USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

So I've had this in mind for a while...

5 o'clock — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:09:44 +0000

...and I figured that now when everyone's engaged but not completely overwhelmed (yet ;D ) by their novels, that this might be a good time to gauge interest.

I'd love to get together with fellow Pittsburgh writers and start a writing group (or circle) to meet once a month during the year. Basically, the idea would be to bring in a short story or a small excerpt of a longer story you've written (Nano novel revisions more than welcome) with enough copies for everyone in the group. We'd discuss technique, offer advice, and generally workshop the stories in coffeehouses for a few hours, and then exchange new stories/installments for the next month's session.

My goal would be to form a low-pressure but dedicated writing group, where people could meet up to discuss literary things and improve their writing all year long. Any level of skill or genre of writing would be welcome, so long as you are an author who wants to better your writing and help others do the same.

So, what do you say, guys? :D I've always had good experiences writing with people around here for NaNo, and I'd love to get a steady group of people going to pursue our literary ambitions in the off-season. Let me know what you think, and if enough people are interested, we'll give this a shot!
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

A Quick Note on Donation

lttlredcorvette — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:58:38 +0000

Hey guys, I know we've only got a week left in the month, but I wanted to drop in a quick word about donating, and what you can do. NaNoWriMo is a free event for all of us (plus the price of all those cups of coffee, of course), but it's run by a non-profit that needs our support to stay up and running. If you haven't checked it recently, on the front page of the site, there's a graph of how much they've made this season - and that money lasts them through the whole year, and helps them do things like upgrade the servers so we're not waiting millions of years for the forums to load, keep lovely people employed to help us out when times get tough, and support those encouraging pep talks and podcasts.

So, how do you donate? It's simple - visit the 'Donation/Store' link at the top of your page right now. There are all sorts of cool products to buy (I feel like a rock star when I use my NaNoWriMo Author travel mug, I have to admit), like those fashionable t-shirts that I and several others insist on wearing to Write-Ins. You can also do a simple monetary donation, or, if you're not able to contribute in that way presently, you can check out the Donating While Broke page, which tells you how to set up a search engine that donates to the Office of Letters & Light with each search.

When you think of all the cool things that have come out of NaNoWriMo, from the awesome book(s) you've got lying around now, to the great friends you've made at Write-Ins, to that new coffeeshop you would never have checked out if not for your crazy ML scheduling an event there (Amani in the Northside, anyone?), it's an awesome feeling to give a little back to the people that make it possible every year.

Tomorrow the OLL is having a super huge push for donations, so let's step up, Pittsburgh, and show our appreciation for the staff of our favorite month of the year!

Still Regrets Not Buying That 2002 NaNoWriMo Shirt,
fox
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Online Write-In?

thesquazmaster — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:27:44 +0000

Do we have a chat room or something that we can use for online write-ins? If we don't, would anyone be interested if I set one up? I've been visiting another region's chat room a few times over the past few days, and I've found that I get the most written during word wars. (Otherwise, distractions abound!) Seeing as I'm still slightly behind in my word count (and I'm sure I'm not alone), I could really use the extra motivation. :)
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Random Distractions

Unfinished_Masterpiece — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:13:06 +0000

I've just been wondering: what has been your most random distraction?

Mine: As I'm getting back on a roll after an incredible writing hiatus and writer's block...there's a knock on my door. It's the maintenance guys that I called YESTERDAY (at 10 A.M., mind you). So now I'm trying to get back on track as the toilet flushes and the clanking of tools try to fix my commode and slow draining sinks.
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Nanoers Done?

Panic30days — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:08:39 +0000

Anyone else done yet? Figured I would ask!

Go go go everyone who isn't done yet!
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Where To Be This Week: November 22 - November 28

lttlredcorvette — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:13:13 +0000

Hey guys, sorry for the late posting, it was a hectic work weekend with birthday parties and baby showers and Dave Matthews Band was on SNL so of COURSE I wasn't missing that :) But, moving on!

Writing Under the Influence - 21+ Write-In:
10pm - 12am Monday, November 23 (tonight!)
Squirrel Cage (Squirrel Hill Cafe)
5802 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
Notes: Our first attempt at a 21+ Write-In. I will be there as close to 10pm as humanly possible (I have clinic tonight until 9, which occasionally runs a bit late), and we will have some drinks and try to knock out a word count in the process!

