United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Read your work on the radio!

idunno — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:41:01 -0800

If the pride and joy of winning nanowrimo isn't enough motivation to cross 50k (though frankly, I can't imagine that it isn't), how does this sound? If you write 50k or more, you have the opportunity to read an excerpt of your novel on the radio!

Ann Arbor has a radio program on KFJC called Dancin' In The Fast Lane that is broadcast on Wednesday mornings (http://www.kfjc.org/programming/program_info.php?houroftheweek=54&info_i...). During one of the segments on that show, Unbedtime Stories, she reads excerpts from books. For the last few years, she has offered that reading slot to nano participants who have successfully crossed the 50k line.

So, if you want to read part of your glorious novel on the radio, cross that finish line and contact Ann Arbor! Her email is AArborKFJC@aol.com.
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idunno, co-ML for California :: South Bay

United States :: California :: East Bay

Post-NaNo Writing

bubble — Wed, 5 Dec 2007 12:20:03 -0800

So I'm doing FiMo, and might do some other events through the year. Would anyone else be interested in doing a writing group in between NaNoWriMos?
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BFS 2008 Participant.
Learning Japanese, writing more, submitting work, editing a novel, writing a script, practicing French, getting a summer job, getting more sleep and exercise, applying for JET.

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Actors' Theatre Contests

pinkmochi — Sat, 8 Dec 2007 15:45:41 -0800

In case anyone is planning on doing Script Frenzy, I thought I'd post the link to the Santa Cruz Actors' Theatre script contests: http://www.sccat.org/contests.htm.

If you've never been to 8 Tens @ 8, you should try to make it in January. It's eight ten-minute plays. They take submissions for these plays, too, and many of them are written by locals. I love going to this production because it's perfect for my short attention span.

-Ann
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United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Who is full of teh win?

kollos — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:43:42 -0800

Did you do it?

Do you have your purple stripe?

Post here with your relief, excitement, shock, or further emotions!
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Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
--Oscar Wilde--

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

SWAG!

bubble — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:26:52 -0800

I have finally recieved swag, in the form of some really awesome stickers. I'm going to be at the write-in downtown tomorrow, and as many as I can make thereafter, in order to distribute them. I also got my ML t-shirt, so if you see someone in a very very yellow shirt, you might be looking at me.
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BFS 2008 Participant.
Learning Japanese, writing more, submitting work, editing a novel, writing a script, practicing French, getting a summer job, getting more sleep and exercise, applying for JET.

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Peet's on Bay Ave. in Capitola

pinkmochi — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:00:12 -0800

I'm on my way to Peet's by Nob Hill in Capitola if anyone wants to join me. It's 7:00 now (Monday night), and I should be there for a couple hours. Again, I'm the Japanese girl with the Neo. =^..^=

-Ann
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United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Events Calendar

Mishedor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:51:03 -0700

Until the Supreme WriMos finish rebuilding the ML resources, I do not have access to anything special. So rather than wait, I want to start calendaring events now. They won't be as neatly organized as a nifty, easy-to-read grid, but it's better than nothing at all.

If you create a write-in in addition to those I post, please go ahead and make an entry in this thread for all to see. I wholey encourage the organization of further write-ins and meet-ups over and beyond what I establish, even if they are at conflicting times. The more WriMos served, the better. Just to revisit definitions, a write-in is a writing get together at which quiet writing is the main focus. Meet ups are more social gatherings designed to blow of a little steam with WriMo comrades as well as share various writing experiences and pose one another questions—think plot points, characterization issues, any writer blockage, etc.
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Planning the Wrap Up Party

Mishedor — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:42:34 -0800

It's time to solidify plans for the Wrap Up Party. It will take place Saturday December 1st, time and place to be decided depending on preferences.

My personal preference is a late afternoon get together at 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall downtown because they have plenty of space, an extensive beer selection, and a nice pub menu. However this party is for everybody and before I finalize the plans I'd like to hear some input from others. We could do another beach barbecue at Twin Lakes or meet for a potluck. Neither ML can host a lot of people, so we can't help but lean toward meeting someplace public. I also reason that given that I'll likely be burning the midnight oil to cram in more words before midnight the night before, I'm not going to want to cook anything or stop at KFC for a bucket to bring.

