Hi folks,
This thread is for first year Wrimos to match up with more experienced folks for mutual help and encouragement.
I'd like anyone who had done NaNoWriMo at least once, even if you didn't win, to volunteer to team up with one or more first year folks.
This is about POSITIVE encouragement, so no name calling, no put downs and no rudeness. No one is required to either be a mentor or have one. This is about helping each other do your best.
I ask Mentors to be willing to keep track of New Wrimos on a daily or every other day basis. Send private messages, add as a buddy to keep track of word count.
I ask the new folks to be willing to ask for help and to be positive in return.
Please post here as either a Mentor or someone wishing to be connected. It is also perfectly fine for experienced folks that would just like a buddy to keep them motivated.
----------
Important things to remember during NaNoWriMo:
You can still do this! Trust me, I know you can.
You don’t have to spell check
Grammar is optional
Editing comes later
And a plot is used for gardening
55,098 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 12 44
Well i did this last year for the first time and really surprised myself and made it.
However,
i wouldn't exactly call myself experienced as I'm not confident that i'm going to get through it again this year
but I know the kind of encouragements that we like to hear so I would certainly be willing to be a mentor to a newbie.
I wouldn't mind having one of my own too though, if that was possible.
Aiyla
105,240 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 12 51
Thanks, it is totally not a problem for you to have one as well as be one. The more we help each other, the better we'll all do.
53,455 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 13 19
If anyone knows about the advantages of having someone sitting on your back, giving you daily encouragements to reach the 50000 words, it's me! LOL.
Honestly, I was stuck at 3000 words or something like that in the middle of November ... and then I took up Marie Rex' general offer to encourage anyone who needed it. Boy did I need it. And I made it! I even had 15 minutes to spare! Hehe.
Anyway, I would have given up if it wasn't for Marie Rex, so now I think it's my turn to give something back as since those hard fought over 50000 words last year, writing has become a much more important part of my life.
So, yes, I'd be willing to act as a Mentor. Probably for someone who, shall we say, shares my love for procrastination ;)!
54,280 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 15 01
Hey all,
I'd like to raise a hand here...
This is my very first time and I have to admit I'm terribly nervous.
Knowing me, I'll probably need all the encouragement I can get
Cheers,
Phil
30,001 / 50,000
Oct 13, 2008 - 22 56
Definitely willing to be a mentor. I'm one of the ML's for Glasgow so maybe better if you're in that area? I've both won and lost at nano and have always loved the challenge. Hugs, tea and vegan cookies always freely available.
65,227 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 00 17
Hey,
I'd be willing to act as a mentor. This'll be my third NaNo and I think it'd be quite good to have someone to buddy :D
I'm pretty much online from 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Friday and usually something similar at the weekends.
Do we pair ourselves up? If anyone's interested in me PM me ;)
105,240 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 00 20
I'm going to trust you folks to Join up up. So send private messages to each other.
Just keep hollering if you still need someone either way. You folks are great!
50,463 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 01 14
Well I already have 1 mentor who's promised to kick, bully and goad me to 50K but she's on the other side of the world in New Zealand so she can't actually turn up in person with a big stick - I hope :-0
I like the idea of a nice, friendly, encouraging mentor as well though, kind of good cop/bad cop? and someone close to home would be good. Essbee, vegan cookies sounds good :-)
30,001 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 03 30
I shall take Cassandra under my wing if thats ok then :) I'm originally from Ayrshire too so yay!
51,609 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 04 28
I would also be willing to be a mentor, as well as having some-one myself though i believe I already have one without asking, so anybody from Aberdeen needing a friend give me a holla. Plus I'm usually always on YIM to be prodded too.
Love Billy
50,079 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 04 37
I'm perfectly willing to mentor anybody that wants it, though I am far from the perfect mentor. Certainly no face to face meetings or any kind of cookies, and my availability online is strictly girlfriend-and-two-year-old-dependant. That said I am doing this for the fifth time, and so possibly I could be a kind of last resort mentor or something.
50,117 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 03 07
Hey all,
I'm happy to try and be a mentor if anyone wants me! This is my 5th year doing NANO (the first 2 were epic fails and the second 2 were wins) and I'm based in Aberdeen (although originally from Ayrshire). I can't guarantee that I'd be able to meet up in person however I'd be happy to provide e-mail / msn / text support as much as I can.
I currently have no plot ideas for this year so I can't say what genre I'll be writing (I've challenged myself not to write fan-fic this year) but I'm looking forward to the usual November madness!
Just drop me a pm if you'd like to be prodded by me, or if you have a plot idea I can steal or if you just wanna chat :D
Good luck!
6,841 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 05 44
Hi
I'm trying to fulfill the obligations of MLing, so I'll pass on being a specific mentor. However, if anyone has questions/doubts/needs a cheery word drop me a line and I'll do what I can.
0 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 07 08
My first attempt this year! I do have a love of the procrastination so if someone was willing to mentor I would be very thankful! :D
5,677 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2008 - 00 56
Hi All,
I'd like a buddy or mentor to bully me into writing and not procrastinating. I usually start on the right note, but then I'm not able to keep it up (if you know what I mean). Life seemed to get in the way, but I won't allow it this year.
