Introductions!

Spleen: are there llamas?

Oh, right, introduction!

Hi there! I'm Lady Vivamus, one of your friendly neighborhood Municipal Liasons. My name is actually Diana, and you get serious points if you comment on where my username came from. I tend to write fantasy in some form, and am doing so again this year. My project actually has the same title as the one I did last year, because that one didn't work out and I'm starting over with something I like better. I've got it better planned now, though, and I think it's a lot better. We'll see once the writing starts, right?

Anyway, I look forward to meeting some of you folks both here and at meetings and write ins! It's going to be a fun NaNo this year!

I am so happy the forums are back again early. Ahhh.

I'm anotherscribess, formerly AmandaH (decided I wanted a somewhat more creative username). This is my fifth NaNo. I've "won" every year, but only finished the story during year three--and that was the book I disliked the most. The others came out more or less decent, and I'm actually madly working on the rewrite of last year's NaNo in case the agent I submitted my query letter/synopsis/sample pages to just yesterday requests the full. I do plan to have that done by Nov. 1, though!

This year I'll most likely be writing the sequel to last year's NaNo, which was an urban fantasy. I've got a basic plot in mind but would like to develop it a bit more so I can avoid dropping in things like bike-riding ninjas that end up getting stripped out. Ugh. At least I didn't break the fourth wall last time out...

Anyway, I live in Northglenn. For other northerners, on the Denver calendar we currently have our write-ins at Atlanta Bread Co at 1-25 and 104th on Tuesdays in November. I'll probably start another thread about it at some point since as yet I believe I'm the only one who can make it every Tuesday.

Less than five weeks till the start!

Hello again! I'm Sabrina, or the only mod not in the north metro area, and the host of the midnight kickoff party ^_^. I'm a semi-professional musician and songwriter, and this is my...seventh? Yeah, seventh year doing NaNo, second as an official ML, and third as organizer of the south Denver area meets and whatnot. I've finished every year except my first since I was graduating high school at that time, and so far all of the stories have been finished during November as well except for one. I kind of skip through genres a lot...the first year was an alternate universe story, the next two years I did varying types of fantasy (one urban and one high political fantasy), year four was the year from hell where I just kept dropping houses on people and changing the plot every few chapters so I could at least meet my wordcount goal, year five was a low fantasy with the most ADORABLE protagonists EVER (seriously ask around the forums, they were too cute to be allowed!), last year was a fictional memoir about a rock band written in several different languages, and this year I'm going for a coming-of-age story centered around three related romances. Unless at the last minute it turns into a philosphical science-fiction thing or more cute little transgender children highjack my brain two weeks before NaNo like in 2005, anyway!

I'll be going to as many of the meets as I can in addition to the two I'm hosting, and in addition if any of you just need a place to write and relax without a lot of stress, the tea house that I work at, Seven Cups, has said they have no problem with NaNo people coming in and using our WiFi and sitting at the tables with laptops for hours at a time. And since I'm here four days out of the week, feel free to stop by and ask any questions as well if you're in the area.

...oh, and at prodding from some of the Perkins people from last year, I'm supposed to mention that I wrote a song about NaNo. That's been recorded. And is apparently going to be submitted to the Office of Letters and Light. Because I'm succumbing to peer pressure and doing it because you guys keep telling me to. *Hangs her head in shame*

Hi, I’m Linda - Last year was my first NaNo year. I discovered it about 10 ten days before it started, barely thought about it and than just went for it and did it. Sadly, I didn’t order my “Winner” thing in time, so I didn’t get one, but I did get a green bar because I did get my book validated before the deadline. I finished on time, in fact a little ahead of time, so I was pretty happy with myself. I still haven’t gone back and looked at it hard a second time. I have a degree in journalism, in radio-TV broadcasting, but I’ve never worked in journalism, though now I would like to be a pundit or at least have a megaphone mounted on the side of my car so I can tell people what I think they should be doing if they seem to be having trouble understanding something. I have worked as a paralegal for 22 years, same attorney, same job, so needless to say I am the Office Manager as well as Author and the Keeper of the Employee Manual.
Last year I wrote a somewhat dorky housewife adventure novel, based on my neighbor across the street. This year, I’m going to stay in the same neighborhood but have something a bit more sinister happen, partially because I now in real life live next door to an abandoned house that has just come out of foreclosure and is pitted out and is for sale. My house is wonderful, and I love it, but I keep coming up with: What If? scenarios, so I think I’ll work off of that.
So, you all sound quite more “with it” than me, but I loved writing to a deadline. That was one thing I loved about journalism.
Since I somewhat just did a fly-by last year, I didn’t make contact with anyone on the site. I’m 50'ish, single and have 23 year old twin daughters who live with me and a 25 year old son who spends a lot of time with us. They were all very supportive about letting me Nano last year, so this year I’ve already bought (and received!!) a NaNo t-shirt to wear while I’m authoring and don’t want to be bothered. I went into it so quickly last year, I had no idea it would be so intense, but it was really fun and inspiring, too. I’m really looking forward to this year.