City Write-In:
7 - 10pm Tuesday, November 24
Oakand Caribou Coffee
3621 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Notes: Hoping this place will have thinned out a bit with Pitt students going home for the holiday, and at least no one should be studying on a night when there's no class the next day! :)

North Write-In:
6 - 9pm Wednesday, November 25
Cranberry Panera
20111 Rte 19 Ste 2
Cranberry TWP, PA 16066

Monroeville Write-In:
11am - 2pm Saturday, November 28
Monroeville Borders
200 Mall Blvd.
Monroeville, PA 15146

And South Hills WriMos, let me know if you guys are planning a Write-In this week. I know you're typically a Thursday group, and clearly that day's events are already being dominated by some very large, delicious turkeys. :)

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone, enjoy whatever shopping you are doing on Friday, and if you're going to the Sparkle Season parade on Saturday, I will see you there, with my reindeer antlers on!! Oh, and COME WRITE! :)

I Totally Busted Out A Workout DVD I Bought 4 Years Ago But Never Used Until Today To Procrastinate Writing,
fox

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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

South Hills Wrimos?

MossAngel — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:19:47 +0000

I'm over here in Brookline, wondering if anyone else is in the immediate area along Rt 51. It'd be cool to hit up some of the write-ins, but I'm new to Pittsburgh and get very lost especially with construction detours (yay!) so I'd prefer to hang out with the folks closer to home. My work hours are also likely to hinder write-in participation (I work 8am-11am and 4:30-7:30pm plus travel time to Monroeville for the afternoon hours). :(

Anyone in the area willing to hang out at a semi-local place (there's a Caribou Coffee up the road from me, I think!) for sporadic local write-ins, or should I keep an eye on the calendar and attempt to make it to the group ones?
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Year 7 of NaNo... 6 years of avoiding the end results!

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Summer Writing Classes?

Lorelai90 — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:40:51 +0000

This isn't directly NaNo related, so I'm sorry if it annoys anyone. But my thought process was that everyone here's interested in writing, and everyone's from Pittsburgh, so someone here might know about it. The other part of the thought process was rooted in the fact I'm reading a really boring article for school and I thought of posting this and it's a welcome distraction.

When I was in High School, I did the Young Writer's Institute program at the University of Pittsburgh every year. I loved it (for the most part) but now that I'm too old for it, I've been sort of halfheartedly looking for another writing class/program/workshop that I could take during the summer. Does anyone know of any good ones in the general Pittsburgh area? In my distracted online wanderings I managed to find some classes at the University of Iowa that look amazing... but that's a little far (not to mention expensive...) and I'm not so into the idea of staying in a strange city by myself for a week, or even a weekend. Someting closer would be ideal. So if anyone has been to/heard of anything good (or not good... what not to bother doing/paying for is also useful information), I'd love it if you'd let me know. Thanks so much!
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Word War Updates

katster — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:38:56 +0000

If I've done this right, this should crosspost among all three regional forums that are in a semi-unofficial war with one another. Finland, meet Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, meet Finland. Both of you, meet Sacramento. :)

Basic rules here is the regional average divided by the number of participants. The region that wins gets the warm and fuzzy bragging rights [nearly wrote "writes" there, heh] and the losing regions gets to stew in the cold harsh fact that they weren't good enough to win. (And who knows. There may be more awesome prizes, if we can be bothered to come up with any.)

Anyway, the tale of the tape under the regional tab seems to be that on this, the fifth day of November, the head of our leaderboard goes to....*drum roll please*

FINLAND!

Yes, those plucky Finns are out in front, having a large (but possibly not insurmountable) lead.

Here are the standings:

Finland -- 425 Wrimos in this region (active and homed) - 42% are new. Wrimos in this region have written 2,022,416 words (5,879 per Wrimo with wordcount) [89th overall in words per wrimo]
Sacramento -- 470 Wrimos in this region (active and homed) - 45% are new. Wrimos in this region have written 1,526,457 words (5,088 per Wrimo with wordcount) [229th overall in words per wrimo]
Pittsburgh -- 422 Wrimos in this region (active and homed) - 40% are new. Wrimos in this region have written 1,303,952 words (4,690 per Wrimo with wordcount) [341th overall in words per wrimo]

Or shorter version, with the important numbers:

Finland: 5,879 words per Wrimo
Sacramento: 5,088 words per Wrimo
Pittsburgh: 4,690 words per Wrimo

May this inspire you all to newer and higher wordcounts.