What do you think. I want to finalize plans before everybody puts NaNoWriMo away for Thanksgiving.

Speaking of TG, I'm not doing much so plan to go to a coffeehouse that is open. I'll probably be lazy and go either to Surf City or Starbucks in Aptos because I live so close. It would be fun to meet for a write up someplace else, though. Thanksgiving is more fun for me when I write that morning so that I don't have NaNo on my mind the whole time.
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

How are your stories progressing?

yarry23 — Fri, 9 Nov 2007 01:59:41 -0800

Hello all,

Just thought I would ping everybody and see how their stories are coming along. I am suprisingly happy with how mine is developing. When I sit down at night, I always have a clear idea of where I need to get with my writing for the vening, and I am even managing to get some character development in there in the midst of all of my pulp sci-fi action!

I am excited about coming up on 25K words. I am planning a major plot point in my book where something HUGE happens, and the feces hits the proverbial rotating wind device. After that its one giant rolling battle as our heroes attempt to escape the planet! Woot! With that in mind, I really have to keep my plot build up steaming along so that things shape up how I want them to.

Anyways, how are your guys stories coming along? Heading in the direction you had in mind, or just out there ambling through the weeds (which is a fun pastime, to be sure!).

Go SC writers!

~~yarry
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United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Meet-Ups and Write-in at The Ugly Mug

Mishedor — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 17:19:32 -0800

My bad.

I finally scheduled another meet-up with only two days notice and totally forgot to send an email. So it was fun but as far as I know there were only two of us. Except for the guy with a shockingly load hollering voice watching college football, it was a pretty nice space upstairs at 99 Bottles. I hadn't known how much they had expanded the menu since I last made it in.

Personally I find the Ugly Mug too noisy and distracting, but apparently I am odd man out. Others like it a lot. Since my schedule is already full of about as many events as I can attend, would anybody like to "sponsor" a write-in there. All that requires is setting a time, posting it, and promising to be there. Bubble or I could get some swag to you in advance, which should not only be good to distribute but make it easier to capture the attention of any other attendees.
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Write-In Tomorrow at Surf City

Charlie Spades — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 23:22:40 -0800

Is anyone planning to attend besides myself?
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--
Denial - not just a river in Egypt.

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Bad Ass Coffee

ali_oop — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:10:04 -0800

Im going to be there in maybe an hour to write, and i dont want to write alone.

Ive tried writing in my dorm room, but its difficult because my roommate sleeps pretty much all day so im typing in the dark and being called by my ridiculously comfortable bed to join my roommie in dreamland.

If anyone wants to drop by i'll be the one with the copy of No Plot? No Problem! and an macbook. Please, please please if you read this and can drop by, i really dont want to be writing alone right now, im crazy behind and can't make it to any of the write ins this week i dont think, and i write better with others.

Peace out, i hope i see someone there, and don't be afraid to just come up to me and be like "hey, are you the person who posted on nano about an impromptu word-explosion?" i promise i won't bite!
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~~~~~~~
Juno MacGuff: Ow, ow, @#$%ity-ow! Bren, when do I get that spinal tap thing?[...]
Bren: Well, honey, doctors are sadists who like to play God and watch lesser people scream...

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

ML appreciation day--Nov 8

kollos — Thu, 8 Nov 2007 21:09:34 -0800

Let's hear it for Mishedor and Bubble.

YAY!!!
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Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
--Oscar Wilde--

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

...is anyone here?

AnkhetOnLJ — Wed, 3 Oct 2007 01:49:11 -0700

Hello?

Well, I'll start by saying hi - HI!

I'm Ankhet, or Courtney. College student (not UCSC, though, nor a community college), split between Santa Cruz and the South Bay.

Hello everyone!
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~Ankhet
2007 novel: Wild-Flower Wine
Word Count so far: 14,483

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Bethany University y'all?

