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
----------
Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
41,336 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2009 - 23 53
Lunchtime meets are (as you know) the ones I find best, and they worked for me before. Don't know of any suitable wheelchair-friendly places around my place of work, unfortunately.
91,395 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 00 42
I'll be along to the saturday write-ins wherever they are :)
----------I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Banish the Guilt Monkeys
44,229 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2009 - 15 17
Well, firstly thanks for the warm reception at the weekend and making Beth welcome. Having her there means I can spend time with her and make NaNo meets; plus it's a good excuse for her to do some of the mountain of work she needs to do, so I appreciate it. It was really great to see you guys again. (Once again, sorry for going quiet; too many things to mention. :P)
Secondly, I'm hoping too come to the Saturday meets (most likely with Beth in tow). As much as I would have loved a meet every Saturday last year, with a girlfriend now I appreciate it being every two weeks. ;) I'm going to try and get some random days off in November and hopefully make a day meet or two in the week, something I did manage to do last time. I do love CB2's as a venue, but haven't really been anywhere else.
And on a related note, I'll try to make both the parties this time. I need to get permission first though... o_o
----------- Yoz -
2007: The Dust on the Wind - 50K
2008: The Rise of King Drust - 50K
2009: Terrebus Rundstadt: From Child to Lord
47,205 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 03 55
I shall certainly think about attending a planning meet and/or a write-in depending on how the plot bunnies (and my children) are behaving.
Am I right in thinking there will be a pub meet this wednesday? *hopeful*
1,808 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 04 57
Thank you for the wonderful welcome! Would love to meet for the Meets!
Afternoons and Wednesdays work best for me as I'm off from uni then :) ...Just as soon as I find Norfolk street o_o Unfortunately can't make weekends because need to head back home - but will defo try to make the earlier sessions during the weekdays!
18,383 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 05 28
CB2 meets are all good for me. I should warn you, though, that the back-end library part of CB2 is sometimes booked out on Thursday nights - I know this because my CWIL writing group meet there every other Thursday night and several times lately we've been booted out. I think it's a meeting of the Socialist Workers or something along those lines. We used to share the library part with them but now they seem to have taken the line that it's much better to get management to boot out the local artists so that they can rant in peace and quiet. Hmph. So inevitably we end up having to drag tables together in the front part of the upstairs section, which isn't too bad, but sometimes we're downstairs which is awful as it's (a) freezing cold when someone opens the door, and (b) incredibly loud! Maybe we could try booking it out ourselves on Thursdays? ;-)
Otherwise, Mondays at Le Gros Frank are good too, and I can't think of a better way to spend any Wednesday night than at the Blue. Having 4 nights out of 30 wiped out by alcohol just makes NaNo all the more exciting! ;-)
----------2005: The Last Wish of Owen Flint
2006: Insomnia and Other Ways to Die
2007: The Ipswich File
2008: Rain is Expected Tonight in London
2009: Hate to Say I Told You So
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 08 23
Am I right in thinking there will be a pub meet this wednesday? *hopeful*
:-)
Absolutely, but don't believe the calendar, it doesn't actually start until 7pm, though I'll probably be there from around 6:30 or so, I usually am. If you click through to the calendar it will give you all the directions you need to find it. Any other questions, you know where to find me. :-)
Hope to see you there!
Lottie
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 08 27
Afternoons and Wednesdays work best for me as I'm off from uni then :) ...Just as soon as I find Norfolk street o_o Unfortunately can't make weekends because need to head back home - but will defo try to make the earlier sessions during the weekdays!
Hiya,
Norfolk Street is pretty much opposite the Grafton Centre - directly opposite the end of Burleigh Street which goes down the side of the Grafton Centre.
Hmm... there used to be directions on the calendar, but they seem to have gone missing, I'd better try and fix that...
Lottie
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 12, 2009 - 08 51
Well we managed to book tables last year, so I'll set sniglet on them and see how she gets on.
Thanks for the warning though. :-)
Lottie
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
1,808 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 04 27
Norfolk Street is pretty much opposite the Grafton Centre - directly opposite the end of Burleigh Street which goes down the side of the Grafton Centre.
Hmm... there used to be directions on the calendar, but they seem to have gone missing, I'd better try and fix that...
Lottie
Ah thank you very much! I will probably go and hunt it down some time during the day on Wednesday and see if I can find it :P Don't trust myself when it's dark very much :D
edit: so I went looking for it today - and found it! Turns out I've been too ignorant when I've walked past it hundreds of times :D Will definitely be there! :D
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 07 11
Yay! Good to know my directions actually work. :-)
Looking forward to meeting you. :-)
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 13 39
Hi all,
We're changing table in the pub tomorrow night - go in the front door and turn *right* instead of left, and head towards the back of the pub. We'll be at the large table against the back wall. See you there!
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 03 51
Hi all,
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that the Calendar has filled up with meets for November. Apart from a few days towards the end of the month when we're still not sure that we'll be able to get space, we've confirmed the times and dates with the venue and it's all set up. :-)
If there have to be any last minute changes, we'll put them on the calendar and announce it here. We'll also try to use the Facebook group and Twitter feed to alert people, but please try to check the calendar before you leave the house/work etc just in case.
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
6,272 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 04 01
Er - not to be pedantic here, just purely in the interests of not turning up in the wrong week like the idiot I am..! About the weekend write-ins, do you mean there's a Sunday one on the 1st, the 15th and the 29th, and Saturday ones on the 7th and the 14th, alternating? If you did that's not actually the 2nd and 4th saturdays, that's the 1st and the 3rd Sats as well, since the month starts on a Sunday.
Aaaanyway...
Tom
78,936 / 50,000
Oct 26, 2009 - 08 22
Aaaanyway...
Tom
Tom, you're quite right, you are being pedantic. :-D
You're also absolutely correct about the Saturdays being the first and third of the month, that's the 7th and the 21st. So, not including all the meets during the week, it's:
3pm Sunday 1st November
11am Saturday 7th November
3pm Sunday 15th November
11am Saturday 21st November
3pm Sunday 29th November.
Stick 'em in your diary.
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
78,936 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2009 - 12 47
The Virtual Write-In on Friday 13th will be going ahead, but myself and sniglet will not actually be there, we're double-booked. There should be enough people around that know how the bot works to start wars etc, so you probably won't even miss us. :-)
To be honest there hasn't been much difference between the Virtual Write Ins and ordinary evenings in the Chat room. If you want some encouragement to write just pitch up and there's bound to be someone there to help you along. :-)
----------Lottie
I'll sleep when I'm dead.