HELLO'S and catch ups!!!!

Why is this topic dead?!
Anyway, I'm Niya (this is my nickname) and this is my first NaNo ever :) I'm very excited. Although something tells me I should be prepared for it to kick my butt, espeecially since I'm applying to colleges this year.
I live in Los Altos Hills and I'm probably going to need a lot of encouragement this year, so if anyone wants to add me as a buddy, feel free!

Screnzy '08: WIN!

everytime I start a topic on some board it seems to die... hope this one LIVES
I added you as a buddy

can you make it the 31st/1st write in at denny's?

it is sooo much fun

WELTY69

You want safety and security? The only way to have safety and security is to NEVER to be too secure....
[URL=http://www.mybannermaker.com/link.php?nurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mybannermaker.com][IMG]http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/2731/mybanner48fe0119ca64c

Well, by way of catch-up, I've had one of those years that would be off the charts on the Stress-O-Meter. We haven't lost our home or been robbed or gotten divorced, but both parents died (6 months apart), I had to sell their house in Florida (swell timing), our last child went off to college and we started empty-nesting, 2 weeks before Christmas my husband's entire department was cut and he was out of work for 5 months, and a family member had a serious illness involving a hospital stay, along with the regular daily stresses life brings us.

On the good side, we just came back from a 2-week vacation in Peru, which has generated many fertile NaNo-ish ideas. I'm looking forward to a wonderful November, and can't wait for some write-ins. Welcome everyone new and returning alike!

--moot/Diane.

HI All,

I'm a noob and I also live in Sunnyvale. I spend all day on the computer and I'm thinking about invoking the Luddite clause and doing the deed in longhand. (The last thing I want to do in my off hours these days is stare at more computer screens!). According to the FAQ, I can get a "trusted individual" to count my words and provide me with a file with exactly the estimated number of words for validation. Have any of you veterans ever gone this route?

Best of luck to you all and thanks for the early welcome, Welty69!

NCSmith

Hi! My name is Emma; this is also my first year.

Congratulations!

I'm interested in the answer, too, because I find I am actually more creative in longhand, although I have contemplated writing and then re-typing (but that way lies *editing*, I'm certain!). (It doesn't help that I will be camping October 31-November 2, because of a commitment I made earlier, before I decided to just "go for it" and do this. I can write longhand those days, even if I can't have my laptop with me.)

Greetings!

I'm back for my third year of noveling bliss. I've won the past two years, and will more than likely win this year as well.

Of course those that know me well are wondering what sort of over-achieving goal I have for this year. I won't give the deets yet, as I don't want to scare off anyone who may be on the fence about participating, but it will be my most ambitious project yet... can't wait!

Happy to be back with all my NaNo buddies!

P.S. Beware the Chocolate Cream Pie... it may be poisoned! LOL!!

The Beatings Will Continue Until Word Count Improves!

Welcome to the new people and good to see the old timers!

I'm Kit and this will be my sixth year partaking in the strange rollercoaster that is Nanowrimo. I'm having some issues getting my story together for this year, so we'll have to see how things go. It's looking like I shall be trying my hand at a new and strange genre this year. :P

Hello noobs and veterans! I was a noob last year and it was great fun!

I also write in longhand first. I am just more creative that way, typing still gets in the way of my thought process. When I handwrite I can totally go into the dream of the scene, which I can't do typing.

Last year I used a Logitech digital pen. You have to use special ink and paper from them too. You write on their paper and then download it into your computer through a cradle. It captures your handwriting like an image, and then you can convert it to text. This works best for people with big or clear handwriting, I know someone who it just didn't recognize well. It worked for me though. After converting it to text you have to go through and correct mistakes, but I did a test and found that the word count between corrected and uncorrected pages was really close. So I wrote this way and used the uncorrected pages for my word count.

This may work for you, but they recently sold the technology to another company, so not sure of the availablity. The pen is also large, so uncomfortable for some small hands. There are some other ones out on the market too.

The other tool I use is Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. I take the handwritten pages and "type" them by dictating them with that. I force myself to just dictate and not edit! It's a little faster and less tedious than retyping everything. Believe me you will be happy to have an excuse not to edit because you will want to write more new pages!

Greetings,

I am a NaNoWriMo virgin, having just found out about the site/idea today. Really looking forward to it and writing my first novel :) I haven't written anything other than a dry scientific graduate thesis, so I'm a bit daunted at writing something really creative, but also excited. Buddies to commiserate with would be greatly appreciated.

I'm in San Jose for my 7th year. What, where and when is the Denny's event?

Oh and I interpreted that "trusted indivudual" part to mean you ask someone to type your pages who won't criticize you or steal it from you, but what do I know? Anyone else?

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I use the Fly Fusion pen from time to time. It does okay recognizing my handwriting, but the pen is big. Also, the result will surely need lots of editing. I think I may go completely old-style for this endeavor. It's both convenient and discreet. And the paper's cheaper. Another option could be my AlphaSmart.