AnkhetOnLJ — Fri, 2 Nov 2007 22:39:48 -0700

So I know there are several colleges/universities in Santa Cruz - I'm looking for my fellow Bethany students!

So, Bruins, if you see this - reply! It'd be nice to be able to get in touch with y'all without having to go through Claire (as much as I love Claire), as I don't have access to the "NaNo" group on FC.

Any Bethany people out there?

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~Ankhet
2007 novel: Wild-Flower Wine
Word Count so far: 14,483

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Word count chart

pinkmochi — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:31:21 -0700

Bubble, you posted links last year to a word count chart and some other docs for character development and plot ideas. I realized that I don't have those files and was wondering if you happen to still have them? If so, could you post the links again?

If anyone else has any helpful tools, please share. :) The word count chart I'm looking for has 30 boxes, the first starting with 1,667, the next 3,334... and the last box is 50k. It helped me keep track of what my total count was supposed to be for the day.

Of course, it'd be easy enough to create in Excel. I liked the other plot ideas and such, too, that were in the same doc.

Thanks!
-Ann
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United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Inspirational and Otherwise Useful Links

Mishedor — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 14:26:56 -0700

If you know of a website that is useful to our efforts to become authors, please list it here. If you do not know html, you can cut and past the code below, replacing the ALL CAPS portion. Make sure you ONLY replace the all caps portion, for every single other character needs to be identical.

<a href="COPIED LINK HERE">TEXT AS YOU WANT IT TO APPEAR HERE</a>

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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Hello fellow Aptos Writers!

Scrappy — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 09:41:05 -0700

I was just curious to see how many of us writers will be madly typing away in the Aptos area.

I am hoping to participate in a few of the write-ins at Surf City, but if I don't see you there, it will be nice to know that while I am up buring the midnight oil in the Rio area, there are others not so far away doing the exact same thing! WRITE ON!
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Take care of the ones that cross your path.
2006 winner - "A Life In Vinaigrettes"
2007 working title - "Dead Dogs Do Tell Tails"

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Halloween is a PERFECT time for dress up!

teague — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:09:23 -0700

Is anyone else going to be totally obsessive and dress up as one of their characters for Halloween? I'm sitting here modding a necklace to fit my character. I'd like to see if I'm the only one wandering over to the kick off party in less-than-normal clothing.
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"May the fleas of 1000 camels infest the crotch of the person that screws up your day and may their arms be too short to scratch (Amen)"

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

When and where is our kickoff party?

txh0881 — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 12:17:14 -0700

Hey. I'm a UCSC student and this is my 2nd year Nano-ing (Haven't won yet...)

So... when and where is our kickoff party?
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If you're looking for useless advice, you've come to the right place.

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Rides Board

Mishedor — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:54:19 -0700

If you need a ride or can offer a ride to an event or just because you wouldn't mind some company writing on your own, please post something in this forum. Not all of us have cars and carpooling is also worthwhile.
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Greetings from NYC

statuscrow — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 13:00:21 -0700

I live in New York City but most of my family lives near Santa Cruz. Love the vibe and want to mix it up with some banana slugs.

Project drafted, ready to hit the ground running Nov 1.
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United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

What to do in October

Mishedor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:58:51 -0700

If you follow the "rules" then you will not write a single word of the actual text you write for November before the witching hour of midnight ending Halloween. HOWEVER, there is plenty you can do before the flag drops and the race begins.

