First thread, all Israelis, check in!!!

Hey--
I'm bananabrain and this is my second nano. I'm really American, but for the next two years I'm in Jerusalem, so I'm really excited to be doing nano with all you Israelis out there.

Who's writing their novel in Hebrew? (I'm not)

Who else is out there?

Shalom to Everyone!

I'm looking forward to another fascinating experience. Having proved to myself last year that it CAN be done, this year I intend to do it BETTER! The one aspect of last year's experience that I really feel I missed out on was the opportunity to meet fellow madmen. As usual the attempt to generate some sort of consensus ended in not enough people agreeing in any single venue or time.

I'd like to suggest that this year we preempt! Instead of canvasing possibilities, representatives of the various areas, Gush Dan, the South, the North and Jerusalem identify suitable locations, and someone decide on suitable times. By presenting a clear (finite) list of possible meeting locations-times, we'll waste less time debating the possibility of meeting and spend more energies in trying to make at least one of the face-to-face meetings happen.

What do YOU people think?
Looking forward to your responses.

Yoel Ben-Avraham

P.S. To whomever the ML is, I hope my forwardness is NOT mistaken as an attempt to replace you, I simplky want to learn from past years and try and succeed in making a face-to-face meeting that is convenient for as many people as possible happen1

Hey--
I'm bananabrain and this is my second nano. I'm really American, but for the next two years I'm in Jerusalem, so I'm really excited to be doing nano with all you Israelis out there.

Who's writing their novel in Hebrew? (I'm not)

Who else is out there?

Hello :]
I'm Naama, and this is my third nano, after two miserable failures. Checking in!

Shalom

Esther, here.

This is technically my second year but last year I didn't even get started due to a total lack of preparation and planning.

I'm up North but I could make TA for a meet up. I would need plenty of warning though, to get organized.

Hi, I'm Roma, and this will hopefully be my 3rd Nano-win!

I'm a veteran permanent resident way up North, any more to the north and I'd be in Libanon!

I write in Dutch, my mothertongue.

Hi, Hila here.

This is my 5th NaNo, and in my year-of-success-year-of-failure pattern and not having participated at all last year, this should be a year of triumph. Of course, I will be writing in Hebrew for the first time...

Did anyone check if Hebrew works okay in the forums?

בדיקה, אחת שתיים...

Shalom Roma

You must be close to me - I live 3km from Lebanon.

I suppose I qualify for veteran permanent resident status. I've lived here more than half my life - soon reaching the 20 year mark. But I still write in English

Well, Esther, we're closer to Libanon than to eachother! I'm at a kibbutz in the neighborhood of Qiriat Shmona.

A permanent resident is not an Israeli but someone with a different nationality (I'm Dutch) who nevertheless lives permanently in Israel. You would know if you were one! I've lived here for almost 35 years now, way more than half my life! ;-)

On November 1, 2005, I was going to participate in Nanowrimo for the first time, and I fully meant to do that in English. I've been fluent for over 40 years. Problem was that I had not the slightest idea what to write about, so I almost gave up before I even started. Then just as I was closing my empty file, I thought... maybe in Dutch?

I had nothing to lose so I started writing (still no idea whatsoever) but within days I had some sort a "world" in place, a few characters, the beginning of a novel that grew into a 200k monster, the first draft of which was done on March 27, 2006. As a matter of fact, I'm still working on that one, editing, rewriting and such.

In the meantime, I've written two more first draft ~200k novels.

Which is all a very roundabout way of saying: write in your mothertongue if you prefer!!! You'll be surprised what you can accomplish. I know I was and, in fact, still am.

hi,
I'm may.
this is my first nano and I'm hoping to succeed.
I am going to write it in hebrew.

I wish you all good luck. =)

Hehe Roma I used to live on a kibbutz in the neighbourhoodof Kiriyat Shemona.

I started my Israeli life as a volunteer and I knew several vols who married kibbutzniks and struggled to obtain permanent resident status.

I would never dare to write in Hebrew. I speak Hebrew fluently but my phraseology it so banal I couldn't bear to have my prose sounding like that. Not that I write literary fiction but I do like to imagine my writing has some semblance of style!!
Mind you, when French was my second language I used enjoying writing in it. I never had the grasp of slang and everyday language like I do with Hebrew but I did read a lot which I supposed affected my writing.

Must say I impressed by the 200K

Your Hebrew came out fine--I'm impressed!

אחלה!
שלום, כולם!

So I've got a confession: I'm not Israeli

My name's Michelle, I'm 17, live in NYC. Still considering spending the year in Israel next year, love Israel, but don't live there. Hope I'm not intruding, then :/

Don't worry, Michelle, it's fine. We like everyone here. :)

So. I'm Michal. Or Fae. Whichever. I live in J-lem. This is my second NaNo. I didn't win last year, but hopefully I will this year.

And I'm 18, if it matters to anyone. :)

Another short question: WHo's our ML?

"""Must say I impressed by the 200K"""

That was in almost a half year, not 30 days!!!!