I'll be back on the 10th for a status update.

-kat
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Kat Templeton, Sacramento Region co-ML * http://www.retstak.org
"If I have weaknessess, don't let them blind me now." --Paul Simon

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Funny Nanowrimo Related Things

Cascalia — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:43:42 +0000

You find anything humorous relating to nano, post it here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhs-yodZJcw

There's mine. Anyone got anything else good? Could be jokes, stories, pictures, videos, songs, anything!
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Washington, PA writer

marnaday — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:21:53 +0000

Not too many peeps who write in this little town. I'm not far from South Hills. First year doing this, but this is my 7th book. I've accumulated a lot of compost. Looking forward to it. Anyone close?
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

November 21st Write In

J.L.Gregg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:45:30 +0000

Will anyone be attending the Monroeville Write In this Saturday? I really want to come!

Jami
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

The Rain Novel Project

Jack Frost — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:17:44 +0000

I wrote a bit about this earlier in the year, but the thread was lost during the pre-NaNo kickoff wiping of the boards.

Rain is an experimental novel-writing project I decided to undertake while I was working a godawful job in the middle of the night in a small town just the other side of nowhere. It was never a NaNo project, and I wrote the chapters one after the other every few nights or so just to stave off the boredom.

Initially I was planning on it being a weird, postmodernist kind of story, after I read Takahashi Genichiro's Sayonara, Gangsters and fell in love with the bizarre, nontraditional format. After the first few chapters had been hammered out, though, I realized that my own writing style would be exceptionally hard to suppress and let it become the story it is.

So far, there are twenty-four short chapters, and as of tonight they've all been posted. Spending the rest of the month trying to balance two distinct projects (plus a few shorter ones) is going to be an exercise in time management, but I think it will go well. Rain is a horror story like almost everything else I write, but it's the kind of story that's almost as much humor as it is anything else, which makes it a strange exception and I can't really compare it to anything else I've done before.

Synopsis:

Addison has a crippling phobia of thundershowers. When the ghost of her apartment's previous tenant finds her cowering in the basement, waiting out a storm, an unlikely bond is created. Not everything in the city is what it seems, though, and as the pair wander farther from home they encounter a great many things that even a psychic woman and a non-corporeal being aren't prepared for.

The official Facebook page can be found at

http://tinyurl.com/ycecxjz

and the Textnovel page can be found at

http://tinyurl.com/yb6j5p9

Anyone unfamiliar with TextNovel really ought to go over and check it out, just to see what it offers. It's a site for both cell phone and normal-format works, and is a bit like self-publishing except for the fact that there are agents and editors on the site that occasionally hold contests with cash prizes, and a few people have managed to land contracts that way. I won't get into the self-pub. vs. traditional debate here, but for anyone interested in going that route (as in, putting their work out for free in the hopes that it garners word-of-mouth traffic), it maybe be worth your time to look into, especially if you write romance. Seriously, that site is chock full of it.
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http://jessicarbrown.blogspot.com

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Facebook!

Jack Frost — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:09:11 +0000

Feel like keeping in touch over Facebook? I know everyone at the North meetings gets to hear me talk about it (and see me procrastinate on it) constantly, so I figured I should probably start a thread where we can link do our usernames.

Feel free to add me.

http://www.facebook.com/ForgetIt?ref=profile

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http://jessicarbrown.blogspot.com

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

City Write-in

bryguypgh — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:35:55 +0000

I wasn't really sure what to expect at a write-in. I drove past the Crazy Mocha not sure if I really wanted to go in and try to pick out who was there for nanowrimo and who wasn't, after all lots of people bring their laptops there for the free wifi. Turned out that the group of people near the front with an armada of laptops had a little sign announcing their purpose, and they looked up and offered me a few friendly hellos as I sat down and tried to negotiate a path from my laptop to the electrical outlet.

