Hope everyone is taking their coffee pots in for annual maintenance and buying a backup pot just in case! November is right around the corner.
Who in Cedar Rapids is taking the plunge this year? Check in and let us know how you're doing!!
I'm Amber. I've ML'd for the last few years for Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately this year I won't be able to participate as much as I have in the past -- work and a 5 month old baby take up most of my free time during normal human hours -- but I do still plan to schedule events, work on my own novel throughout the wee hours of the morning and try to keep everyone motivated towards their goals!! I have no plot, no characters and no idea where I'll find the time to even begin. I was in the same boat last year -- it was an interesting predicament and while I didn't reach the 50k goal last year -- the 43,000 words that I did pull together were all based off of the input of all the other writers who attended the kick off and gave me a very interesting set of characters to work with. Maybe I'll try to revive one or two of those again this year!!
Who else is out there?
----------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amber (Bambier)
Municipal Liaison For
Iowa :: Cedar Rapids
& Iowa :: Elsewhere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
36,880 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 01 01
*Hawaii lurker*
Next year, you'll wish I'd stayed in Hawaii. :D Graduating in December, so for NaNo 2010 I will be home in CR for the first time! I look forwards to it.
P.S. When I'm home, I live on the SW side out by Westdale mall. Been a Cedar Rapidian all my life, though I lived out in Ely until high school. Prairie HS class of '05.
38,250 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 10 08
Hi Amber, just stopping by to wish good luck to the CR NaNo-ers! My hubby and I will miss NaNoing in CR this year but life in Florida is ok and there are NaNoers here too.
What did you have? My little girl is about to be six months old.
0 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 19 37
Oh, I am out there... :) checking in
50,085 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2009 - 19 41
Heyo... also checking in on the Cedar Rapids-ness... so, uh... how's it going!? :P
----------NaNo2008 "Betrayal" : Winner!
5,764 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 08 25
Hey there, this will be my first year doing nanowrimo but I am looking forward to doing something besides working.
63,386 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 09 46
This is my third year doing NaNo, but I've never gone to any of the group things. I'm looking forward to meeting some other NaNoers this year.
I've got a plot and characters that are coming along nicely. I'm finally out of grad school so that's one less distraction from the important thing - writing!
----------0 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 10 52
Well I'm hoping to be able to participate again this year, but this is going to be an extraordinarily insane November for me as it is. Regardless, I'll be around to at least provide some much needed encouragement and support.
35,001 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 18 02
Hey! I'm from around Cedar Rapids and I'm hoping to do NaNoWriMo this year. I just heard about it and thought maybe I'd give it a try. Who knows, maybe I'll be the first 13-year-old to finish! Haha. (Also, maybe I'll get English credit... :D)
----------I'm not superhuman.
46,992 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2009 - 20 48
I see a number of familiar "faces" and a number of new people as well. Welcome to all of you! I'm working with David on setting up some Saturdays and Sundays at Roasters again this year, and I'll get those dates posted as soon as we have them ironed out. As always, if anyone wants to schedule any other dates or events -- go for it!! Just let me know the details and I'll add them to the community calendar.
Glad to see you all!! And radioactivealchemist -- we'll be happy to have you here as a lurker again this year :) we're looking forward to you coming back to hang out with us all during November!!
Kate -- I'm jealous. Send the warmer FL weather this way please!! It's sleeting here tonight, Aaron just came in from the garage to tell me that he put an ice scraper in the car for me, "Just in case" I'm not ready for winter! It's supposed to be fall, geeze!! We had a little girl -- Averie Rose - she's 5.5 months, I'll send you a link in nanomail in a second :) Congrats on your little one as well! Hopefully you did better than I did last November -- by the middle of the month I felt like my life was nearly over and I was dragging... I came close but didn't hit that 50k.
Shekinah8 -- good luck! I think you might be the youngest on here, you definitely have a lot more ambition than I did at 13 years of age -- I'm sure you'll do fantastic!! I'm not trying to scare you off to another group (we'd love to keep you here too!) but there's also a young writers program http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/ that you could check out! I can't say exactly whats all on the YWP site this year, but a couple years I worked with a group of kids on there and it was a lot of fun!! Might be worth looking into for you :) (But do keep coming back here as well!!!!)
----------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amber (Bambier)
Municipal Liaison For
Iowa :: Cedar Rapids
& Iowa :: Elsewhere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
0 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 05 38
Hey there, this is my first year at NaNoWriMo. I have a partially written novel, can I just pick up on that or is that taboo? I am excited! Can't wait to get going!
lls
0 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 05 41
i just read a bit more and see that I can't use my partially written work. that's fine...it's probably better to start over from scratch! :)
33,500 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 09 43
I'm glad to see a vibrant group here! I'm a freshman at Coe College and in my fifth year of WriMo...wow. This year is actually going to be strange for me because I already have a plot and characters. Somehow, it adds to the excitement.