I'm danoodlebox, and I'm going to college for business. I also work in food service is oh so thrilling... >_> This is my forth year (I think?) I've attempted NaNoWriMo, and I have yet to win. But...this'll be the year I win! woot! I write a little bit of everything, but for nano I typically go for fiction. However, I am writing a science fiction/fantasy novel that's taking me years to even start. :\ But when its done it'll be awesome, so who cares? :D

My story is about a junior in college who has a really boring life, so she steals the identity of a girl named Dolores, who had transferred out of the college five or six prior. Through what seems to be good luck and coincidence, she pulls it off and successfully lives as Dolores for several months. As she reaches the second semester as Dolores she receives a message from the financial aid office. It turns out that Dolores qualifies for the 'Fountine Scholarship Program,' something started by Marten Fountine, a young gentleman (low thirties or high twenties) who has inherited and made a lot of money and alumni of the college. Marten was finishing school as the real Dolores was starting, and calls the impersonator out. Instead of blowing her jail - possibly leading to jail time for identity fraud - he agrees to keep her secret as lon as she becomes a pawn in his power games on campus.

Ooooooh....so intriguing. I don't know how it ends yet though. :)

Hooboy!

For all of my internet-junky-nee, I'm a terrble forum participant. So, I'll give this a try and see how I do. Hopefully this won't be the only time you all hear from me!

My name is Rebekkah. This is my second Nano, and hopefully my first win. My first Nano was in '05 and I have no idea what my login used to be. Le Sigh.

I tend toward fantasy writing and this year's plot revolves around a shape shifting blue-eyed prince, a beautiful young witch, the queen who's been missing for years, and a telepathic over-sized black bear. I'm doing something entirely reckless and basing my plot on a dream I had last month. I haven't been able to shake the "But what happened to them?" thoughts, so I'm going to solve my dilemma and find out!

Luck to you all.

Reba

Yello all, my name is Tom and I'm (nearly) 17, or I will be in a couple of weeks, anywho. I changed my age because I know I'll forget later. Anyway, I'm a junior in high school. My life at the moment primarily revolves around band, speech, math and science junk, etc. I have a very morbid and sarcastic sense of humor which, to normal people, can get quite grating. :) This will be my fourth Nano and hopefully my second win. I dropped off the face of the earth last year due to severe writer's block...this year I'm planning a vague think around cults and brainwashing, and I'll just take it in whichever direction it goes. I need to relinquishing my anal editing tendencies, but I think that can be doable. The only year I won I cranked out almost 10k on November 30th...I'd rather not repeat that. :P

Oh! And I hope to be at many of the South Denver meetups/write-ins, so hope to see some of you there.

Hey, I'm Mandi :)
I've been doing NaNo since 2003 (won in '05 and '07). Nothing really special to say about myself....I work for the hometown airline. I am a history major at UCD with the intention to go to grad school and study library science. I love my cats. I drink my weight in lattes each month. I'm a book nerd with a passion for Russian literature. I can't say no to a good cheeseburger :)

Hello!

I'm Michelle/Tirjasdyn another ML for Denver.

I'm writing another novel set in my little world that I've been writing about since I started Nano in 2002. I'm a web designer, tarot reader, and writer in real life. This year I'm also a girl scout leader, making my insanity complete.

We have a webpage this year. From this you can get to our twitter feed, the myspace page, the facebook group, our calendar, downloads and supportive swag (more on the way!). http://dennanos.org

I expect that November will be super busy...it always is. :) Enjoy all!

BTW, I do know the difference between "than" and "then", but I was multitasking, which is not one of my strengths. That's been driving me crazy all weekend, so please add to my profile that I am neurotic. :)

(I'm the same way, don't worry... or maybe worry more, depending on how well you know me...)

