Introduction time

Hi, Katie! Hi, Amber!

I'm TreeLady. I'm just over twice as old as you (just turned 62), have one less cat (Khiva & Vartha), and moved out of Newark in 2000 to live halfway between Newark and Wilmington.

I joined NaNo in 2003 and I've participated every year since, except last year when I was revising my YA fantasy novel "Seabird" for my editor at Gryphonwood Press.

I don't have a title for this year's book yet. It's fantasy of course. So far, I do have three characters in mind. I know something about the motivations of the first two and where they probably meet. The third one just flew into my fantasy world and the story last week. Yes, literally flew. He's a seabird. I have no idea why he invited himself aboard but I figure he'll tell me at some point--preferably before Nov.1

Thanks for the invitation to chat!

TreeLady aka SherryT

My YA Fantasy, Seabird, is now available from Gryphonwood Press. Search Barnes & Noble or Amazon, Under "Seabird" by Sherry Thompson..

Fans of C.S. Lewis will love Sherry Thompson’s debut novel. When Cara Marshall is transported to Narenta, sh

Hi all, I'm Adrian and I'm the monthly write-in leader and sort-of/kind-of ML in training. I'm 26 and I live in Newark. I have a dog (Patch).

Last year's NaNo got eaten up by planning for the "Stargate: Atlantis" epic of doom (as I've lovingly dubbed it - it's still not finished, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! - and it's going to be north of 250,000 words).

This year's NaNo is going to actually be two stories - one's going to be a gen piece based on a minor character for a movie I recently saw. He was hardly in the movie, but he fascinated me so much, that I had to write something for him. And the other bit's going to be a "Stargate: Atlantis" idea I was going to do for the '06 NaNo that decided at the last second that it didn't want to be written. But I think I've finally beat it into submission (and grown enough as a writer to be able to handle it). So we'll see how they go and I'm determined to do the 50,000 words this year.

Heya gang!

My name's Matt and this will be my first Nano. My nickname is "Patch", so it seems appropriate that I would post after Adrian. :)

I live in northern Wilmington just outside Arden, which provides me with a good deal of inspiration. My normal venue for expression is illustration and fantasy art but I've been feeling like I have a novel brewing in me for years, so I think Nano is calling.

I don't have anything prepped because I was under the impression that we're not supposed to do any advanced prep work. That will teach me to read the rules a bit more closely.

I'm really looking forward to digging in and getting to work!

~MrLich
http://www.dragonbones.net

Name's Patrick, call me Pat, or Fyn works as forums go.

I'm 22, this is. . . something like the fourth or fifth time doing NaNo. I live in Milford with my wife, also doing NaNo ((One of our shared interests prior to marriage, actually.)) We've got a trio of birds (Spaz, Bella, and Sunny), and I work in a game shop in downtown Milford.

This year, I'm writing the 'epic history' of a collaboration my wife and I have been planning. The plan is a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid with influences of Tolkien, Card, and Vern. Yeah, I aim high. I've never actually finished NaNo, but I've always done it for fun.

Hi folks!

My name is Matt and I'm new to NaNo this year. My wife Katie (katpetal) insisted that I join in her pain this year. I mean time of great joy and story telling! hehe. As Katie has already said we live in Newark with our 3 cats. I'm 26 years old and am currently employed in Wilmington as a juvenile probation officer for the State of Delaware. I'm in the enrollment process for the New Castle County Police Dept, though.

I'm a huge fan of epic fantasy. George R. R. Martin and Steven Erikson being my current favorite authors. A Song of Ice and Fire and The Malazan Book of the Fallen, respectively are their works that have inspired me to participate in such an undertaking. I always enjoyed my english classes in school, and I'm not sure why I didn't pursue a career or college major in the field. All that being said, the longest piece I've ever written was 35 pages (MS Word, Times New Roman, double spaced, 12 point font.), which are now lost to the electronic abyss. I'm also a fan of Sci-fi, and hard science, especially astronomy.

I'm really stuck on what to write about. Those two genres are kinda big and while I have the most familiarity with them, I've also got a good many other things in life I could write about if I were to choose non-fiction. Recently I was deployed to Iraq for a year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and saw a good many things there that could make for interesting reading or writing. I'm not sure if I want to go down the path of Tom Clancy and do present day military fiction.

So this is sort of getting away from an introduction and more into a cry for help, hehe. So I'll cut it off there and start a new post!

--Matt

Don't worry - there are quite a few in that boat. I don't really have anything prepped for this year, except a little snippet of a dream I had that I woke up and said "hey that could be fun to try and write, maybe it'll work for NaNo". And last year, I had no idea what I was going to write until I sat down on Nov 1 and started typing.

No prep is fine, some prep is fine, and having a crazy 50kword outline (you know who you are!!) is fine too. The only real restriction is that you aren't allowed to actually start writing the story until Nov 1. And even with the best laid outlines, that can be a daunting aspect.

I'm sure you'll do fine - and we're all here to prod you along the way to keep going, consider us your cheerleaders and comiserators.

Heya. I'm Jen, I did NaNo last year and completed about 65k words but in the end never actually completed the novel. :x

I had decided not to write this year, since the new WoW expansion is coming out, I _might_ be getting a seasonal job, and I _might_ be going back to school. But if the last 2 things end up not happening, I might attempt it anyway.

