The region rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney is legendary. Forget the AFL, the Melbourne Cup, the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race -- it's all about the word count at the end of November.
This year, we're putting our money where our mouths are.
During November, the MLs of both regions will be collecting donations at write-ins and other events. At the end of the month, all monies gathered will be donated to NaNoWriMo in the name of the winning region -- that's the region with the highest average word count per writer, just to make things fair.
It's yet another incentive to crank out those words during November. In the end both regions will benefit by helping keep NaNoWriMo running for another year. All you have to do is chip in what you can afford to -- and of course write, write, write!
Lauren (Melbourne) and Darren/Killraven (Sydney)
----------
Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
51,100 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2009 - 04 50
Can we place bets on the eventual winner/average word count? :-P
----------History's many paths lead to one: Liberty.
0 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2009 - 16 43
Hmmm... I fear we may be at a disadvantage. I would wager that we have more inactive accounts that keep rolling over from previous nanos.
38,522 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2009 - 18 51
Then we're just going to have to write more, aren't we? ^_^
Unless we can convince someone to clean everyone's listings up, but I reckon that'd be a big job.
68,324 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2009 - 21 49
Well, I'm writing a lot this year again to try and make up for inactive peeps. We can do it!
----------Nanoing with the zombie muse, Daramor!
2005: Musical Scales (53K)
2006: Myra (50K)
2007: Dark of Day (50K)
2008: TKH, SS, FW & CaP (200K total)
2009: Lucidity, ??, DaC & ?? (Going for 200K again! \o/)
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 03 04
Interesting. It appears that we have one thread that's linked to from both forums. I thought it would crosspost when I tickied the Melbourne and the Sydney boxes.
Oh well, just try not to kill each other, and we'll be fine XD
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
51,034 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 03 08
Oh so the Sydney people can see our thread?! Cool!
I've done NaNo in both cities and can say that Melbourne is a better city for writing. It's a much more literary city with a bit of a writing community around some of the journals and festivals down here.
----------NaNoWriMo '09: Barbarism - "...society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism..."
Blog | Twitter
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 05 41
Not a bad idea, Alex. Perhaps each region could run a sweep, where participants could draw numbers from a hat and the closest to the final average gets a prize.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 05 46
AFAIK, accounts only roll over if people use 'em. Before the site reboot, there were 2000 people listed as affiliated with Melbourne; now there's 1073, of which 714 are homed to Melbourne. Sydney have 956 affiliates and 597 homed. I don't think the numbers are that uneven, and anyway, if everyone writes their 50K like they're supposed to, it'll still be an average of 50K per person and then both regions win and NaNo still gets the money, so it's a win-win-win situation.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
46,007 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 15 46
Didn't Melbourne get spanked last year?
----------He liked his breasts like he liked his tea; milky and in huge cups.
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 15 48
AFAIK, accounts only roll over if people use 'em. Before the site reboot, there were 2000 people listed as affiliated with Melbourne; now there's 1073, of which 714 are homed to Melbourne. Sydney have 956 affiliates and 597 homed. I don't think the numbers are that uneven, and anyway, if everyone writes their 50K like they're supposed to, it'll still be an average of 50K per person and then both regions win and NaNo still gets the money, so it's a win-win-win situation.
Spiffy.
However, I am still a lazy Franz :)
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 15 51
I've done NaNo in both cities and can say that Melbourne is a better city for writing. It's a much more literary city with a bit of a writing community around some of the journals and festivals down here.
Also, the weather in Melbourne is much more conducive to the writing lifestyle.
4,211 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 18 50
What??? No! Kill! Maim! Destroy! Raaaar!
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 19 13
All the more reason to write our backsides off this year.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
51,034 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 19 17
And we won't mention my performance last year in relation to Sydney defeating Melbourne.
----------NaNoWriMo '09: Barbarism - "...society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism..."
Blog | Twitter
1,520 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 19 22
This seems like an appropriate time to say Game on Moles! :)
----------O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
23,289 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 22 00
I'm placing my bets on Melbourne. :)
xx
----------Reality Escapes Her.
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 21 40
*gasp!*
*monocle pops out*
Indeed!
68,324 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 04 14
Eat our dust.
----------Nanoing with the zombie muse, Daramor!
2005: Musical Scales (53K)
2006: Myra (50K)
2007: Dark of Day (50K)
2008: TKH, SS, FW & CaP (200K total)
2009: Lucidity, ??, DaC & ?? (Going for 200K again! \o/)
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 05 12
I think our wombats will be kicking the dust in your faces, Fluffster.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
10,000 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2009 - 21 46
AND our shorts. ----------
"I've just invented an ancient Chinese proverb!"
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 19 33
AND our shorts.
I've eaten ice cream with Vegemite; shorts can't be that much more difficult.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
5,006 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 19 48
...vegemite and ice cream?! *shudder*. Very curious: how bad did it taste?
----------37,583 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 20 18
It was kind of very sweet and very salty at the same time, with a distinct undertone of OH GOD WRONG.
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
6,315 / 50,000
Oct 8, 2009 - 23 30
Come on, Sydney!
----------. R a i n w o o d .
71,158 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 03 48
I'm sorry... but this took me to the wrong place...
Shut up and LOVE it!
----------Shut up and LOVE it!
53,842 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 04 43
Reminds me of when I used to buy a choctop and popcorn at the cinema, and then bite a hole in the choc coating, and then push the popcorn into it and bite. Warm and cold. sweet and salty, soft and crunchy all at the same time.... :)
Oh and GO SYDNEY!
Ray
----------NaNoprogress Tracker!
http://members.iinet.net.au/~maxtac/nano-progress09.xls
"May the muse be with you!"
51,100 / 50,000
Oct 9, 2009 - 15 04
Sydney will win. Or maybe we'll lose. I'm covering my bases here.
But in any case, we are the awesome.
----------History's many paths lead to one: Liberty.
3,041 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 18 51
Hey so i'm one of the cadavers you Proud Melburnians have been carrying around for a year or two, ok .. I'm sorry, no really...
I hope to do more than spend time in cafes searching for redhead waitresses whilst pretneding to scribble into my long suffering moleskine this year... although some of that is essential research, no?
----------------------
Has written some really awesome titles, may one day boldly go further.
37,583 / 50,000
Oct 10, 2009 - 19 00
Pretending to write whilst checking out cafe staff... nooo, none of the rest of us would ever do that... I'm sorry, is it opposite day already?
----------Municipal Liaison for Australia and New Zealand :: Melbourne
Moderator for Games, Diversions, and Other Exciting Forms of Procrastination
4,211 / 50,000
Oct 11, 2009 - 17 15
In the interests of artistic diversity, have you considered also checking out the blondes and brunettes? If you want to pick up such creatures, you could try actually writing instead of pretending to - it makes you look less like a crazy stalker, which means you'll have more time to covertly check them out before making your move. Plus if they ask what you're writing about, you can actually show them something. It's a win all round.