Hello all! Until Tom spoke up I thought I was going to be the only guy around here. I know i'm going to forget something someone wanted to know so just ask, more than happy to reply :)

Let's see... This is my second year and hope to be my second win; my first was '04. Personal and personnel changes in the private sector demanded my attention... that and the extreme embarrassment of my first attempt has finally worn off ;) It was a fantasy/horror with a dash of character study with werewolves and vampires that read great... until someone pointed out it sounded like a Bing Crosby / Bob Hope "Road to..." movie and the only thing i was missing was the musical numbers. Needless to say I was crushed. I signed up in '05 and got all of 10 words in before I saw something shiny; '06 was lost to World of Warcraft.

I read to escape, so the only thing I stay away from is non-fiction. i've been accused of a romance a time or two but there are no witnesses to verfiy that. Any more... muahahaha!!

This year I've got 3 or 4 ideas perking; it's a good thing i still have a month to decide which one to do... or maybe mix them together... hmmm...

Where was I? Oh yeah, attention span. Some days I think if i had ADHD i'd be more focused. "Hi my name is Dave and- OOO! SHINY KEYS!"

*jingle*jingle*

y hallo thar!

I'm part of the North Denver group. I typically favor UF and currently don't know what I'm going to write about for NaNo (this is usually what happens with *every* writing project of mine). This is only my second year doing it but I had so much fun last year that I'm eager to do it again. I did decide to go back to school this year -- night classes -- so I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to fit writing in between that and regular work, but I'll manage it somehow. I loves me this writing stuff!

Hello again everyone. Hard to believe it's been a year...

My name is Scott and this is my second year participating in NaNo. I won last year by the skin of my teeth, in large part thanks to the final write-in where I really upped my writing tally. Hopefully this year I won't need to "come from behind", but at least I know I can do it.

I have no idea what I'm writing about this year. I have some potential character names, a few lines of dialogue that mayr or may not be used and that's about it. But am I worried? Heck no.

....

ok, maybe a little worried.

Last year I had a very rough "outline"... basically 10 bullet points I wanted to hit. This year, not so much. Still, I'd done a pre-NaNo novel last year without an outline and still got the sucker done, so I'm not going to stress. At least not yet.

Hello all, this is Sherrill, checking in. I am over near Colorado Blvd and Colfax and wondering if there is anyone in my neighborhood writing this year? This will be my fourth nano and hopefully, my fourth win. I had a close call last year where i REALLY HATED my book and it was PAINFUL to keep writing....but i did, and i finished. That's what i love about nano, the deadline and the discipline.

I have a couple of bad ideas about what to write this year, but nothing solid. I need to get a good one and soon.

As for the introduction, i am a 43 year old lesbian, a women's advocate (counselor) at a battered women's shelter and a professional writer. i love saying that; i haven't sold a lot of pieces but i've been published in 2 anthologies and 3 journals and a calendar, so that makes me professional, right? RIGHT! LOL And soon, my second nano novel will be ready to be submitted to agents.

I'm just glad to see the site up and working early. catch you all later!

sherrill

O hai!

I'm Girl Jen. I am 27 years old, married, and mom to one toddler daughter. I live in Wheat Ridge. This is my fourth attempt at NaNoWriMo, hopefully my third win.

I am very active on the forums. I am not so active as far as meetups go; in fact, I've never been to one. Every year, I say I'll go. And every year, I get busy with work or I don't have a sitter, so I don't go to the meetups.

Maybe this year will be my year...maybe I'll come say hi.

I'm Flinky and this is my second year. I squeezed in with 57 words to spare last year and I hope to really beat that this year.

Every time I try to write I just keep coming back to last year's characters. They're just begging to be let out again. In November they get a chance in the sequel to last year's novel. It took place on a midwest road trip last year and moved up to a cruise this year. Filled with werewolves, vampires and some new 'things' I think it's ready to write itself.

Hello, I'm Ava. This is my fifth year participating. I've made my goal all four previous years, so hopefully this year I'll keep to the winning pattern. I mostly write YA urban fantasy. The first year I tried writing an adult book, but I got bored and won't go back!! I live in Aurora, but never seem to be able to join any of the write-ins. Fifth year's a charm?!

Oh, and I'm a PC. >:)

Hi folks,

I'm Lynn, downtown Denverite. I turned 60 this summer but it hasn't slowed me down that I can see. This will be my fourth Nano and I've won each of the prior three. I write what I call regional fiction and since I spent my entire life up until 2004 in the southeast, my stories revolve around downhome folks living what they perceive to be normal lives in what they perceive to be normal downhome towns.