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed it, got a good bit of writing done, and had some pleasant, sporadic conversations during lulls in the typing, and had some laughs watching the guys outside unload their couch from the roof of their jeep. Some people just need to be comfortable when they write :) This was my first write-in and this is my first Nanowrimo, but I don't think it will be the last of either.
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Where To Be This Week: November 15 - November 21

lttlredcorvette — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:12:11 +0000

Wow guys, we're onto the third week... Can you believe it? As some of you know, I was sick as a dog last week and lost most of the days to lying around and taking Sudafed, so I'm waaaaaay behind on my word count (which is typical for me, so you know, it's not the end of the world ;). Anyone else out there who is behind on word count, fret not, the third week is our chance to sneak back into the running! Here are the places you can go this week to help yourself get motivated:

North Write-In:
6 - 9pm Tuesday, November 17
Cranberry Panera
20111 Rte 19 Ste 2
Cranberry TWP, PA 16066
Notes: the back room is in use for all of our Write-In dates this month, so we'll be just hanging out at tables.

Monroeville Write-In:
6 - 9pm Wednesday, November 18
Monroeville Borders Cafe
200 Mall Blvd.
Monroeville, PA 15146
Notes: There will be two Monroeville Write-Ins this week :)

City Write-In:
6 - 9pm Thursday, November 19
Squirrel Hill Crazy Mocha
2100 Murray Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

South Hills Write-In:
7 - 10pm Thursday, November 19
Mt. Lebanon Coffee Tree Roasters
299 Beverly Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15216

Light-Up Night:
5 - 10pm Friday, November 20
Downtown Pittsburgh
Notes: Not a true NaNo event, but I just wanted to remind everybody that it's happening! If you've never been before, it's a great time. All-ages fun, and you get to see the famous PPG Santas Around the World :) More information here.

Monroville Write-In:
11am - 2pm Saturday, November 21
Monroeville Borders Cafe
200 Mall Blvd.
Monroeville, PA 15146
Notes: This is the second Monroeville Write-In this week :)

So that's it for now. Stay tuned for info about Thursday - I really wanted to get together a group to see the midnight showing of the new Twilight movie, since we all seem to enjoy discussions of the books so much at Write-Ins (discussions for the better or worse, of course ;), but so far, ALL SIXTEEN SHOWINGS at the Waterfront are sold out. Yes, I kid you not. So, I'm in search of something else that would be open. So far, all I've found is a cinema in the South Hills that still has midnight tickets available (or did, at the time of this posting, although that surely could have changed by now hehe). Any ideas? Is South Hills too far to go to see this possibly-terrible-but-amusing film? Give me your opinions.

As always, if you're looking to have a Write-In that's not yet listed, simply NaNoMail me, and I will add it to our list! Keep on writing, everybody! You can do it! We're not quite so far behind Philly in the word war!

Excited To Someday Stop Coughing And Start Writing Again,
fox
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Shout out from New England

WhimsyWallaby — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:13:12 +0000

Hi, I'm Angela, and while I'm currently living in Plymouth, Mass. Pittsburgh is my hometown. I only moved to New England in August, but long story short, it's not exactly working out. So I just wanted to drop a line to say Hello! because I'm probably moving back to the 'Burgh at the end of December. Since I'll be missing out on all the NaNo fun and literary commiseration back home this year, I didn't want to go without checking in, and hopefully, next year I'll be able to celebrate 50,000 words with all you party people!

That said, my novel is cruising along, and I think have a chance at finishing the 50,000! It's set in Boston, but as art mirrors life, I have plans to send the characters to Pittsburgh before the end.

Peace, love, and Iron City.
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Angela
"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." - Sylvia Plath

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

What Are Yinz Listening To?

lttlredcorvette — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:31:51 +0000

My guess is Donnie Iris...?

Seriously though, my fellow Pittsburghers, let's get talking about what we're all listening to while we're noveling. I could use some new music (realized the other night that my 'novel music' playlist is about three or four years old, with a few songs just tossed on here and there since then). Sure, there's a whole forum dedicated to this sort of thing, but I want to know what people I may presumably meet in the next few weeks are hearing! So, what is it that's inspiring us while we're typing away? And can you bring some to the next write-in so we can all share and check it out?

Lately I've been listening to a lot of The Slip (2004 and previous), back when they were in their more-jammy era. Writing a fantasy novel, so all their melodic meandering seems to really be helping. Other than that, it's the Duffy Radio on Pandora (loooove her), and my old standard, Mr. Ryan Adams.