I don't know if we have an ML (and if we do, I apologize for the turf-stepping) but the SF-F group (currently composed of about 3 people, but slowly growing) is going to have itself a pre-launch meeting. You're more than welcome, even if you're not going to write SF/F, though it'll probably be the main theme of the thing. Talk to me if you're interested, or sign up to the facebook event.

אם אין אנשים ישתדל להיות איש

Hi to all, I am Yuli

ובזה אני אסיים את הכתיבה באנגלית שלי בפרויקט.

זה הנאנו הראשון שלי, או יהיה הראשון, או שלא. נראה עוד חצי חודש :-)
אף פעם לא כתבתי דברים באורך כזה.

Hello to everyone, name's Daniel.

פעם ראשונה שלי פה, מקווה מאד להצליח. אני מוצא זאת משעשע, אך עם זאת צפוי משהו, שמתוך 18 האנשים שציינו את עצמם כאן, אני מכיר לכל הפחות 2. (שלום יולי, מזל טוב. + יואל בן אברהם, משילה, אם אינני טועה, בנך היה שותף לחדר שלי בישיבה של בית אל, בכיתה ט').

אני גר בירושלים אך עובד בת"א, כך שמבחינת פגישות די נייד. אשמח לכאלה.

יהיה כיף.

אף פעם לא כתבתי דברים באורך כזה.

Relax. Follow the 12 Step way.

One sentence at a time! One sentence isn't hard to write! Once written, THEN you can start writing the next sentence. You'd be amazed at how much you write when you write it one sentence at a time.

I once tried writing an entire book. I never got anywhere. It was too big a project for me. But one sentence? I have no problem with that size a task ...

:-) Yoel

Hi there

I'm Dana. 20 years old. Starting next week - a student in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Writing Hebrew, of course.
או ליתר דיוק - כותבת בעברית, כמובן.

:<)

I'll be shocked if I reach even 10K, but it seems at least worth a try.

Good luck to all of us.

Zucchini here, Tsahi in other venues.
Just a quick check in, a welcome to new Nanoers, a good-to-see-you-again to old nanoees.
This year is going to be a challange for me, with much great pressure at work than last time.
Last year at this time I already had a working title, a few protagonists and a general idea of what I was going to write about. This year I have a vague urge to write and not much else...
Then again, by the end of the first week of last NaNo, my protagonists changed, one of them turned antagonist and another just disappeared, and the the plot went completely AWOL, following the meandering ruminations of a plump cat in gloves.
I guess having a plan has nothing to do with writing NaNoNovels ;)

Good luck to everyone!
Z

Hey everyone! I didn't expect that there would be so many Israelies here - not that we're alot, but I didn't know how well-known this NaNo-project-thing is, so I didn't really know what to expect.

Anyway. I'm Rotem, I live near Petah-Tikva, and I'll write my story in English (or attempt to), just because I want more people to be able to read it.
Oh and this is my first NaNo.

בהצלחה לכולם!

Hi. It's my first NaNo and I'm beginning to wonder what I've let myself in for! It's already giving me memories of frantically trying to finish my university dissertation in time for the deadline!

Seriously, I hope it'll be a great experience and I'm glad to know there's an Israel region - I wasn't sure there would be. Should have known better, shouldn't I?

Looking forward to talking to you all as the month progresses. And I'm definitely going to be writing in English.

That idea of regional meetings sounds great. I know that if I have to travel all round the country for meetings, I'm not going to manage to go. Local/regional meetings make much more sense and I'll try to come.

Hey there,

I'm gearing up for my second try - got half-way through last year when all the kids got the flu! Hoping they and all of us - you included - stay well and healthy this year and make it to the end of November with a big fat NOVEL!

I'm in Jerusalem. Thank you to whoever started this group - and here I was last year thinking I was the only one in the country doing this.

It's nice to find kindred crazy spirits!

Keep on writing ...

I'd really love to come to one of those meetings (as long as the teachers' strike keeps going), though I won't be able to show up to a meeting on the 28th, I'd be in Poland. :(

It IS just like a dissertation, except it's fun.
Also, you don't have to be as critical about a NaNoNovel as you would a dissertation. The point of this experiment, in my view, is to let the fountain of imagination and creativity flow unhindered. If it doesn't turn out to be The Great Israeli Novel, that's ok. Everyone here graduates Summa Cum Laude. :)

Will the "Real Elsewhere::Israel ML" please stand up?

The short answer is ... it looks like I am. I volunteered to help out whomever was ML for "Elsewhere::Israel" thinking that it was a pretty big job to be in Gush Dan, the Negev, the Galilee and Greater Jerusalem. It turns out ... for the time being I'm holding the hot potato unless I'm reading the map wrong.

What I'm trying to do is to encourage and empower interested individuals in organizing "local gatherings". I'm willing to spearhead the Greater Jerusalem area, but can provide only limited logistical and moral support (inspiration? ideas?) to the brave individuals willing to organize events elsewhere in Israel.

The long answer is we are all ML's :-) so stand up and be counted!

Anyone who wants to help out can contact me at Yoel@Ben-Avraham.info