Is anyone else at Coe?
----------It's not the number of words you use, it's what you say...unless it is November.
50,085 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 09 45
I'm not at Coe, but I am at Kirkwood... :-)
----------NaNo2008 "Betrayal" : Winner!
36,231 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 12 32
I'm excited to join others in Cedar Rapids writing novels. I picked up the book "First Draft in 30 Days" last summer and had a great start with her outline approach - but life got busy, stuff to do, people to attend to, you know...distractions, and I stalled. Or should I say I "refocused" on doing research, and never got back to writing. Now I have motivation! And all of you! Let's get together - maybe Barnes & Noble? It was a bookseller there that told me about NaNoWriMo.
20,000 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 19 24
Hey, this'll be my second year on nanowrimo, but I've never been too any of the meetings with the other writers. It sounds like a lot of fun, so please send me the dates and locations for those! I definitely need some inspiration for my story (or lack thereof). (;
40,745 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 20 04
Hi all! Third year NaNo participant here. I lived in Florida for the 07 and 08 NaNos, but now I'm home again in Iowa where I belong, and just in time to see the Hawkeyes kick some football butt!
Getting back on topic though :)
I am available on weekends for write-ins. Panera and Barnes & Noble both offer free Wi-Fi, also Java Creek on Boyson and C Ave NE is a great location. The downside to Panera is a restriction of 30 minutes during several hours in the middle of the day, even on weekends.
Personally, for get-togethers I vote B&N cafe or Java Creek.
Anyone else have any ideas or preferences on write-ins???
Also, kick off party? I've never been to one of those before due to conflicting work schedules, but if it falls on a weekend I'm game.
--looking forward to Nov 1st!--
-----------V-
== ==
46,992 / 50,000
Oct 18, 2009 - 09 04
*waves*
I still don't have anything concrete -- waiting on final approval from the man in charge, but the plan is to use Roasters in Hiawatha as a home base again this year for scheduled write ins. They've always been great to us NaNo-ers, offered free wi-fi, they have snacks and are right next door to a tomasos and greek restaurant that will let you have your food in Roasters as well :) I'm shooting for rotating Saturday/Sunday afternoons starting on Nov 1st. Unfortunately I won't be able to put together a kickoff party prior to that, so we'll have to kick off on the first unless someone wants to plan a get together elsewhere! It's still to be determined if we'll have goody bags and prizes or just a few handouts/activities, but those details will come later!
I'll let you all know as soon as I get the dates finalized! As always though if you guys want to plan additional write ins somewhere - just let me know and I'll put it up on the (currently invisible) regional calendar and add it to the (soon to be arriving) weekly regional emails. :)
I *do* have TGIO plans almost ironed out though, so look for those to be coming soon too!
----------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amber (Bambier)
Municipal Liaison For
Iowa :: Cedar Rapids
& Iowa :: Elsewhere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10,191 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 09 10
I've started NaNoWriMo once or twice before, but never finished it (I was in North Dakota in college at the time). This year I want to get it done. I think I have my general outline done already, so I'll be trying to write off of that. Looking forward to it!
12,027 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2009 - 19 19
Hi,
I'm Amber...You can call me Ambie to distinguish me from the other Amber. :) This is my first NaNo, and I blame my best friend. Um. I'm looking forward to insanity and hope that I can make it through an entire month of this.
~Ambie~
----------40,745 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 06 31
Bwah ah ah ah ahhhhh. I take full responsibility for recruiting you to the "write" side. We have cookies...and coffee...and creativity here... ^__^
----------== ==
0 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 07 50
Hi, Amber! Hi, Everyone!
Wow, looks like the CR group is growing!
I've participated in NaNo a few years. For those who haven't done it before, it's a lot of fun. Go to the write-ins--it's a great encouragement to spend time with other writers.
My NaNo this year will be a stretch. Given an upcoming wedding the first week (my son's) and a trip south the third week, I'll be lucky to squeak out much writing time at all. But I try to keep in mind there are no "losers" in NaNo. The 10K or 30K that we crank out in November might be the start of a wonderful novel we finish...in March! (Although, I must say, there is something inherently satisfying about reaching that 50K mark!)
I wish you all the best! Now, on your mark, get set.....
:o)
~Debbie
5,210 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 08 19
This is my third year in nano, hopefully the first time I will meet the 50k goal.