My first Nano began as a simple family 'war' over who should inherit the family millions and I was in charge, happily typing along when I suddenly looked down to find my characters had taken over and we'd regressed more than half a century to the building of the Blue Ridge Parkway. This novel finally ended with over a hundred thousand words in a single November and I have since read it three times. As I am my own worst critic, the fact that I like it is positive.

The second and third novels fell out at seventy-five and fifty-seven thousand words respectively but the third one has yet to be finished. It most likely never well be because it bored even me!

I have yet to come up with my 'protagonist' or a plot for this year but those things may not come to me until Halloween so it's early yet.

I write alone - always have - but it might be fun to attend a write in or two this year.

Lynn

My name is Brett. I'm a software engineer, so I write stuff all the time. Thing is, you can't read it! Don't worry. I do other creative stuff that doesn't necessarily involve computer programming. This will be my first NaNo, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. Looks like I have a month to make some time for it!

I'm not entirely sure what my story is going to be. I have a couple characters in mind, and a premise, but am missing the overarching conflict. I've got some notes written up kindof in outline form, and am trying to answer some questions I've been asking myself about it, all the while trying to resist the urge to start writing. NaNo's already gotten me in trouble with my girlfriend since I minimized my nascent story ideas when she looked at my screen. "No, I'm not looking at nekkid pictures!"

I live in Denver (Monaco/Evans), work for a dot com, and for hobbies, I play a LARP, run OrcSports.com and watch movies. If you want to read my blog, you have to friend me on MySpace (/theicemage). /smile

Good luck to all!

Hello everybody, I am Lee and/or Leevee. I'm 19 years old, and currently an anthropology major over at Metro. I also work on campus (at the Early Learning Center, specifically with the 1-2 1/2 year olds), so during the week I'm usually on campus or at home.

This is my fifth or sixth year doing Nano, it's all a bit of a blur, mostly because I have won once. That was what is fondly referred to as my gay cop soap opera, and has spawned an entire universe of insanity.

This year, I'm going with an idea I've had for a few months. It's a fantasy story, but with a completely apathetic hero who tends to get kidnapped. A lot. And his younger brother is the Messianic figure of a cult! And there's a prince who was raised by wolves, but doesn't know what wolves are! And lots of other things, too!

Hi, I'm October-Rising...and I'm a write-a-holic. Fear my NaNoWrathtasticness! (I'm making up words already, hooo boy)

Ahem.

New to Denver but not to Nano! This is my second year in the running. I managed to spank out 75k last year when I was in Los Angeles on my first go. Recently decided to make a massive life-change and plant my butt in Colorado. Oh, right...details: I'm 26, I've been writing novels since I learned how to spell (that's not entirely true as I'm sure my mother would tell you- I did spell phonetically before I knew the proper way ;) ) none of which were entirely fruitful with follow-through. A friend of mine got me hooked on NaNo in '07. Actually joined two days late last year and surprised the bajeesus out of myself. I'm hoping to beat my record from last year if at all possible.

I generally write in the urban fantasy genre. I have a soft spot for Werewolves, Vampires and other oddities that go bump in the night. I'm currently debating moving on to the second novel in the series I started last year or moving on to something completely different. I'm sure I'll finally decide on the night before the launch. Oi vey. Why do we do this to ourselves? ;) Anywho, that's quite enough about me.

Glad to 'meet' you all. Good luck and best writing!

Hi, I'm JP. I'll be doing my Denver NaNoing absentee style this year.

Though my home (and heart) reside in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains, my body is in Eastern Nebraska (I'm not a big fan.... stinking college. Don't worry, I'm not a Husker!!).

Anyway, I'll be writing a science fiction that started off as a retelling of the Biblical Exodus, but the story has come into its own a little more. This is my third year participating in NaNo, and will hopefully be my first year to win! I haven't actually participated the last two years, but I now have my trusty laptop, and I look forward to being able to whip it out and throw down some words whenever possible. (Anyone know of any portable desks that you strap to yourself like a backpack and you can put a computer on and type as I'm going to class? That'd be fantastic!)

-JP

Hello guys, I am George and I am a new person to the Denver wrimos. I have done it four years and only won once. I am going to try the best I can to win this year but I have other projects to do and get done. So, I will try my best but if I don't get it done I will be a great cheerleader and supporter to all my fellow wrimos out there. I hope to meet more of you as the time goes on at write ins and the other awesome Nano events.

Hi, I'm Dawn.

This is my 4th or 5th year doing Nano but I have yet to cross the finish line. I'm really hoping I can tap into some additional resources this year and might even have a co-worker join me.