Browse the topical fora here on the NaNoWriMo website. There is a plethora of information and it is more than appropriate to begin discussing issues you know you will have once you begin writing. Start sharing now. Ask how others have resolved problems in the past. Present possibilities from which you struggle to choose and ask the opinions of other writers.
Routinize a healthy diet. You certainly are not going to be compelled to eat properly while you're madly writing. In fact you will probably find yourself wanting to eat a lot of junk food. So now is a good time to develop some habits of eating easy to prepare but healthy foods, e.g. carrots and hummus.
Make sure those around you understand you're not completely mental. You need fewer distractions and maybe even a little support in the form of a slightly lighter chores load. You probably should not change too much because it will make it harder after November to keep up your good writing habit. Still, it may be best if the partner or kids cook more often, or you stockpile tamales and nukeable veggies from Trader Joe's.
Plan your world. This point may be more obvious for fantasy and scifi writers, but the reality is that every novelist should consider the details of the world in which they plan to set their story. Spend a few minutes each day learning about the cultural habits of real people who endure the natural and social climates you will want to invoke. Consider how your characters will organize work, religion, family, sexuality, eating, etc, into their lives. If you need to design a whole world, now is the time to make sure the components work together and make sense.
Write. Yep. That's correct. Write. Put down some words about some of the places and characters you have in mind. Don't start getting into the story and prewriting. That's not what I mean. This exercise is about planning and finding your characters' voices. See what makes them tick. Write a short episode of something in their childhood that matters to them. How would they answer one of those lists of questions people keep sending you in email so they can "get to know you better." What are their grandparents' names?
Outline a plot. Make a list of plot points that each chapter should accomplish. You've probably had bits and pieces of the story stuck in your head. Now you can start filling in the missing parts and defining the events that connect A to B and C.
Organize iPod libraries of the background music you want while writing. Maybe you have a particularly romantic setting and want to hear something sensuous. Maybe a character suffers heartbreak and goes on a drinking binge, losing control. What music helps you enter the frame of mind you will want to invoke. You may have to go to the library or bookstore to get just the music you know you need.
Read a copy of Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem! It is designed to be read both before and during your month of writing.

See, there is a lot you can do already without "cheating." Get prepared mentally and emotionally for the story you will write. Be prepared to have your story emotions affect your everyday life. Prepare your family and/or friends for the author monster. And prepare a few good meals to stick in the freezer.
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County

United States :: California :: Santa Cruz

Let's get this party started

Mishedor — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:01:57 -0700

Hi all,

I'm your new ML. Nano has new computers and software this year which have turned out initially to have a lot of problems. One of those prevented any new MLs from logging in until now regardless of how long we may have been participating in NaNoWriMos. The site has also been incredibly slow as many of you have undoubtedly noticed. All this week the NaNo main organizers are rewriting parts of the system, fixing bugs, and installing an additional server. Already there is quite a difference and it should only get better.

Over the year I've been scoping out good places all over the county for write-ins. Watsonville is the one area where I struggle. Is it that nobody reads or writes there? Hmm. No way! If you're from South County and know of a spot, please forward your suggestion. Starbucks in Freedom is less crowded, but why go to Starbucks where you have to pay if you want Web access?

Given that I am forgetful about checking fora, I have enlisted my friend and NaNoWriMo two-time winner Kollos to help me monitor the local fora. I am the more social one and will be organizing and attending most write-ins as my own schedule permits.

Having spent the year perusing locales and the fora of other regions, I learned that some areas like to have a Halloween kickoff party that transforms into the first write-in at midnight. Unfortunately the best places I can think of have closed over the last year and a half and I'm not particularly fond of the local Denny's. I have not been there in eons; but if nothing has changed, then we would be somewhat unwelcome there anyhow. The kickoff could indeed be at someone's home; but it would have to be spacious and accomodating to people of all abilities because it tends to be the largest gathering we have.

Given the difficulties many students have getting far from campuses, I think it would be great if there were at least one write-in per week at UCSC in addition to all the rest. Most students can get downtown easily enough so there would be a minimum of two accessible write-ins per week for them. We will have a forum thread for rides to ease travel restrictions, and I will attempt to provide transit info for each of the write-ins and other gatherings.

Feel free to organize yet more write-ins in addition to those I will set up. You all should always feel that writing is your right, your gift, your social life opportunity, whatever.

Enough said for an initial welcome. I've read all of the "is anybody here?" thread up to this point (Wed 10/10/07 3:53pm) and have all that in mind. I'm looking forward to doing NaNoWriMo yet again (I so want to win for a change) and being a thorough and helpful ML to you all.

Have you seen the new mug or merit badges?
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You're new Municipal Liaison (ML) for Santa Cruz County