Kootenay 2 - so we don't have to sift so many posts

Considering that we are obviously a crazy bunch of people as evidenced by participating in a slightly masochistic event, I think we should use our creativity to come up with something wild, weird or wacky to do.

I will donate a prize (nothing major) to the person who comes up with the funniest line or character habit written this month. We can submit stuff each weekend when we meet or on here. And I propose we go ice skating or something at the end... something to help get the blood flowing into the rest of our bodies again.

Anyone else have ideas?

Just found this online (I've been doing too much 'research' online) And thought I'd share it with the group.
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Writing a novel doesn’t take courage. Hubris, maybe. A certain egomania, perhaps. Naivety, without question. But courage? I’m not sure about that.

There is a fine line between bravery and fear, between being scared to the point of paralysis and the moment you make that first step. When you stare at the blank page, when the document on the monitor in front of you blinds you with whiteness, that fear will grip you. So how do you fight through it?

You write one word. Then another.

There are three things that make a novelist. Two are obvious, one less so.

The first is inspiration. You need to have the ideas and the passion, and while we are on this subject we might as well throw in a little natural ability. Inspiration can come from many different places--in my case it usually comes from tweaking real life--but no matter where you find it, you have to unearth, nurture, and polish it.

The second thing is perspiration; that is, you have to be willing to do the work. I am not going to hand you the usual spiel that writing is the hardest thing in the world. It is not. But there are dark moments. You will constantly question yourself. You will vanish into black holes. You will let insecurity niggle in and take over. There will be moments of self-loathing that will demand a serious funk. You will grow weary and tired, and not writing is so much easier than writing. It’s okay though. This is part of the process. Let it fuel you.

So we have inspiration and perspiration, but the most important ingredient, I think, is the third: desperation. In other words, most writers I know are not fit to do anything else. The idea terrifies them more than any other. If I am not a writer, the Desperate One asks, what am I? The answer seems to be silence, followed by crickets chirping, followed by more silence. The answer makes you go back to that chair and sit your butt down. The answer makes you pick up a pen or start typing.

Desperation. Maybe, in the end, that’s what brings about courage.

Thanks for starting this new thread, Aurora- I hate having to wait for second page to open. I'd rather spend the time on the story! :)

Celebration time- you bet!! I vote for rock climbing in nelson (VBG). That way if we feel really rotten about what we wrote we can do something dramatic like throw ourselves off a ledge..and not get hurt. :) Actually, skating, round of mini golf, hey! It'll be December, we could hit the slopes!

Clark- neat article. One word after another- right!

I'm enjoying what I've written... does that mean something psychotic if I enjoy reading my own work?

I don't think so, We know that I giggle at my own writing, but I just scared the crap out of myself so bad I had a hard time making any words come for two days. what does that mean? that the journey is entertaining? what more could you ask for... really... sounds like you got a good thing going to me!

I keep thinking we should paintball, but maybe that's extreme.

Thanks for sharing! That's a good one to clip and post on my bulletin board here next to the computer.

Come the weekend, I'm back into the word count fray, daytime assignments finally finished and turned in. I can hardly wait to get moving on this again!

ummm, guys... uh, if you look at the bottom of your page you will see that you can select up to 300 comments per page. So you never have to see a second page (until after 300 comments that is). You can also choose to have the newest comments at the top so you don't really have to scroll down. :-)

Yeah, but it can take a while to load, especially when the site was all glitchy

LOL!

Besides, it's way more fun to have a second thread that says 'Kootenay 2' and it makes the other places in BC wonder what we're up to that we need so many threads to discuss everything.

:)

See you tomorrow!

Well then, I am going to let you know that I have a wee bit of news taht will probably come as a real treat for the Kootenay crew. But you will have to come to a meet-up to find out about it! Bwahahahaha! How's that for torture?

PS: its too cool!!!

Torture, indeed, as I couldn't get to Trail today from the east shore. Do tell! In the meantime, all, I'm finally in a position to be able to work at catching up. Wahoo! Wish I knew where this puppy was going, though....

Ok, so for those of you who couldn't make it to the write-in today the little tidbit of news I have is that I am having made up a few badges for the nanowrimo 2007. They dont' have any on the online store here and when I win it, I totally want something to show (other than half a manuscript of course) becasue hell, I'm proud of this, what can I say.

