Traverse City anyone?

Oh my. A Traverse City resident! Don't worry. You're not the only one. ;) I'm born in TC... and I live in TC.

I live just north of TC, in Elk Rapids. I got to 50k words last year for the first time. This year I'm going to try to write a start to a good novel in 50k words as I was disappointed with my novel last year which is still sitting on a bookshelf unedited after I tried to read through it a few times.

I'm sticking with fantasy, but unlike last year which was a sort of low-magic fantasy murder mystery, this year I'm going to be writing about magic on the other end of the spectrum. My detective last year knew a few spells but mostly just used his reasoning like any other detective.

This year I'm writing about a director of a college-age academy of Magic who is an extremely advanced user of magic specializing in Ice magic and almost completely unconcerned about cold weather (not good for someone who pays the heating bill.) I've got a lot of ideas for where to go from there but I haven't really fleshed them out yet.

Will be neat to see what you guys are writing this year.

I'll be in the TC area (near SBDNS) for the first couple days of NaNo. (Does being there 1/15th of NaNo count? I'm from Battle Creek most of the rest of the year.) This is my first year for doing NaNo, so I'm nervous that I may miss that important start.

azatol -- fascinating ideas! I mostly do MG fantasy, but am trying an historical fiction for this.

Do any of you know a former ranger from that area -- a writer -- who recently moved to NM with his wife and baby daughter?

sandycarl

Last year we here in TC tried to get a writer's group going. I think We're going to try again.

Since November 1st is a Sunday I am thinking that I can be at Border's Bookstore coffee shop at 1 pm that day for any and all of you who like to get together. Bring your notebooks or laptops or something to write with and money for coffee! We can discuss what days to meet during November and how we want to continue.

I will be wearing my brown Nano T-shirt from last year and I'll be typing on a black acer laptop. I will probably also be wearing purple fingerless mittens. Hope to see you there.

Cindy K-K
aka Quiltlynx

Quiltlynx

1. Write
2. Keep writing
3. Tighten it up
4. Put it on the market
5. Keep it on the market until sold.

Hello all you wonderful TC peoples! :)

I'm joining the forums a bit late this year *sigh* but oh, well. I'll be at Borders for most of November as always. You can find myself or my sis NaNo'ing in our NaNo hoodies or last years shirts. I have neon purple hair and she shall soon have bright orange hair. We're short but pretty hard to miss.

*waves at Quilty and Azatol* Yeah, last year I tried to get a group going but due to circumstances this year I'm just going to see what happens. I'll post up whenever I'll be up there but I'm not going to push anything as I'm going through a bit of a rough patch and my socialization meter has gone from laughable to nonexistent.

Nevertheless!

It'll be great if I can meet and greet with any NaNo'ers this year so PLEASE- someone come visit me in Borders!!! :)

Also, if anyone is interested in a TC (and surrounding areas obviously) area NaNo chat room please let me know. I created a room last year but this time I only want to do it if I know others will be interested. :) Peace out all!

Written Whispers

I'm from the Gaylord area, but I'm in Virginia right now for school. I'll be back the last week of November for Thanksgiving, so I may be able to meet up with you guys! We'll see. I might see you around. =D

I was wondering whatever happened to you. I hope things are going well!

^_^

-jsh

I'm in Mesick... but I guess that's close enough.

Should we get a group going?

Adrienne

We had a few people show up once, my first year. That went pretty well and gave me some psychic fortitude, though it was just once during the whole month. Nothing has really happened since — maybe a couple people at the bookstore in the basement, but it's been more depressing than inspiring.

FWIW, IMHO, caveat lector, YMMV, and all that sort of thing.