I still don't know what I'm going to write about. I want to think of something NEW and will probably spend October doing preperation and build up my writing muscles and get used to writing every day.

Here's hoping. :)

I am over near Colorado Blvd and Colfax and wondering if there is anyone in my neighborhood writing this year?

Hey Sherrill,

I'm at Colorado & Alameda myself. :-) This is my second Nano and hopefully my first win. Oh, and YES, that is more than enough to "count" you as a professional writer. It's more than a lot of people ever manage at all!

Rebekkah

Hello, everyone! This is my second NaNo, and now that my psycho-wannabe-stalker-freakazoid ex has shaved his head and got himself a new girlfriend far away from here, I can safely introduce myself as Meg, but I will still answer to Raven if anyone calls me that; it *is* a real nickname.

I, too, greatly enjoy the urban fantasy genre, even though my novel last year was a painfully normal one about a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant and the slightly odd people working there. This year, although I did consider writing a proper UF story, the vampire novel won out (Yay, I'm not nearly the only one who likes Dark creatures and their adventures!!!! spleen, your story idea rocks my socks off!), so alas, there will not be any tales of Goths with flamethrowers chasing after Unsealy Elves. At least I don't think so. However, since I did change stories last year with only nine days to spare, maybe I can't promise that after all.

At the moment, anyway, the story is called "Irish Eyes" and it's a complete reconstruction and rebuild of a novel attempt from about three years ago. The story's changed enough that it'll be virtually unrecognizable, to the degree that I won't even be transferring passages from the old one. I'm hoping to make 100k during November, but we'll see. Short version is, it's about a new vampire in the nineteenth century who's cut off from her own kind and who therefore has no one to tell her what the hell's going on. Oh, and she's a parlor girl working in a semi-classy brothel on Holladay, which was later renamed Market Street, in Denver. Only one of the johns bites it (sorry, that pun was only half-intentional), but life gets pretty interesting for her and all her friends. I really have no idea what to classify it as, though--it's kind of fantasy, kind of historical fiction, kind of horror and thriller, and even kind of a bit of mystery; I guess I'll just affiliate with "Other" and call it good.

Welcome, everyone! It's great to see so many people on the site already. Keep the intros coming!

LadyV--If there are llamas, you can rest assured that they will be SPACE LLAMAS!

Mandi--Welcome! I just finished my MLIS in June; cool to see you're thinking about it. I actually went to school with several people who worked for United and decided to become librarians/archivists.

revdc5 and Ava--Nice to see some more "east side"/Aurora folks!

Sherrill--good to see you again! I am Glendale-ish, so I would definitely be down for any writing in your general neighborhood. I'm still going to try to pull together a Hooked on Colfax write-in.

Reba--I see you're in my area, too! Some of my best nanovels have come from epic, cinematic dreams I had. Yours certainly sounds like a cool concept.

Raven--Yay, vampires! I LOVE the plot/characters/setting that you're working with, too. Your novel can totally sit next to mine and braid its hair and be best friends. I'd like to hit around 100K this year, too, so perhaps our novels can also be locked in mortal combat? ^_^

Raven and October, I am going to need vampire fiction solidarity. This is the first time I've written vampires, and I am trying not to dread the cliches I *know* will happen come November-time. Embrace the cliches!! *mantra*

EMBRACE THE CLICHES!

Extra points for really awful puns like "Bite me!" or "You suck!" (I'm not sure they said that back in the nineteenth century, though... hm.).

Hi Spleen! *waves* Another former FocoNano'er here. :-)

My name is Michelle and this will be my 2nd year of doing NaNo. I'm VERY excited about it! Last year I hit the 50k mark on day 10 (yeah, I was a bit insane) and finished my novel with nearly 105k words on the 29th. I've had an editor helping me with it and I'm hoping to submit it to a publisher soon. I'm a bit nervous. LOL

Last year I had the "bonus" of having a commute to southern Denver from Loveland every day (my entire family and I commuted - two kids and the husband) and I made the husband drive while I worked on my novel. That gave me a solid 3-4 hours per day to write. I won't have that luxury this year, but I'm hopeful that I'll still be able to set aside time to do my writing.

I've got an idea in mind... I have a feeling it will end up being YA fiction. It'll be taking place in a high school and will have witchcraft and supernatural things going on.

I met a few of you Denverites last year at the write-a-thon. That was a great night of writing for me!

And Spleen... I'm TOTALLY jealous that you'll be going to SF! That is incredibly awesome!

I'm sure we'll all get to know each other better as we get into things... I'm not sure what else to write about myself. LOL.