How about you? Discuss :)

My Husband Thinks I'm Writing,
fox

(PS, if you've never heard of The Slip and want to check them out, let me know, and I will make you a disc of their finest songs to bring to the next write-in! The only thing I love more than NaNoWriMo is making mix tapes! :)
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Give us an auto-summary, Pittsburgh! ;D

5 o'clock — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:15:25 +0000

It's seriously pretty hilarious. :3 So why not, Pittsburgh? Let's see what Word (if that's the typing software you use) makes of your novel. Plus, it'll give the rest of us out there a sense of what's going on (maybe? xD ) in local stories.

To those unfamiliar with the lore: an auto-summary is a feature that word documents have that automatically creates a summary of most used sentences in a piece. It's useful in that it helps you figure out what word combinations you're using most of as well as provides a funny story in and of itself.

How-to: for Word 2007 http://www.nirmaltv.com/2008/10/16/how-to-add-a-summary-to-word-2007-doc...
Previous versions: http://www.microsoft.com/education/AutoSummarize.mspx

And to kick things off, here's what my novel produced:

Quote:

Burke frowns. Oh well. Lionel’s Gluttony. I don’t care if people talk about it amongst themselves, but if ever I get called it, all bets are off.

“Wrath: C.” Patterson’s face looks grave.

Patterson is furious. I see Donna. I wonder for a moment if I say “frozen food cooler” if he’ll believe me. Sins can do that to people. Hell if I know.

Guess we’ll see if it comes in tomorrow.

Patterson shrugs. If a PHI team member goes down, we recover them. Patterson counters. “Donna is dead.”

Yeah, as if that matters.

It makes it sound as though mine is about the delivery of a fridge rather than the seven deadly sins in a post-apocalyptic world. xD
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Any WriMos going Hollywood?

Unfinished_Masterpiece — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:45:53 +0000

I was just wondering if any of my fellow 'burgh WriMos had been choosen to be an extra in the movie Love and Other Drugs.
At the moment, I'm the one at the far end of the hallway on the third floor in the bright yellow tshirt with the black backpack...just come say hi! Lo
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Complain About the Stuff You Should Be Doing Right Now

Jack Frost — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:57:07 +0000

i can't be the only busy person crazy enough to take this on. Share your misery with me here!

Things I've got lined up and should be doing, except I've got this awesome novel in my head -

1. College coursework
2. Internet serial novel (and I'm almost out of pre-written chapters, so I'll be doubling up starting next week! *gulp*)
3. Book reviews and author/editor/publisher interviews - at least three lined up so far
4. Submissions for various short story magazines/anthologies
5. Flash fiction contests
6. Exercise
7. Attempting to sustain a social life.

Still, here I am, writing away. I'm going slower than I did last year and the year before, but I'm still making the daily deadlines. I'm way behind on the podcasts I subscribe to, so at least I'll have a bit of audio to keep me company while I'm working.

I'd better get used to staying up all night.
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http://jessicarbrown.blogspot.com

USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Carnegie Mellon, anyone?

EmmaDavidBowie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:31:53 +0000

Is anyone else here writing from college?
It'd be great to be able to get a group together that could fit in a college schedule.
Plus, we could always use some extra encouragement!

--Emma
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Mid-Month Check In

LeeMcClain — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:30:51 +0000

How are you doing on November 15th? Halfway? Not even?

I'm halfway, but given the holidays at the end of the month, I'd like to be further ahead . . .
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Northside Wrimos?

moondai — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:28:05 +0000

I'm having trouble finding northside wrimos to hang with this season! I think it'd be great if we could get together one saturday for novel writing and chat, share the pains of the writing with the joys. I'm out near CCAC and would really like to find some writing companions to shoot the breeze with over apple cider or coffee. Anybody in my neck of the woods?
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USA :: Pennsylvania :: Pittsburgh

Monroeville Write In

imsupergirl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:29:57 +0000

Ok, I know I'm at the right Barnes and Noble this time...did I miss the write in again?? I couldn't get myself out of bed any earlier so I got here an hour late but....

Unless you guys are somewhere else besides the cafe?
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"I no longer regard myself as a slave. My life's my own...even though I am thief and pirate..."
~Errol Flynn, Captain Blood