I may have remembered the FAQ a bit incorrectly. Here's what the FAQ says about writing by hand:

Yaaaay Nano!

Whew. Now that's out of my system. (Yaaaaay Nano!) I'm windral and/or Jon and/or hey you. Actually, probably less hey you this year since I'm no longer residing in San Jose. : ( But my loyalty is still in the South Bay, so my home region stays put!

This will be my... fourth? non-consecutive year doing Nano. I actually won last year, so I have high hopes for this year. Which is probably dumb since I've started work on like six different stories/projects since last November and haven't finished one of them. But oh well. I'm wondering how cool it would be to write my novel on a typewriter...

I currently reside in the Buckle of the Bible Belt, otherwise known as Missouri, going to school. And apparently November is the month in which all the professors pile on the work, so this is going to be fun.

I will be home for Thanksgiving though! Which was not at all planned! I'll even be around for the TGIO Party! How cool is that? I get to finish out the month with all my old peeps from last year and all the new folk who make this whole thing worthwhile.

I look forward to meeting y'all (albeit very late in the month ^^;;)

windy

(Yaaaay Nano!)

Meals are books for the body.

"Lies are attempts to hide the truth by willfully denying facts. Fiction, on the other hand, is an attempt to reveal the truth by ignoring facts." -John Green

hope to see you over the gobbling holiday!

one can never drink too much tea....

During the off season I played around with a friend's Logitech pen and only got it to work if I wrote in all caps. I do have ridiculously tiny handwriting, so I don't blame the pen for not being able to read it. No other fancy tools caught my eyes this year, so I'm sticking with my usual tools (Scrivener/Alphasmart Dana/notebook). If it works, it works, you know? :D

I can't believe this is going to be my 7th Nanowrimo. Not really planning to do anything different this year, just switching up genre slightly (keeping the YA, switching out rural for urban fantasy). I really want this to be the first year I actually write every day, but I've stopped planning for it because something big always happens to derail it. XD

And we'll be cheering you to the very end to make your 50k!

yaaaaaay windy!!!!!!

:-)

The Beatings Will Continue Until Word Count Improves!

Hello! I live in Northern Virginia, but I've joined up here as a honorary SoBaNaNo so I can cheer on the wonderful folks I met at Barefoot over the summer. *waves to the ones I've spotted so far -- skneal, anna scott graham, and marcopolo*

Also I love how active your region is, so I'm going to vicariously soak up the joy and enthusiasm. :)

oh, you're missed!! hope all is well, and many good writing vibes sent your way!!

one can never drink too much tea....

Shiral should be somewhere around here as well.

I'm glad we got the chance to meet in person. It was great fun writing with you!

Good Luck, and may the muse be with you!

~S

The Beatings Will Continue Until Word Count Improves!

Hey everybody, Duchess here.

This is my third year doing NaNo (I've one both previous years and hope to keep that streak alive) but my first with a home region in the South Bay. I'm from Watsonville (down by Santa Cruz) and I recently moved up towards San Jose; I just transfered to SJSU and am in the midst of my first semester there.

I'm a full time college junior (18 units this term; Ick!) so I know how to handle stress but this will be interesting as I've never had to balance this many credits with NaNo and a daily commute. I have no job this semester (both a blessing and a curse) so I need every second I can get for homework and NaNo. lol I'm looking forward to get to know everybody here and I'll probably spend equal time here and in the Santa Cruz regional forums.

My family has been having a pretty hard year (starting around last year's NaNo) and things, while looking up, are still pretty rough. This event has always been amazing but this year it'll bring me a much needed escape from the mundane. I write throughout the year but few things compare to the frenzy and camaraderie of NaNoWriMo. *grin*

I have a couple ideas that I'm marinating in my brain and seeing if anything juicy comes of them. I'm sure as November looms, the plot bunnies will be biting fast and furious and I'm excited to see what comes up.

Oh and if there are any SJSU students who are interested in any on-campus write-ins, I'm up for it. :)

NaNo '08: Gaslight (Steampunk-esque 19th century mystery)
Protagonist: anxious with a case of the vapours
Murders: 1
Plot: unfolding
Current fuel: Tootsie Roll Midgees and NOS energy drink
Author morale: hopeful

Wow. I commented on a few forums just before the site went down, and none of my posts are still here. Weird. Anyway, Junglemonkey here. I've been here before and know a few of you, but since I went down south, I'm not around as much as I used to be. But my heart will always belong to the South Bay.

Hello, everyone -- again, because posts made on September 30 were lost in the database crash. Now then, what was it I said before?

I'm Lisa, also known as marcopolo, and I'm one of the South Bay municipal liaisons, along with Ian (idunno). You'll hear lots more from us in the next two months.

For those of you who are new to the South Bay, expect lots of discussion in this forum, and even more socializing during many real-life write-ins and parties. We'll be talking more about those soon. Since the midnight Denny's write-in has been mentioned, I'll explain that it's a tradition to meet up at a Denny's in Santa Clara on Halloween night to consume sugar, meet each other, and then get started on writing as the clock strikes November. Details of this and other events will be posted with plenty of time for you to plan.