-jsh

Eh, I really wanted to get one going last year and I still do but I don't have the energy to arrange anything. Like I said, my sis and I will be at Borders on and off with different NaNo'ers we've met in the last three years or so but we're not doing anything official. Just hanging out and chatting about our stories and stuff. Anyone who wants to come and have a cup of coffee with us and shoot the breeze with us is MORE than welcome. :D We love meeting other writers willing to sacrifice their souls for a good thirty days to the gods of writing. :)

Written Whispers

Another Traverse City resident here. Thought I'd give this another try after last years fantastically epic failure. Here's hoping it goes well.

I am from Traverse City! I'm hoping I won't be a total failure. :(

I would really be interested in meetings!

Hey Feebes, Ree! (Waving back) Will the two of you be joining me on Sunday about 1-ish. Anyone else? I would love to meet all of you and get a good core group going. I can commit to meeting every Sunday and maybe some other days as well. I'm going to to be spending my every last waking moment that I'm not at work or at my quilting guild writing. I am hoping to get a month's worth of sewing done tomorrow and Saturday to clear my schedule for Sunday! HA!

Anyway, How many of you can join me at Border's coffee shop on Sunday? I'll be wearing my brown Nano t-shirt from last year and purple fingerless mittens.

Cindy K-K
aka Quiltlynx

Quiltlynx

1. Write
2. Keep writing
3. Tighten it up
4. Put it on the market
5. Keep it on the market until sold.

Oh, hello, other TC area writers!

This is my first time doing this ~officially~, so this is exciting.

I'll try to make it to Borders, but I don't think I'll have the time. (I think my parents have something going on at noon, but I'll check.) It's my first year doing NaNo, but I think I'll be in Borders quite a bit for noveling.

NaNo 2009: The Legacy of Arath (TBA)

Hi TC resident here, just about to start writing! Good luck everyone! :)

I'm from TC, and I'm so busy I don't know that I'll have enough time to write it all, let alone drive out somewhere to meet up with everyone, but we can try...maybe I'll see you around!

No cause is lost if there is but one fool left to fight for it.
~Will Turner

I am from TC. First year living here and first year doing this. Hope I can get to 50,000 words. With the rate I am at now I should make it.

I'm from TC. I would love to get together with a group, but a few things stop me, I have no laptop, only a big desktop computer, I might get funny looks lugging that into a book store :), and I have a child with special needs, and I can't just leave him with anyone.

I've won two past years, and last year I didn't, but that's okay too.

Nice to see so many people from TC though.

So to start another conversation in here. What is everyone's novel about?

My story is about a Fire mage that is basically an arsonist, setting off huge forest fires and causing problems for an academy of magic nearby that is becoming threatened by the fires that spread. They sent out some messengers, who eventually meet up with my main character, who is headmaster of another Academy in the North that specializes in Cold magic. They also enlist a master of Water magic, but no one can stop them until this Cold mage, my main character (Professor Amandine Gelidus), finds a way. But that touches off a lot more crazy hijinks.

The other part of the plot is at this academy that Professor Amanda is in charge of. There's a new student there who is kinda my second protagonist (Jeffery), he's experiencing the later parts of a plot through novice eyes, so to speak. And part of the early chapters of the book are about the academies (which are all college-age type, not Harry Potter kids type.)

The twist is that the Arsonist Mage (Marc) and Amanda have more in common than they think, even though Marc is of course the one going around setting fires. They both are obsessed with their respective forms of magic. Marc plays with fire, Amanda plays with extreme cold and subjects students to pretty cold places just to teach them Cold magic. The two end up getting in a huge magical battle later on that has a lot of after-effects.

The battle of powerful wizards was my original inspiration, and then I came up the idea of with Professor Gelidus (Gelidus is from latin for cold)

I like the name Coldspell for mine, but I think its been taken. I keep thinking that I remember some book or something called that. So I will have to think of something better eventually.

Anymore plans for Borders? I missed the race from the starting gate, but if there are plans of setting up another time for Borders please let me know.

