Rochester Area Novelist Check In!

Good idea, Bradly! I was hoping someone would start this thread. ;)

Name: Lee

Years done NaNoWriMo: A big fat zero. Gotta start somewhere!

My writing: Not much. I'm good at starting but end up quitting soon after. Or I'll have a great idea ready to go, but as soon as I start writing it down it evaporates. Over the years I've noticed I end up getting stuck in The Land of Neverending Editing, even for simple emails. (Hey, so far so good! But i fear a shiny link will soon grab hold of my attention... I better finish this quickly!)

Anything else: As you might have seen elsewhere, I actually live up in that major metro area to the north. There are about 45 of us nut jobs who hop a RCL commuter bus early in the morning to work at various places down here, only to have our tired souls returned to the bus stop nearly 13 hours later. Hopefully someday I'll be able to find as good a job AND people to work with closer to home.

But for how, the commute is a blessing in disguise: time for NaNo without having to eat into what little time I do have at home during the week. At least that's the plan.

Though my writing has been less than stellar, I've always been fascinated by language, American Sign Language in particular. A chance encounter with Arika Okrent's In the Land of Invented Languages indirectly led me to http://wiki.frath.net/LoCoWriMo, which pointed me to NaNo. Yes, I'm doing LoCo right now with an as yet half-baked conlang (constructed language) of my own. I think another three or four conlangers are also doing both events this year. The experience so far has definitely been an education on how language works from the inside out.

Other than language I enjoy camping, bike tour (non-race) events, digital photography, learning to play the keyboard, non-work-related software programming, and shiny obje...

Sometime later...

Any of these are even better when I get to do them with my family and/or friends. My wife and our 3rd grade book hound are/were debating joining me in NaNo, but not looking too promising at this point. Maybe next year.

Name: Alan

Years done NaNo: This is my sixth round. My first NaNo was in '03, though I had to skip '04 and I totally flamed out last year. Despite almost all of my free time being consumed by a toddler, I'm hoping to do better this year by actually knowing what I'm going to write beforehand. :-)

My writing: I've done different genres every year. Despite that, an undercurrent of fantasy or supernatural tends to run through them. This year I'll be writing straight historical fiction, based on true events; no room for the supernatural!

Anything else: like my fellow Typewriter Brigadiers, I'll be writing my entire manuscript on a manual typewriter.

Name(s): Mia, Elle, Madz, or Cobalt (this includes Coby, Blue-eyes, and Sunshine)

Years I've Done NaNo: I've participated several years ago, and forgot my username and password - this will be a third attempt in...seven years. I have not won yet, but that does not mean I can't. This year I have more gutso and determination to finish (plus an actual plot).

My Writing: Oh boy, where to start? I love to write about everything - it depends on the year and what happens to catch my eye. I don't think I have ever been able to focus on one genre or throughline. I simply jump around and explore uncharted territory. This year is mixed with mythological legends and history with a bit a biographical feel (or something like that). Anyway, it's never the same twice.

Anything Else: For me, writing a novel is chaos. I write chapters and sections with notes and sketches in notebooks, on cardboard and napkins, and on the computer. Nothing is ever in one place for too long. Expect the unexpected, in my case.

Oh, and I live between three places - my parent's house in the Valley (I'm there all the time), my friend's house in Stewartville, and my place I bunk down in in Rochester. From time to time, I also live at work. Talk about being in two places at once. Ha! I hope to meet everyone soon!

Name: David. I'm another foolish mortal who uses his real name for his ID.
Years done NaNo: 2008 was my first year, didn't finish (stopped at 45k words I think). I'm determined to win this time around.
My Writing: I like to think of myself as a fantasy novelist. At least my NaNo project this year is fantasy, as well as the one I wrote last year. I also have a horror novel in the works, which I need to finish up soon. I have an urban fantasy character in mind, with a paper thin plot, but haven't begun that work yet.
Anything Else: I live in Rochester, and have been here for the better portion of my life. I have a day job. I play Dungeons & Dragons.

Name: Jeremy. Am I foolish? At Homes is not really my last name. There! That should confuse any would-be identity thieves!

Years done NaNo: Four years running. Four consecutive wins. I find it very easy to keep the fingers moving when the brain is disconnected.