However, if I do write, I'm going to be cheating and doing a semi-rewrite of last year's novel in an attempt to make it somewhat readable and also to set the plot up right for the ending I want. :x (The reason I never wrote an ending was because I failed to have enough character development for it to make sense.)

My outline is not 50k words! It's 35 pages!

(For the record, it's only 20,503 words.)

Hi! I'm Val, I did Nano Last year, though i had to stop at week 3 because of school stuff and teachers saying they were going to take my notebook. I only had about 12,500-13,000 words, but I hope to do better this year. The longer I focus on Nano, the more I'm leaning toward the Stargate SG-1/From Eroica with love Idea I mentioned in the outline thread. *pokes brain.* I'm old enough to have a job, but young enough to listen to Mom when she says be care what I say online. I am freqently mistake for a collage student or a teacher, depending on where I am.

I'm Gina; I am a socially-, politically- and religiously-challenged Stay-at-home-mom.

I live in a small, crooked house in New Castle (we used to live near Bellefonte, in N. Wilmington). My husband & I are owned by four felines and three children. Our neighbors are horribly ill-mannered, my friends provide my daily dose of drama, and I am kind of a 'Negative Nancy' at times. I cook comfort foods (soups, casseroles... etc), snap photos, surf the web, watch NCIS, visit a local orchard, and draw (though I am no Renoir--or Picasso). I am always surrounded by children and it certainly shows. Autumn is my favorite season and discussions regarding Disney World, as well as chocolate, make me smile.

My writing has been hampered by fear, a huge pressure to be perfect right off the bat, and boredom. Sadly, I lose interest just before I get to the high point in each story and consequently abandon them, so Nanowrimo is ALWAYS a challenge for me. I don't like talking about ideas for tales; they sound great in my head, but seem lame when spoken of or written on paper.

My biggest desire is to travel to Europe, but the one right behind it is to bring to fruition an original tale and see it through to completion, regardless of the number of words. Maybe this will be my year?

It's a pleasure to 'meet' you all.

================================
2005: The Pig Woman (6K words)
2006: Truth or Dare (14K words)
2007: -----
2008: The Chocolate Festival Murders

I'm Hollie ... I'm in Dover with my fiance and my 4 cats and two snakes .. (Rajah, Loki, Rhea and Jasmine ... then Azrael and Lucian) ... I've been at this a few years, finished once ... didn't actually finish that story though ... I don't know exactly what I'm going to do this year ... I'm thinking of continuing a story that I started a while ago ... but we'll see.

Hi, everyone. My name is Beth. I'm living in Wilmington now but lived in Newark for 30 years before this move. This is my second NaNo. Last year, I attended several of the weekly write-togethers at the Newark Panera. It was great to be with other writers. I did not make the word count and put that project away.

This year, I'm writing a stream-of-consciousness novel about a 22-year-old woman.

My inspiration was Roddy Doyle's "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" which won the Booker several years ago. That novel is an amazing look into the mind of a 10-year-old boy who lives in Dublin.

I hope to meet some of you next month!

Take care,

Beth

Hey, I'm Pearl, and I live seriously ten minutes up 202 from my old house in North Wilmington. I did NaNo last year, and I got up to around 20,000 words before getting distracted. I have a rather large inkling (inkblot, if you will) of what I'm going to write this year - mostly likely humorous, because it's so much more fun than what I did last year (lit fic).

"You barbarians! I'll sue the council for every penny it's got! I'll have you hung, drawn, and quartered! And whipped! And boiled... until... until... until you've had enough. And then I will do it again! And when I've finished I will take all the little

Hi all. I'm Buddy and this will be my fourth attempt at NaNoWriMo.

I did really well the first time and almost finished. As for the last two years...well, not so good. I went into both of those stories with virtually no outlines, no plots, no anything. My plan was to just wing it and see what happened. Well, what happened is that I quickly lost interest in what I was doing and stopped writing.

This year is going to be different. I'm still not 100% sure what story I'll be writing but I've got a few different ones in mind.

Best of luck to all of you next month!

Buddy Gott

Hey All! My name is Lynn. I live in Newark and am a part time student at U of D as well as working full time. Like others here I've got multiple pets, two cats (Shadow and Gizmo) and a yorkie, Toto, (Yes from the Wizard of OZ!). I've been married two years.

Last year was my first NaNoWrMO. I don't know how, but I got the 50,000 words in just barely. I was at work finishing as I work night shift- told my co-workers if they needed me which room I was hiding in. Still on the fence about actually doing it this year. Not only are classes keeping me busy but I'm not sure I want to start another story - I've got multiple fanfics started as well as last years story for NaNoWrMo yet to finish as well as a sci-fi. I'm also drawing a blank about what to write. We'll see what happens comes November.

Good luck to everyone.

A little late in saying hi, which is only fitting, since I appear to be late in starting. Ah well, hello everyone! I'm Sean, I live right around Wilmington, and I'm currently 22, though that should change before this is over. This is my second NaNo, or possibly my first, as I signed up to write last year, but never made it past the first word. I'm hoping to beat the previous year's record, considering. It does mean I get to cheat a little, since I've been thinking of this story since last year's failed attempt, though I haven't written anything yet.

Considering it's already day 5, I should probably get on that.

"My brain hasn't melted. I'll take that as a good sign."