Well, I was at Border's from about noon to 3 pm and I did a bit of writing. No one else showed up. I am planning on going next Sunday as well. I hope some of you can meet me there. The main problem with meeting at Border's is that there is only one table with access to an outlet, so you have to have a really good battery in your lap top. That table is one of the teeny tiny ones too that only one person would be able to sit at. Sunday afternoon is pretty busy too. We might want to think about meeting at the library instead. There would not be any coffee unless you brought it in your travel mugs but at least the tables are bigger and have outlets in them.

To answer the new question: what am I writing about. I have decided that instead of writing a whole new novel, I am going to finish the novel I started writing last year. I have separated it into two parts, Part one called "Protector" and part two called "healing" I had written about 13,000 words in part two so I subtracted that from my total word count on part two to get the word count for Nano. But anyway, the book is about a girl who is raped and how her boyfriend is helping her heal. It's a bit more involved than that but That's basically what part two is about.

Man it's great to be back writing again. I took some time off of writing to find a job and to be VP of my quilting guild. But things are starting to settle down again.

Hope to see you at Borders next Sunday. I'll go at noon-ish. And stay until 3 or there abouts. I'll wear my brown nano shirt again. Come and say hi to me even if you don't want to sit and chat.
Cindy
AKA Quiltlynx.

Quiltlynx

1. Write
2. Keep writing
3. Tighten it up
4. Put it on the market
5. Keep it on the market until sold.

Hello all!

My name is Kristen. I'm currently living in Maryland but I'll be moving up to Traverse City in about 2 weeks. I used to live up there and went to grade school there. I'm really looking forward to moving back. Just wanted to let you all know about why I was posting on here. Thanks!

-Kristen (CB86)

Hey Feeb!
I'm from Mesick also. [And since it's a small enough town I probably know the other person from there, hello person!]

I tried last year and miserably failed. I was determined this year, and was sure I could do it, until my mom took off the whole first week of November and devoted it to completely cleaning the house. Which I got suckered into [after bribes of red lobster]. So I hardly had time, a few lines at a time scribbled in a notebook at my grandmas, which amounted to a whole whopping 3,000 words.

So that was what I began on, starting yesterday. Where I should have had something close to 18,000. I really hit it hard yesterday and today, seeing as I don't have a job or school I don't have an excuse not to I guess. And now I'm up to, well, whatever I'm up to! Around 13,000 I think. I'm pleased. I'm hoping I really have a chance this year.

I wish I could go to a write in, but I have no job, no money, and no car. So getting to traverse city is practically impossible. It was easier last year because I just stayed after work and then hitched a ride with Feebs back home, but I probably won't be able to make it this year. :(

Hopefully next year I'll have a car and license and all that good stuff, and will be able to set things up!

No, I'm not from TC, but my brother and sister-in-law lived there until three years ago when they moved to Myrtle Beach,SC. I'm posting to ask if any of you know (or know about) Terry Wooten, a poet in Elk Rapids. Anyhow, he has Stone Circle, which is a very cool place to go if you've never been there. It's three concentric rings of big boulders. He builds a big bonfire in the middle, and people come from all over and read their own (or someone else's) poetry for the group. It's very informal, lots of fun, and last I knew he was charging $3. per car.

I'm a retired teacher from the southwest corner of the state, and Terry used to come to our schools and do three-day poet-in-residence programs. One year after school was out in June, I took a group of fourth graders there. Parents, and in one case a grandma, came along, we spent the weekend in a motel, and on Saturday night went out to Terry's. It was really neat. I'd like to hear from any of you who either know him or have been to Stone Circle.

Anyone know him? I'd love to chat.

Why are you asking here? All you have to do is type his name into Google and his website with his email address is the first thing that comes up.

Oh, I know, been there, know him, talk on the phone, know his wife, etc., etc. What I wondering is whether any of YOU know him or know of him or about Stone Circle. Then it would be fun to chat with you about it and have that as a basis for conversation.

Oh sorry I misunderstood. I know of the Stone Circle, or did many years ago, but I've never been to it myself and don't know if it's still going on these days.