This is also my first in my new home of CR. I am originally from Spokane, WA. So, this will be great, eh?
----------"The first draft of anything is #$%@." ~Ernest Hemingway
1,646 / 50,000
Oct 24, 2009 - 17 33
Hello, everyone! *waves*
This is my second nano. I got to 50,000 last year, but I'm wa-ay-y more busy this November. So I dunno. (I could probably pick up some extra writing time by staying out of the forums....) XP
Would love to make it to at least one write-in this year and meet my fellow nano'ers. Will need to work out the laptop situation, tho'.
----------Jo's Story :: NaNoWriMo 2008 :: (Winner!)
34,176 / 50,000
Oct 31, 2009 - 19 43
Hey Amber..... Good to hear from you again.
I will be plowing through the writing blitz again..... I still haven't finished the novels I started last year or the year before but I've been inspired to a new story line so thats what I'll be running with. It's set in Dark Age Britain during King Arthur's rise to power..... historical fantasy I guess you could call it. Should be fun.... See y ou at the write-ins.
-jenni hynek
-----------jah
38,419 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 04 12
How's it going everyone?
I'm Nick, this is year two for me, and I'm happy to say I'm off to a great start of over 2,000 words in just 7 hours. Hope everyone else is having as much success as I am as we're getting moving on some novel-y goodness!
----------2008 Winner (Neo-Tokyo, still unfinished)
2009 Project : F.O.R.C.E. (super-powered fiction)
Online fiction available at http://www.metahumanpress.com
37,608 / 50,000
Nov 1, 2009 - 06 31
My name is Allan this is my first year writing for the team. I am glad to be aboard! I am a long time blogger and I blog daily on my Deviant Art site. I am looking forward to meeting a few of you at the scheduled meetings. I will be absent from today's activities, however because it is my mothers birthday, and no matter how much I love writing I am not prepared to deal with my mother when her ire is up. :D
Anyways I will try to stop by on my way home from the party. I generally write in the mornings before work as is my habit. I am looking for a great run here with this writing and if anyone needs help with ideas or wants to talk over stories please contact me. I am sure that I will need as much support as the rest of you from time to time as well. I am available to meet at Roasters, Java Creek, Barnes and Nobel or any public area that any of you would like to meet in.
I am an IT person professionally so if you need have any issues getting your writing software up and running I am available and will provide as much advice as I have to offer. I am using Google Docs myself for this year's novel. I feel that Google offers great portability and excellent file protection for my work.
I have also used Microsoft Word, Works, and Open Office. I am also an avid supporter of Open Source Software.
Thanks for reading and writing as well and I wish everyone a great week!!
----------25,136 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 14 47
I'm a senior at Washington High School. It's my first year doing this. I'm freaking out over the fact that everybody seems to have more words than me already.
46,992 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 21 51
Barely! You're still in good shape! 1,667 words per day is what you should shoot for to stay on target. I'm one of those people that's managing the bare minimum so far this year and just barely have eeked out what I need. I've just noticed some of the impressive word counts on here now too though. Way to go!!
----------~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amber (Bambier)
Municipal Liaison For
Iowa :: Cedar Rapids
& Iowa :: Elsewhere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
50,106 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 22 10
I'm Kristine. I go to Coe College but have been living in Cedar Rapids for most of my life so I like to consider myself a native. I'm a freshman at Coe this year, studying history and possibly religion, english, creative writing or gender studies. I haven't quite made a decision... everything appeals to me thus far!
I'm stationed in the historical fiction realm for this year's Nano, though I have also been involved in fantasy types of stories in years past. This story is actually one I started for last years Nano and was completely revamped through the last year (well, year and a half... I came up with it in May 08) and changed completely -- even the characters' names are different and the plot changed almost entirely. Same timeline and basic premise, though!
Good luck to all you other Cedar Rapidians! :D
----------2006: The Everlasting -- Winner!
2007: Caroline -- Winner!
2008: Lena -- FAIL
2009: Perdition, Now -- ???
30,705 / 50,000
Nov 2, 2009 - 22 30
I'm Ryan, and going with the flow with Kristine's post I'm also from Coe College, er, recently graduated from Coe College. This is my first experience with Nano, which I learned of from a classmate in one of my writing classes, and I'm very exited to see what happens. I always wanted to participate but I never made the time, but now I have all the free time I could ever want.
I had an idea for a novel ready last month and prepared an outline for it but the story got the better of me and I started writing it early. So now I'm writing something new completely from scratch with no outline and no idea of where it is going. Just starting today isn't much help either but I'm still very excited to get writing.
It's nice to see so many people within Cedar Rapids. Good luck to everyone!