what comes this time.
I look forward to meeting you and discovering what this is all about.

You are braver than I am! I like the security blanket of an outline. I don't have to follow it, but if I'm stumped for my word count I can just flesh out an idea I had in the outline. I do have a friend who has won NaNo with nothing but a main character and her occupation on day one.

I usually write SciFi, too. I'm planning to make this one more mundane with some ancient gods and curses towards the end, but I have a feeling I won't be able to keep the spooky stuff from creeping in early.

Write on!

Shannon

Oh, I'm not against outlines. I don't plan on starting one or giving this any thought until November 1st. I've got several projects in progress and the thought of going off into something different and spontaneous sounds like a welcome change of pace.
Still, I get philosophical about approaches to writing. I'd like to know how each of you makes out with your own personalized effort.
John

I usually have a rough idea of the story I want to tell with a few plot points that I want to hit, along with a couple of well fleshed out characters, but that's it. If I do too much, then I get bored with it when I sit down to write, or I end up loving my outlined story too much and when it goes off of it once I start writing I get upset and want to scrap the whole thing. The BIG thing that I insist on having are characters I know inside and out. If I don't have that I end up floundering around for way too long.

About a week before NaNo, I usually take my characters and write a short story (~5K words) about their lives that has nothing to do with the story I intend to write, just to flesh out my characters better. Then once Nov 1 comes, I don't have to figure out what my characters are going to do, I already know. Guess I better get started on that. November is coming around WAY too fast this year.

Hi everyone! I'm totally new to NaNoWriMo, and I'm totally psyched at the thought of actually finishing a book. I have yet to complete a book, and it gets very discouraging after a while. My main problem is that I want my book to be perfect, so I'm constantly revising or at a deadlock. I'll definitely have to follow the advice of others and just write whatever comes, even if it's phooey :) .

Can't wait until Nov. 1st!
Rosie

"I shall not pass this way again." Eva Rose York

Hi Rosie,

Welcome! That was exactly my situation last October. I had started many novels, and finished none. It is truly liberating to let yourself write badly, just to get your word count done. As an added bonus, I think there was actually more good than bad in it, as a whole.

Last year's NaNoWriMo was the first and only novel I've ever finished, and I'm really looking forward to finishing my second one this year.

Write on!

Shannon

Hi!
I am new to NaNoWriMo, though I've known about it for quite a while. Free time has not be on my side, but this year I decided that if I wait for free time, I am never going to get that novel written. I intend to get to at least a couple of the write-in, so I look forward to making some of you!
-Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

That's the beauty of an Official Novel Writing Month with an absurd deadline: it stretches the space-time continuum when you chant the magic words. Here is how it works: when my husband says "I'll rake the leaves if you bag them," I answer "I can't. I'm writing a novel." If my cousin asks me to come to her daughter's swim meet, I say "I can't, I'm writing a novel."

You will be amazed at how much time the magic words will create. They work so well and get you out of so much stuff you would rather not do anyway, its kind of sad when December comes and the magic words don't work anymore.

Shannon

Shannon... but you can just say "I can't. I'm editing my novel" once December comes along. ;)

Hi! I'm Ai, and I split my time between Hudson and Toledo, Ohio--to the other Hudson people I've seen, maybe we can arrange meet-ups in town, as I cannot get out of Hudson without a massive amount of arranging ahead of time.

This will be my third year doing NaNo, and I've won both years. Here's to hoping I can make it three, huh?

Can't wait for it to start--one more week!

NaNo 2007: Failure to Cope
NaNo 2008: Jump Without Thinking
SF 2009: Out

Ali, I'm in Stow and work in Hudson. I'd be interested in a meet-up here. There is a Panera's off rt. 303 near downtown.

Jessiner--

I know right where that is! I don't know when you work or whatever, but I probably can't make it any time besides the weekend, however I would be very very interested in arranging one assuming it all works out with people's schedules.

NaNo 2007: Failure to Cope
NaNo 2008: Jump Without Thinking
SF 2009: Out

That's brilliant! I'll try it.

Hello everyone. I'm from Akron and hope to actually make some of the write-offs this year. I have big plans on actually winning this year because I was laid off a few days ago. I'm not even going to *look* for a job until I finish this year's project, a witch story called Deirdre and the Warlocks.

http://lmbricker.blogspot.com/

Hi guys!

My name is Ali, I'm currently in high school, and this is my third NaNo. I haven't ever done the in-person stuff and I usually don't participate in the forums because they're really overwhelming, but I'm giving it a shot this year. I'm going to try to beat my record for last year, which was about 86,000 words in the entire month with the first 50,000 done in ten days, I think. I am so excited for this year because it sets me up for the next few NaNos as well since this one will be the first in a series. I can't wait for it all to start!

Wow! That is an impressive word count, Ali! I hope you do participate in some of the forums - you can help keep us all motivated.

Shannon

I'm still learning to use the site. The next comment was what I had intended to post.
Thanks,
John