Anything Else: I'm not the most social Nanowrimoer. Mostly because my busy extra-curricular schedule, plus a day job, plus a strong desire to keep my weekends open means I write on my breaks at work. 1.5- to 2-hrs/(week)day seem to be enough for me to get the job done. No travel planned in November this year, but I am in-discussion with an editor for a for-pay freelance project. Depending on if/when my proposal gets accepted, it may supplant my participation this year.

Name: Stephanie - I also join the ranks of the foolish and my screen name includes my real name.

Years Done NaNoWriMo: This will be my second. I actually managed to hit the goal last year (by 20 words, I think), and I hope to repeat the feat this year. Preferably with a little more wiggle room (and without having to expand all of my contractions

My Writing: NaNo is my one shot a year at creative writing. Otherwise, it's all legal memoranda and briefs. Haven't quite decided on a genre for this year, but I'm leaning toward sci-fi/fantasy. Something totally out of the legal world that I wrote about last year.

Anything Else: I live outside of Winona, so making it to NaNo-Rochester events is sometimes tough - but oh-so-worth it! I have also suckered three of my friends over here into joining me for NaNo 2009. I'm still working on them on the whole "drive to Rochester to write?" thing, though.

Name: Kelly - my favorite word is wonky and someone dared me to make it my user name once upon a time so I wisely threw in the word "penguin" as though it has any meaning to me. It doesn't.

Years Done Nanowrimo: Last year, I finally had the motivation, the idea, and the time away from stupid distractions to get in and get it done. It is amazing to me how much that little certificate meant when I finally got it. It was my first shot.

My Writing: I keep a blog frequently updated with humorous stories from my life or ways I look at the world, particularly using the theories of The Today Show and Paul Abdul as fodder. In particular, I'm working on a book of my favorite funny mom stories, sort of a "This Is Your Life" in book form. I'm not really a fan of fiction writing so it usually has a philosophical bent to it...but not good or educated philosophy, just my own.

Anything Else: I am really hoping to make it to a NaNoWriMo gathering this year. I live in Rochester but I work a strange schedule doing private practice therapy and transcription from home on the side. In any case, I hope to meet you all and good luck!

Name: Julie
Years Done Nanowrimo: Well, I've looked at the site, signed up, read the forums and written a bit since 2006 -- no wins yet. I started a new job Oct. 27, 2008 and somehow thought I could do it last year. HA!

My writing: tends to be sporadic, mostly I just want the writer's life. I write for my job (news releases, web content, annual reports, brochures, marketing with a small "m", that sorta thang). I would love to find my own voice (it's pretty eclectic and random, like the rest of my life) and write something that others would want to read. I'm hoping (again) that Nano will help me FOCUS. Love memoir and creative nonfiction to read, so will probably write this November in that genre too - not that I've got any great ideas yet!

Anything else: I used to ride motorcycle. Now I'm a passionate fiber artist. How do you exercise when your passions lead you to the screen and the armchair?? I live in Minneapolis on weekends, where I grew up. Would love to meet others in Rochester, Owatonna or Faribault for support and write-ins, one evening per week. Oh - I'm looking for new or used laptop-any ideas?

Naturegal in southern Minnesota

Name: DeanJohnson
Years Done Nanowrimo: I wrote and won last year, at the urging of my son.

My writing: I just put my head down and do it. Last year was a real learning experience, as I expected my productivity to go up through the month, but was sadly mistaken. WPM stayed pretty uniform. Last year I wrote in the Firefly universe, complete with dialog and archaic speech patterns, so this year should be easier as I will be using more traditional forms.

Anything else: As the others 'round these parts will tell you, I am very shy and rarely talk. ;-)

Name: Broenyn (and yes, I used Christopher Paolini's character for my username. XD)

Years Done NaNoWriMo: This will be my third year doing NaNo. I lost in 2007 after I started 8 days late and I only go to...20000 or so. Last year I won around the 21st of November and kind of...stopped after that, so this year I'm shooting for 75K. I'm hoping all goes well! :D

My Writing: I don't really write in the same genre all the time. My first NaNo novel, I wrote fantasy and it was based off of a dream I had. My second year, I wrote romance and this year I'm going to be writing literary fiction about a high school sophomore boy who has ADHD. I also enjoy writing historical fiction (despite my great dislike of history class xD), but I haven't written a NaNo novel like that yet. I don't ever really think my novels turn out good (though others sometimes think differently), but I always have a lot of fun during November.