I don't know how much they will cost etc. I am having it done by a woman I know who does really good work and has an embroidery machine. I've asked about copywrites etc and been told that I can get them to say something like "Kootenays NaNo Winner (or Participant)- 2007". or something like that. So if anyone is interested, let me know and I will get back to them Hopefully with a picture and price etc once we have an idea what it will look like, or if she can do a nice job of it etc.

We haven't decided where next Sunday's write-in will be. We were thinking of Salmo, but if Katero can make it off the N. Shore, then we will look at Nelson again. So if those who are going to attend could let us know where they think we should meet, then we can firm something up.

Other than that? Have a great week everyone and keep those keys flying! good luck to us all!

Monique

X- those badges sound so right on- I'm definitely in for them.

I promised to attach a couple of links I found that were cool, One for book making and one for the 'complete novel' in 50,000.

By the way, I've set a goal of having the neatest word counts every time I change them this week as I head toward 50.... watch the fun! (I'm getting tired and small things are amusing me....)

40004
41214

next?

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1002826
http://nomediakings.org/doityourself/doityourself_book_press.html

Just for fun... http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/1054728

Badges sound cool......another impetus to stretch for 50 K.! (And as I'm behind, I'm really needing all the impetus I can get right now!)

I'd like to come on Sunday, but our one vehicle is being used by my DH as he's working on site that day, so go ahead and schedule the write-in for Salmo is that's a better location than Nelson for all of you who are regulars. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm "stuck" out here in boonie-land on the east shore, all by myself. I still feel connected by way of this forum, and those of you who have kept me going by PMing me when my word count stays still for too long. I'll ensure I'm writing at the same time you all are on Sunday, in any case.

Happy typing!

Kate

Well then Storm, Aurora, and Katero won't be able to join us this sunday...where should we meet?

Cheryl says the dragonfly cafe in salmo makes great panninnis (Or however you spell that, it's not in my spell check :P )

Just thought I'd drop a quick note.

On the topic of submitting your novel for approval, once you think you've gotten your 50,000 words in. Don't wait till the last day to do this, submit, even if you're short, and you know you're short, just to find out what nanowrimo thinks of your word count.

I submitted my manuscript tonight and it was almost a hundred words off, from what my computer thinks I've written. Sure a hundred words isn't that bad, but it would be, say, if it was 11:58pm on the 30th. :(

Anywho, how's everyone doing? I know I'm waiting for my second wind. I can't believe that we're about to enter the second half of the race. It's moving fast now. My goal tomorrow is 25,000 words, just so I can say I'm on target. I've been a day behind for almost a week. :-O

Thanks Irene for posting the how to write a novel in 30 days thing, I cut and pasted and printed, so I can have it by my side, during the rest of my writing.

Take care.
Patrick.

Hi Guys.

Touching base as I'm in the hotel lobby at Fairmount.

I ended up writing in longhand today in the car as we drove. (Don't panic, hubby drove...) Very interesting as I can no longer read in the car and had to write without looking at the page. Transposing my work when I hit the hotel was an interesting exercise but fun. My imagination got a workout as I tried to read my own writing!

Depending on how life goes I may be topping out the 50K the next two days 8-) My characters are being good these days and not announcing that I have to make up stories or ancient religious texts, so things are going smoother. They are about 2 scenes away from finding out that one of their party is NOT who they thought he was... I can hardly wait to see how they react to that one!

ANyway, sending out good writing vibes to you all and looking forward to celebrating 25,000's popping across the screen soon!

Dance with the Muse...

OK, so I had just finished making arrangements to have the car for Sunday after all, as I hate missing all these write-ins, and everything was a go for driving to wherever the group chose to meet this Sunday (though the prospect of the forecasted snow was a bit daunting if I was going to come over the pass to Salmo, rather than by ferry to Nelson....). Anywho, I digress. Last night, on a routine trip to a friend's up the highway, to check on their place while they were gone, we heard a snap, and suddenly no longer had any gears whatsoever to work with to finish climbing the hill to their house.

Someone once told me helicopters and English cars have one important thing in common: they spend more time in the maintenance shop than they do in the air/on the road. Our ancient Range Rover has proved that to be true. Whether it's the chain in the transfercase that needs to now be replaced, or whether it's something more serious, we won't be going anywhere for awhile, despite my best-laid plans. The RR is now firmly ensconced in our garage, awaiting hubby's removal of the transfer case and assessment of the $$ damage. All I can do is shake my head...again.