It's great to see so many familiar usernames, newbies, transplants, and visitors from other regions. Welcome, everybody! We'll get through all the usual technical glitches and have our usual awesome time in the South Bay. Which I must mention again (as I did in my lost post), is the GREATEST REGION IN THE WORLD!

%) Lisa

We _ROCK_ the Bay!

:-)

The Beatings Will Continue Until Word Count Improves!

Let us take this time to remind everyone the importance of SAVING one's work. Because when stuff like this happens to your own hard drive mid-to-late November, it's not a pretty sight. I distinctly remember the cold horror that gripped me when I found that I had lost something like 6000 words one day last year. That's not a huge amount, and I was able to make up for it in the following two days (and that's now the best-written part of my novel), but you don't want that. Trust me.

Ideas for saving:
-Hit Ctrl+S reflexively. I hit it in the middle of words if the thought strikes me.
-Make back ups! Email your file to someone (or yourself), save it onto Google Documents, have it engraved onto a gold record and sent to Mars. Just don't have ONE copy.
-For the love of all that is common-sensical, DO NOT fiddle with your OS during November. Do it now, or wait until December. Just... don't. Bad things happen to not-so-bad people.
-Along the same lines (of personal experience), DO NOT experiment with new programs and text editors IN YOUR ORIGINAL FILE. Seriously, it's not hard to make a duplicate file. (Yes, this is what caught me last year, sad to say.)
-And most of all, whatever you do, DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

__________________________________
Meals are books for the body.

2008 Nano: UNLESS - A Serious Look at Socio-Environmental Concerns with a Seussian Twist.

Meals are books for the body.

"Lies are attempts to hide the truth by willfully denying facts. Fiction, on the other hand, is an attempt to reveal the truth by ignoring facts." -John Green

YAAAAAWWWWWWNNN.

Oh, What? Not supposed to be tired until after the nanoing starts? Or was that wired?

Back for another year. probably more of a seriously comedic novel this year. haven't really thought about it yet... which puts me a month ahead of last year!!!

Diana here, second Nano, hope to win! (and by winning I mean the caffeine badge. Or finding the bottom of the coffee shop's urn... whichever comes first!!

Hopefully we will bypass earthquake novel fodder this year! Good to see Lisa and Steph and Jon and Diane!!

HELLO! everyone else I have not met yet!!!

I still have my Ninja.

---and now I'm word padding.

See everyone soooooon!!! (and apparently Jon a little later!!) haha.

Take care, happy novel planning.

The Kingdoms of Telgard: The best writing experience ever!!! (almost!)

o.k. Jon, this is gonna bug me...

-And most of all, whatever you do, DO NOT, under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

What?!!? What must I never do? (I could be in trouble already and not even know it!!!)

I'm on pins and needles here...

Steph
(looking forward to the rain)

The Beatings Will Continue Until Word Count Improves!

I just realized I haven't posted an introduction of myself here. Shame on me!

I'm Ian (idunno), and I'm co-ML with Lisa (marcopolo) for the South Bay. I've done Nanowrimo every year since 2002, making this my 7th year as a participant. I've also managed to cross 50k (though rarely does that mean finish the book) by November 30th every time. And this is my 5th year co-MLing! So nano is either a lot of fun, highly addictive, or I'm crazy (or maybe a little of all three).

I've dabbled in multiple genres: sci-fi, mystery, pseudo-literary fiction, young adult. This year I'm planning to write something Urban Fantasy-ish. Unless a better idea strikes me, or I decide to work on a sequel to my first year nano novel. I was trying to get my sci-fi novel published, but put that on hold after round and round of crushing rejections. Being a glutten for punishment, I'll probably revisit those efforts in December.

Looking forward to meeting you all either here in the forums or at the write-ins or kick-off/halfway/wrap-up parties. (There will be more soon on the kickoff party.)

idunno, co-ML for California :: South Bay

Hello. *waves* I'm Kali from San Jose. This is my first NaNo, and I’m doing fanfiction so I’m not completely out of my comfort zone with this. XD I’ll work on my original stuff once I get back in the habit. My works tend to bit a bit eclectic in terms of genre, but they usually lean towards supernatural and fantasy.

Hey, all. I'm Becky from San Jose, and this is my fourth year of NaNo insanity. This year, I seem to be writing a cyberpunk romance pirates-vs-ninjas sort of thing. I have no idea where it's going, and I'm looking forward to discovering it (with many, many words, oh yes) come November.

NaNo '08 - Swashbuckling for Love and Profit
A pirate. A ninja. A forbidden love that could change the course of human history.

Welcome, Kali! Do you know yet what fandom you're going to be writing in?

%) Lisa
South Bay co-ML

The pirates win, right?
The pirates always win. It's just a fact. *nods*

Meals are books for the body.

"Lies are attempts to hide the truth by willfully denying facts. Fiction, on the other hand, is an attempt to reveal the truth by ignoring facts." -John Green