Anything Else: umm, I feel really young compared to all of you. lol I'm only a sophomore in high school. I also don't live in Rochester - I live 20 miles north of it and really close to Goodhue county, but I decided to have this region too because barely anyone is in the Goodhue county region. haha. Also, I've never gone to a write-in as I do a lot of word wars and stuff on the site. I don't know if that will change this year or not. :)

2007 - lost
2008 - WON!
2009 - pending excitement <3

Name: Like many of you, I used my first name for my username: Amelia.

Years done NaNo: I've done NaNo since '04 through '07, skipped '08, and back for more in '09. I've never won, but I have always gotten close before life interrupts: school,. work, play, and babies.

My writing: I'm a big fan of literary fiction this year, but I've written historical fic., chick lit., and horror. This year it's a discovery of philosophy and politics as well as socioeconomic change. However, the plot is still a bit rough, but I don't think I'm too worried yet - I tend to free-write most works.

Anything else: This year I don't have college classes to worry about, but I do have a job. I hope to have a typewriter this year, but I'll most likely be writing everything by hand - something I haven't done since elementary school, so that will be a challenge in itself.

> Anything Else: umm, I feel really young compared to all of you. lol I'm only a sophomore in high school. I also don't live in
> Rochester - I live 20 miles north of it and really close to Goodhue county, but I decided to have this region too because
> barely anyone is in the Goodhue county region. haha. Also, I've never gone to a write-in as I do a lot of word wars and
> stuff on the site. I don't know if that will change this year or not. :)

There are a few "youngsters" around. My son is also a sophomore at Mayo and has won the previous two years. Doing Nano at such a young age is great and warms the hearts of us old farts that *atleast* someone under 25 can write more than 140 characters at a time. ;-)

It's 2:00 AM at Zumbro Valley Mental Heath Center, I've got to work on some group material, but can put off what they pay me for a little longer.

NaNo handle: The Masked Avenger, a title I've used since my prankster days in college.

Writing: I've always had a SFF fell to it, since I fell under Tolkein's influence in Jr High and started my first novel. Said opus sits unfinished in notebooks and Apple II discs. Yet therare always comes a mystery of some sort in my stories. My main endeavors took a number of the characters who met Jesus at his birth and gave them a quest. Well, you never here about them again, so why not? Add some dragons and world mythologizes and off you go! Those three plus books have historical backgrounds woven in. My current NaNo offering (second year) is a Hist Myst about bootlegging in the Twincities and Greater Minnesota. A few of my Immortal characters will come in with that angle played down; they'll just be a bit mysterious of background.

anything else: I commute from Austin, play guitar and write songs, bike, cook, do leatherwork and act and direct with the Matchbox Children's Theatre in Austin.

Hello;

Well this is my first NaNoWriMo and I am eager to get started. I have written many short stories, some of which are published in my Gudbudie's Mystery and SciFi Journal (GMSFJ, see below).

I moved to Rochester 3 1/2 years ago from Chicago after getting married. Right now I am running an online marketing and search business from my house here in SW Rochester. I have really been writing for about 10 years, mainly on my commute from my old house to downtown Chicago and had a lot of ideas half finished and in dead ends. Now i have the time and been using the short stories to hone my skills.

My background is in Marketing and Computers. I prefer my Linux to Mac and WIndows (though there is nothing wrong with any of them, just personal choice.) .

I feel I am ready to do a novel and I feel that this challenge will help me get into the habit of writing 1500-2000 words a day and that could only lead to success.

My main focus is on Mystery and SciFi and I do like combining the two.

I have published 3 marketing books and am working on a management book based upon the works of Machiavelli as well as a sort of autobiography about growing up a computer/scif/sports geek. ;^D

Look forward to seeing any of you when I get the chance to get out of the house.

Mahalo
rens

Michael J Rener

http://www.renspubhouse.netii.net
skype: gudbudie
twitter: renspubhouse

Do or Do Not, There Is No Try.

Name: Ekram and yes, my screenname is my name backwards with an e added. I'm 15 so a bit younger than most of you.

Years Done Nanowrimo: I did Nano last year though I didn't finish. Keeping up with highschool homework, friends, my fanfics, and a 50,000 word novel is going to be quite the feat. I hope to finish this year as I didn't last year.

