Oct 20th Mass E-mail

Hello Sudbury!

The region is currently up to 27 members who have set it as their home region, and 79 who are following its notices. Welcome to all of the new people who have signed up with Sudbury as their home region. For those following, please make sure you set your home region to Sudbury to give us a good idea of our numbers.

In this e-mail:

1. Meet & Greet / Early Kick-off Party information
2. Write-in Schedule
3. Northern Life Interviews
4. Inter-regional Challenges
5. Sudbury Treasure Chest
6. Donating to the Office of Letters and Light

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1. Meet & Greet / Early Kick-Off

Alright, so the most important and pressing issue that should have been sent out last week but I actually waited for a reply and apparently being polite and not harassing a business is not the way to get things done. The time and date of the Meet & Greet are here:

Saturday October 24th, 2009
9:00pm - whenever
The Doghouse (212 Romanet Lane, Sudbury)

We'll be upstairs. I'll be wearing my neon yellow shirt, so you'll be able to identify me easily. It's very important that if you can make it out, you make the effort and do so. The Meet & Greet provides us with the opportunity to get to know each other, chat about our hopes and concerns for the November madness, and learn a few tricks to get us through. Being able to rely on other people in this zany adventure is key to successfully getting the 50,000 words we're all gunning at.

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2. Write-in Schedule

It's all available on our google calendar, easily seen from our regions forum. But to help hammer things out, here's a master list with the current schedule. Reminders will go out weekly throughout November and leading up to it.

November 2nd, 6:00pm - 8:00pm,
New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle

November 7th, 6:30pm - 9:00pm
Williams, 43 Elm St

November 9th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle

November 10th, 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Chapters, 1425 Kingsway

November 16th, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle

November 18th, 6:00pm - 9:00pm
The Fromagerie, 1a-5 Cedar St

November 21st, 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Laurentian University (Room TBA)

November 23rd, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle

November 28th, 2:00pm - 4:00pm
The Fromagerie, 1a-5 Cedar St

November 30th, 9:00am - 8:00pm (Drop in whenever you can, I'll be there if I'm not out having lunch / supper)
New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle

These are all locations that should serve us quite well for getting some writing done. Here's a little information:

New Sudbury Library, 1346 Lasalle
Some electrical outlets available. Coffee / Tea / Hot Chocolate is available for purchase at the library for $1.25 / cup. They use K-cups, so if you've picked some up elsewhere, bring them and your coffee mug along.

Williams, 43 Elm St
Some electrical outlets available near the windows. Excellent selection of food and beverages available to purchase.

Chapters, 1425 Kingsway
No electrical outlets, bring a fully charged battery and back-up notepads if necessary. Excellent selection of specialty coffees and some pastries.

The Fromagerie, 1a-5 Cedar St
No electrical outlets, bring a fully charged battery and back-up notepads if necessary. The Fromagerie offers a vast selection of specialty teas and various imported cheeses. They also serve coffee, wine and beer. The long wooden tables give writers a lot of room to spread out and work on their novels.

Laurentian University
From what I'm told there's access to a kitchen and electrical outlets. Should be a haven for writing.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the write-ins. Most of the people that attended the write-ins last year ended up crossing the finish line. I'd love to see everyone make it there!

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3. Northern Life Interviews

One of the current members of the region was also formerly the ML when Sudbury was born as a new region. She now works for Northern Life newspaper, and though her schedule will probably keep her from writing a novel this year, she wants to interview people who have participated, or who plan to participate in NaNoWriMo. If you're interested in being interviewed, please contact Stacey and arrange a time: stacey@northernlife.ca .

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4. Inter-regional Challenges

This year, we've got two regions that we're challenging for dominance. As many of you know, last year was the first year we beat Canada :: Ontario :: North Bay. Being so close, I felt it necessary to extend a challenge to them again this year. We'll be going up against them for our top 10 writers. The ML(s) whose team has a lower word count for their top 10 writers will need to record themselves (and any volunteers) singing a song of the opposing team's choice, and send it to them for kicks.