I'm looking into meditation techniques to try to focus more on the writing task at hand, and not wasting my time worrying about other things. I hear too many voices in my head: I need to silence all, but the ones in my novel.
:D
50,023 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2008 - 07 47
Hey guys
Thought I'd join in the madness and offer my services as a potential mentor.
I've done Nano once - last year- and won thanks to some very supportive buddies and my fellow Nanobeans. I did Fantasy last year and am thinking about the Horror/ Thriller genres this year but am willing to help anyone in any genre.
My aim would be to send an email every day/ every two days and to gently encourage (or poke, whatever you need!) you in the right direction. I'd be looking to take on a maximum of 3 mentees. If anyone wants more information about me or would like to be a mentee, just PM me.
Nikita
50,032 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 10 30
Happy to be a mentor - though my Nano record is more about trying than ever actually succeeding when it comes to that magic 50k <>. but i keep coming back. Last year I was 9k short, this year I'm going to make it.
Anyone else who's 40+ with a ridiculously tiring job who needs some support? We'd be perfect! i'd aim to send an encouraging message every 2-3 days. PM me.
91,585 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2008 - 13 01
Hi Lauren :)
I've PMed, look forward to receiving and sending encouraging messages!
50,303 / 50,000
Oct 20, 2008 - 02 19
Doubt I'll have the time for mentoring this year. Last year was my first attempt and I made it to 50,0034 words by literary stalking a couple of folk :)
That's literary, not literally. Everytime I started to flag I'd pick someone who had posted on the group and attempt to over take whatever amount of words they were on at that point. Hey it worked for me!
23,087 / 50,000
Oct 28, 2008 - 17 20
Having got stuck at about ten thousand in the middle of last November (being poorly) I was spurred on by Marie, and made it! So I'd be happy to mentor a newbie, especially if they were in Aberdeen...then we could share our joys and frustrations over coffee! I'll probably need a bit of encouragement too, so it will hopefully be a two way mentoring.
Susie.
50,148 / 50,000
Oct 29, 2008 - 08 26
I've done NaNo the last two years, and won last year. I'd like to offer myself as mentor, particularly to anyone at Stirling Uni, where I study. Anyone interested, PM me!
52,097 / 50,000
Nov 3, 2008 - 14 26
Hi all fellow writer's and sticky!
I'm all over the place, Up here in Northern Michigan, Kalamazoo area! Muskegan! And I love writing and writing talk!
I'm game for helping anyone I can! I've got lets see, (4) four Newbies this year that I'm trying to help, trying to work them to death. And Having a ball... But there's always room for more!
This is my third year, a winner every year! The first two years I followed the threads to keep me motivated, and even followed a couple people around, they probably thought I was stalking them, especially that writer with the bug on his page, but I gotta say, I've learned a lot from them, So every little thing that works! I say: Go for it...
We can do it, and if you didn't think you could, you wouldn't of come here! So lets get busy and have fun! And I'm going to try and not get so busy that I wait to the last minute to add my word count, or forget it all together like I did yesterday!
Have fun!
Diana
91,585 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2008 - 14 57
OK, I'm not anyone's mentor per-se, but through posting on some other threads I've picked up a couple of people that were moved to PM me as a result of my postings on their 'help' threads. Trouble is, they are both flagging quite a bit just now and I don't know quite how to politely gee them up, or if I should just keep my nose out.
Any suggestions?
105,240 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2008 - 15 25
The best you can do is offer positive support. But in the end folks have to be willing to do it themself.
Week two is really a hard week, I think that is when we lose the most folks. Which is what this thread is about. Just letting folks know to hang on and keep at it.
55,835 / 50,000
Nov 13, 2008 - 08 20
Any suggestions?
It is important to tell them that everybody finds this bit hard. It's important to tell them that they have time to catch up but it's also important to tell them the hard truth that they must not stop writing if they want to finish.
The only way to deal with a block is to write through it. By all means take more breaks. Reward yourself every 100 words if they're tough words but if you can't keep going then you're not a writer because that's what writers do.
Have your characters write shopping lists or sing along with the radio or declaim terrible poetry. Anything so you've got something to write. Eventually the characters will run away with the story and the novel will start to live again. But only if you keep writing.
50,032 / 50,000
Nov 30, 2008 - 09 18
Wanted to wave a big public thank you to two people who started off as first timers to my wizened old timer (who tried 5 times and never made the purple bar) but who pushed and cheered me on as much as I did they. We linked up because of this thread.
So, THANK YOU Chaco Kid and Spa Town Girl - I would have flagged and doubt I would have achieved my purple bar if I hadn't known you were checking up on me!
L
91,585 / 50,000
Dic 1, 2008 - 04 20
So, THANK YOU Chaco Kid and Spa Town Girl - I would have flagged and doubt I would have achieved my purple bar if I hadn't known you were checking up on me!
L
:) [is there an emoticon for blushing?] We all made it! Didn't we do well? Thank you for all your encouragement, Lauren. It did make a big difference knowing that if I dropped off the pace someone wouldnotice. That especially gee-ed me on when I discovered that my graph was visible to anyone who wanted to look at it!