My Writing: I write anything though romance/psychological stories seem to be the most common for me. I also write Harry Potter fanfic throughout the year and it's a lot of fun.
I want to be a published author someday...as for that happening, well, we'll see.

Anything Else: I live in Rochester and go to JM. You guys probably won't see much of me at the write ins and such but I hope to make some. I've gotten seven of my friends to do Nano too so it should be great fun!

-ekrammarkee

Name: Cynthia
Years Done Nanowrimo: I had an extremely wimpy start a couple of years ago but I'm more committed to it this year.
My Writing: Herein lies much of the difficulty in doing Nanowrimo. I can't ever seem to come up with a proper plot! What kind of writer has difficulty with plots? Thus far I've written little anecdotal bits and a rather good beginning at a play. My writing tends to be memoir-ish but I'd love to be able to move into something else. I love to read sci-fi but it's not a genre that I'm all that interested in writing about and historical fiction (another of my reading choices) requires FAR too much research for my tastes. I love a good mystery but, well, a seriously solid plot is fairly critical. You see the difficulties, I'm sure. This year I'm going with the first-novel standby of fictionalized autobiography. It's a rather rich part of my life so it has potential. Perhaps once I get going I'll discover a plot or two I can play with next year.
Anything Else: I moved from Bremerton, WA to Rochester a couple of months ago. All my family lives in the area but the weather has always held me back from living here. The economy and my health helped me change my views and I now live in my sister's basement. After being self-sufficient for the past 40 or so years, it's a bit challenging but I love how much she and I are getting to know one another and it's interesting to be around so much family.

-ekrammarkee

A big thing is that you just need to figure out what is important to you. Nano's only a month and your friends and other optional activities, like fanfics, will be there on december 1st. My son Nick, who is also 15 (goes to Mayo), has won the last two years, with 2 and 6 days to spare, respectively. That's inspite of homework, friends, playing lacrosse, boy scouts, etc. He's just puts optional stuff on hold until he is done with his words for the day. Plus, he uses the weekends to get ahead while he has the free time. Having his old man doing Nano as well is probably a motivator for him to keep ahead.

Over the last few days, I have been considering my activities and what to put off until december. Things like going and working out are time consumers, but I use the time quite well for planning my next moves. I also have a coupla free week days next week when our company moves locations and I am scheduling nothing but writing those days. I've also finished off a number of lingering projects so that things don't pop up in the middle of the month. One thing that will undoubtedly help me is that I have been cleaning in prep for Nano. Cleaning my desk, my office floor, my briefcase, my laptop, my email boxes. Many things that might distract me are now in a place where it unlikely that they will. I've even entered all my misc to-do items into my to-do list software so that I don't have to keep remembering them (thank you David Allen!).

It's all about discipline and time management. Like the old saying goes, "You can do anything you want. You just can't do everything you want".

Name: Tom

Years NaNoed: Since 2004

November used to be one of my least favorite months. Between the loss of the sun, increase in cold, that yucky first snow, and all that frustrating holiday travel, I just didn't look forward to this month much at all. Now, though, November is my favorite month.

One of my favorite aspects of NaNoWriMo is not knowing what I'm going to write about until November 1st comes around. Then, I just open up the document I created for my latest NaNo project and start writing whatever comes to mind. It usually takes me a few hundred words or so to determine what I'm going to write about. I have done a little more planning some years (like last year for instance) but my favorite writing generally comes when I just open up my creativity spigot and let the ideas flow.

Here's what I wrote each of the five years I've participated so far:

2004: Romantic Comedy (my favorite so far)
2005: Psychological Thriller
2006: Science Fiction/Comedy/Memoir
2007: Psychological Thriller
2008: Murder Mystery
This year: No friggen idea

www.43things.com/person/improg
https://www.createspace.com/3398687
https://www.createspace.com/3401072

Amanda here, howdy ho everybody.

I just recently moved to Rochester from TX... August I think? I moved mostly to be with my online boyfriend (now my fiance) but also to go to Mayo.

Yes. This will be the southerner's first winter in the frigid north lands of the Minnesota wilderness. (That is, having her toes stalked by the cat creature as she cuddles the nice warm man creature under the pile of blankets by the heater in her apartment.) Weep for her.

I've done Nano several times, haven't won yet, hoping this year will be the big year.

Adnama|amandA

HI all,

I'm a bit late to the party, having just signed up for NaNoWriMo today.