The second challenge is against a region in its second year, just as it is my second year as ML of this region. We're going up against NY Southern Tier. There is three criteria, and the team with two of three is declared the winner. The criteria: most words as a region, most words per person, most words top 10. The ML(s) whose team fails to take two of the three categories needs to record themselves (and any volunteers) singing a song of the opposing team's choice, and send it to them for kicks.

Don't let me down folks! I can't sing worth beans!

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5. Sudbury Treasure Chest

This year, your word count can earn you more than mere bragging rights!

Presenting the Sudury NaNoWriMo Treasure Chest. Every time you come to write-in or win a writing sprint, you’ll earn a gold coin to write your name on and toss in the Treasure Chest. At the Thank Goodness It’s Over party (date TBD - watch the calendar!), we’ll use the coins to draw winners for several spiffy prizes.

Here’s how it works:

First, Sprints -

At random times throughout the write-in, Shawn will call for a sprint and set a 10 minute countdown on her watch. Sprinters check their word count, make a note of the number, and wait for the start. Shawn will yell “Go”, and sprinters write like the wind - shutting off all doubts and inner editors - for the next 10 minutes. When the watch beeps, everyone stops and tallies their new word counts. The person with the highest word count per sprint will earn a gold coin. To keep things fair, you may only win one gold coin per write-in. If you happen to win two in a row, the runner-up will win the coin for that sprint.

It’s win-win. Not only do you increase your word exponentially, you’ll also earn entries into the Thank Goodness It’s Over (TGIO) prize drawing.

Secondly, Word Count Winners -
At every official write-in we will have a box of index cards.

1. Take a card, write your first name and NaNoWriMo username on the top, and then the date on the first available line.
2. Log your starting word count for the write-in*.
3. Keep track of your sprint word counts during the write-in (good for gold coins, as noted above).
4. Before you leave, tally your new total word count for the write-in
5. Give your card to Shawn so he can tabulate results.

*If you’re writing by hand, approximate word counts are ok.

The person with the highest word gain at each write-in will win a 2-GB USB Thumb-Drive and an extra gold coin.

Prizes include $5 Tim Cards, $10 Chapters Gift Cards, $25 A&W Card and some novels. Plus whatever anyone else chooses to donate!

Participation is completely optional, but if you want to be included in the drawings, you must make sure you have Sudbury set as your Home Region on the NaNoWriMo web site.

Other than that, sit back, write copiously, and HAVE FUN!

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6. Donating to the OLL

The Office of Letters and Light (the non-profit responsible for NaNo and Script Frenzy), cannot operate only on dreams and good wishes. Keeping servers running, having people take care of t-shirt orders and shipping, and even maintaining the office is an expensive endeavour that Chris Baty, the founder of the OLL, could never have imagined 11 years ago when this thing first started up. On top of all that, the OLL also runs children's literacy programs and supplies the materials to any teacher requesting them. This is a huge undertaking that requires our aid to continue. For more details, check out the link About :: Where Your Donations Go on http://www.nanowrimo.org .

To help keep this thing running, I'm putting out $10 straight up this year, and I request that anyone that can afford to spare it, do so. If you can donate more, by all means. I've also fronted about $100 so far for this year's local prizes. Any donations to our local events will be put aside for next year's NaNo, but needs to be given to me directly I'm afraid.

I'll also be bringing a small piggy bank with me to all write-ins. The stopper will be glued in place so no one can get in it. Any extra change you happen to have lying around can go straight into the bank during the write-ins. We'll be smashing it and counting up the total during the TGIO party, and then a donation to the OLL will be made on behalf of Sudbury WriMos.

Feel free to post any donation you may be making, I'll make up some special sticker rewards!

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Remember to tell your friends all about NaNo. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you all this year. Good luck, and have fun!
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Shawn Gray, OCT
Sudbury Municipal Liason
http://www.shawngray.ca