So, I won't be there after all -- again -- but I'll sit down and write at the same time you are all gathering, so I'll be with you in spirit. Here's to 30,000 plus by the end of Week 3!

That sucks, that's why you should buy American :P (note that I'm american, so I'm biased.) That happened to an old Hyundai excel I had, there was a loud snap and suddenly the car wouldn't go into gears, but that was because the clutch went out.

So then will it be Salmo this week? Or back to Nelson? I'm up for both, neither are that far, for me.

Congrats on the major wordcount, babe! Looks like you're continuing to do great. Hope Cow town is fun...
See you next week!

Yeeha for Patrick and Bonnie.

Made the 25!!!!!! Way to go!!!
Looking forward to celebrating with X and the others soon too!

Wow, someone's got a green bar! I hear they have a pill for that. :P

So, this sunday, for those that want to come, we'll be meeting in Salmo, the dragonfly cafe (I'm going to google it for directions, though Salmo isn't that big, so I can't imagine it being that hard to find - famous last words, huh? :P ) at 1pm, bring your lap tops and imagination.

Good writing
everyone,
Patrick

I'll be there. I think if you drive through Salmo there is a sign board on the main drag that would indicate where it is. I hear they have killer brownies!

I won't be there so I have to jump in here to say

YAHHHHH X!!

Good on the 25K!! You rock!!

Eat a brownie for me.... actually, be careful. In my world 'brownies' can bite back ;)

So, how did it go yesterday? I see clarkent passed the 30,000 mark, and Storm (though not in Salmo yesterday) is heading quickly towards her way-over-50,000 word goal, so everybody must have their gentle Muses parked squarely on their shoulders. I'm still struggling, but watching your word counts is helping me to push to catch up.

Happy writing, all!

It went well there were four of us there, Giaichi, X, Tala, and I. It's a cool little cafe, if you ever get the chance to stop by, do, they have THE best brownies on this god given earth, in case anyone was curious. Oh, yeah, and we did some writing.

So we're going to head back to Trail, next week, seeing as it had a whole room that we could set up camp in, and multiple plugs on every wall. Sure, they didn't have brownies but...they did have rice crispy treats. Same time 1pm.

X's internet went out, for all interested in why she might not be returning your emails or writing on here as much.

Still searching out ideas for the grand finale, TGIO party. Something not very strenuous, I threw my back out last summer, moving bricks (Hurray!, for manual labor) and someone else has bad feet and then there's the bad elbow...well, let's just say we're all not as young as we used to be, except Tala, she's still young. We could just put a target on her back and everyone else could sit with the paint guns, make her run around, like shooting ducks at the carnival, I guess that'd be fun. :P

So bring on the ideas, we're all getting close to the finish line :D

Anyone feel like entering into a few-day word count challenge? I'm almost catching up, but thought if we picked a goal, like 8,000 words in the next three days, say, if might be fun (and seriously raise our word counts, too). Who's up for it?

We here on the east shore of the lake aren't exactly the anti-social types we seem to be....if everyone feels like hitting the ferry and driving for a few hours, I'd be happy to host a TGIO party for the entire Kootenay group here in Gray Creek. (Don't worry, I won't be offended if this idea doesn't hit the top 5 -- I just thought I'd throw it into the mix, as we're East Shore types do know how to throw a great party! Winters are long, and those of us who winter over here are few and far between in Gray Creek, so we have to do something fun on a regular basis, or we'd collect dust!)

Another thought -- what about a group soak at Ainsworth Hot Springs for tired typing hands and tense neck and shoulder muscles cramped from an entire month of manic typing activity?

Hi Katero
I'm working on 3 000 words day for the next 6 days.

If you want to join me, for however long, that would be great!

Let's see, that means that I need to make double that amount, right? You're on!!

Actually, I say this only kinda tongue in cheek because I'm having an incredible day- I'm doing laundry from the weekend and not much else is happening so the words are flying...

I popped on to tell you guys something that happened that is really helping. I ended up writing a scene from WAY down the line in my plot outline. I wanted to write it and so I did. Now it is really helping me because I know specific things I want to allude to and instead of having to go back later to add things I'm getting to add them now.