Name: Anna

First year with NaNoWriMo

I have written off and on for years. I have started many novels and have never finished one. I have taken many classes at the Loft and with Rochester Community Ed. I've read a ton of writing books. All said, I am a better writing student than I am a writer. But I am really in love with the novel I am working on and, for once, know the beginning, ending, a lots of the middle! I am hoping with the NaNoWriMo I will have something complete I can start to edit. And also get a good habit in writing every day.

I live in Rochester with my husband. I'm currently laid off (since Aug 2008) but I have kept myself busy going back to grad school and working with Community Ed to bring more writing events to Rochester. I hope to make it to a couple of Tuesday events but won't be able to go this week.

Good luck to everyone!
Anna

Hey fellow Wrimoers, im in Waconia but this group was teh closest i could find. im joining for a wordcount comparison and potential friends. also, if u play WoW send me Nanomail adn we'll quest together on there.

Name: uma

My screen handle is a reference to Chocolat - Pontoof, the imaginary friend.

This is my first year doing Nanowrimo. I seem to be writing a lot of meaningless drivel but, oh well.

I'm a little late, but I'm in the nanowrimo LiveJournal community, and forgot to check in here! Oops.

Name: Sarah

Years Done Nanowrimo: This is my third year. I won last year and hoping to do it again!

My Writing: Last year was crappy chick-lit. This year I'm doing sort of a dark lit-fic piece, not so outlandish that it branches into sci-fi, but more speculative than realist, if you get my drift.

Anything Else: I have a 1 1/2 year old daughter so I might not be able to make a lot of meet-ups (sorry, but I'm not paying a babysitter just so I can write, as much as I'd like to), but I'm hoping to join you for at least a few!

Name: I'm another one who uses my real name online. My first name is Sara. I live in Byron. My social security number is... (did you really think I'd write that?)

Years done NaNo: None! I finally decided to give this a go this year because I'm on forced short term disability from my full-time job until my heart condition is under control. I forgot to factor in that I'm still working my second job as well as buying a house and a business, so I've had less writing time than I expected. I'm still plugging away!

My writing: I'm a nano rebel. I tried to start off legally with a fiction novel, but it just wasn't working. I'm a professional dog groomer and trainer, so a couple days ago I trashed my 3300-word novel and started writing nonfiction about dogs. I think this was a wise choice since I'm now up to 9200 words in just three days' time! Whether any of those words are worth anything remains to be seen.

Anything else: I'm not sure whether I'll make any get-togethers between doctor's appointments, sleeping (I'm doing that a lot lately, which is frustrating!), and working my second job. Hopefully I'll make a few! How do these work, anyway? Can I just bring my laptop (is there a place to plug in)?

What else? Let's see, I'm a 23-year-old bibliophile. I'm an active member of BookCrossing.com (the one with the crazy amount of books registered in Byron, MN is me). I have a small amount of experience writing, and won a national dog training award for an article I wrote on training my dog last year. I would love to write and publish a book, but the size of the task scares me. I'm used to small writing goals. Run-on sentences are my nemesis.

Name: Ah... I'm keeping my real name to myself. Y'all may call me Muffins or Muffins-Weasley.

Gender: Female, though I do occasionally dress as a man. (Cosplayer at heart)

Age: 16; Junior at Mayo.

Years done: This is my first time.

My writting: I am ALWAYS working on something litterary (I have Epic Failz Desease in the spelling area, so bare with that). For that past year and a half I've been working on one story/novel that I call "Bloodz" (Which severly needs a new name.). But, as my kohai/girlfriend/editor has that manuscript, I decided it was the perfect time to start doing NaNoWriMo.
I'm always working on some sort of fantasy novel, as I tend to read fantasy most. And it ussually has a vampire or a few tens of them in there. (Yes, I do like Twilight, but I much prefer The Saga Of Darren Shan (American title: Cirque Du Freak) to it.)

Other things: I love cosplaying and drawing and tend to do both quite a bit. Every year since '08 I've gone to AD (Anime Detour) in April, and I don't plan on stopping, kami darn it, even if it means missing school on the 23 of April!!! >.<
Oh, being an anime freak and part of the Latin cult, I WILL randomly use Latin or Japanese. So get used to it.

~Muffins-Weasley

~Muffins-Weasley
*~*Official Member of the Kirby HeadBangerz*~*