October's Introductory Regional Email Message

If you didn't receive the October Regional email, you either have not affiliated with the United States :: California :: South Bay region, or your spam filter bum rushed the message and sent it sprawling into a tangled heap of shattered words and letters (serious bummer, dude).

You can affiliate here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/og

----

Greetings, South Bay Nanos, and welcome to the 10th annual NaNoWriMo. November will be here before you know it (oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, we can hardly wait!), and we wanted to go over a few basics before things start.

Be sure to check out the forums, which are a hotbed of information AND conversation! Of course, the most important region of them all is ours, the South Bay regional forum! You haven't experienced a proper NaNoWriMo if you haven't gone to our forum, which can be found here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/168

In the regional forum, you'll find other members of our community introducing themselves, general information posted by your MLs (us), people asking for and offering writing advice, a contest thread to come up with a regional slogan that describes our group, and of particular urgency just now, a discussion on when and where our Meet n' Greet party will be hosted later this month.

Yes, that's right, we said Meet n' Greet party! This will be a chance for you to meet your fellow South Bay Nanos before the craziness of November strikes. You can keep abreast of the latest and contribute to that discussion here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3013561

We also have a regional calendar. Yes, there is no form of technology we won't use to keep everyone aware of what's going on. In fact, next year, there's talk of an automated phone system that will call every nano with a reminder the day before each event. Isn't it amazing what modern technology can do? But until then, we have to make due with an online calendar. There's a link just above the list of forum topics in the regional forum, or you can visit it directly by following this link:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=jfr990q58jkvdc26cr0fi1gubo%40gr...

The calendar is empty right now, but we'll be adding events to it soon, including the upcoming Meet n' Greet, the official NaNoWriMo Kickoff Party, the schedule for the regional write-ins, our Halfway Party, and anything else cool and relevant we can think of.

Speaking of write-ins, we'd like to strongly encourage you to attend at least one write-in. South Bay turnout has always been off-the-charts (we've practically taken over coffee shops at times!), and nothing better demonstrates our sense of community than a huge group of writers offering encouragement and inspiration to each other. The energy level at these events is incredibly high, and attendance is a proven word count booster. So come on down! Times and dates will be posted both in the forums and on the regional calendar.

Finally, and most importantly, congratulations. For having the courage to commit to such an awesome undertaking. For being a trailblazer. Yes, a trailblazer. How many people do you know who have or are going to write a novel in a month? Unless you live in the NaNoWriMo Co-Op in Campbell, not many. That makes you a precious rarity. This November, you will be embarking on a fantastic journey, where you will be taking not the road less traveled, but a road that doesn't exist yet, a road that YOU are building. You will be reaching into the depths of your imagination and creating something that wasn't there on October 31st. You will be writing a novel. You will be an author.

See you on the other side of November!
Ian (idunno) and Lisa (marcopolo), your South Bay MLs
----------
idunno, co-ML for California :: South Bay