First Post

Hi Lori,

I've been doing this successfully since since '03, but I hesitate to give you advice since you seem to be more of a professional than I am! But seriously, if you have a particular question about something I can try to answer.

There is generally an active group of Palm Beach County participants, and they do get together to write, if that's what you mean. I never manage to make it to any of the write-ins, but I often check in here to see how others are doing.

It was only today that I checked and noticed that the forums are up - I expect our fearless municipal liaison from previous years will be along shortly to welcome us!

I live in Boynton and work in Boca.

Chris B

Greetings! I'm not exactly a newbie, I've participated in the challenge previously, but I forgot my password and had to recreate a new account. There is a sense of freedom in starting a short novel from scratch and just letting the muse takeover.
I'm in the West Palm Beach area.

Good luck!

So, have either of you finished a novel? I've actually started mine...got about 25 pages. Should I start the count from where I left off?

Uh, and I'm right-brained. What the hell time do we use?? I don't see any Eastern Time slots...just 20:31 -700. Blech, math. My brain just shut down! I want to be sure I'm using the correct one for word count/timekeeping purposes.

Lori,

Eastern time zone is the one that says -0400 at the end (meaning we're four hours from GMT at the moment - but I'm thinking it should change to -0500 after Daylight Savings Time ends on November 2nd). Not sure why it doesn't just list EDT and EST as choices.

Regarding finishing, yes, I've managed to complete my novel each year - barely made 50000 in '03, but after that I aimed higher and reached about 85K twice and then 100K for the last two years! Nothing published (publishable?) yet though.

Regarding your story - shhh. It's strictly forbidden by the rules to start writing before November, but I won't tell anyone if you don't. ;) Just pretend that what you've written so far is an outline, or notes or something.

Chris B

I used -0400 because it had the right time beside it for us. I'm not sure if it will need adjustment when the time changes again.

-waves-

Hi. I used to, um, come 'round here, back in the day... well, more like starting three years ago. Due to major procrastination, novels were not finished. If anyone happens to remember me, that silly Pathfinder, well, great!

And welcome, newbie. ^^;;

Hey Lori,

It's been a few years since I've done NaNo, and like GaelicQueen I lost my password and username because an awful lot happens in 2 years and that's just far too long to remember anything I don't use on a day-to-day basis. I've never done a buddy group, though I'd definitely be interested. I did my last two NaNos up in New England, and went to a few coffee shops with other writers about once a week just to take a break and discuss our progress. If anyone's going to be starting up events, let me know.

Amanda

Gosh, It's been a long time since I've seen or heard from some of you. It's LA here, and while I'm not quite sure that I want to come back, I at least want to spend sometime writing a new outline for a mystery-thriller-suspense I've been thinking about doing for a long time.

I hope to see some of you this year.

LA / Marcie

Hi everyone,

I tried NaNoWriMo in 2003 and crashed about 2/3 of the way through. This time I'm going to try and cross the finish line. Any West Boca residents out there?

Hi Lori & All,

This will be my third year participating in NaNo. I finished in 2006 but only hit 20K last year. The first year, I did some write-ins--there was an active group in my former city in Ohio. Haven't checked out anything down here, yet. I'm north of West Palm Bch. Luck to all!

Hey you guys!

Im a high school senior in Jupiter. This will be my third year participating, and hopefully, winning NaNo. I'm a bit nervous this year, only because my goal is over 50k this year (I want to challenge myself).

I wish you guys all worlds of luck.
Oh, and if anyone's in the Jupiter/Palm Beach Gardens area pm me so we can try to arrange some write ins! I only did one last year because it was so far away.

- Angela

Well this is my first time doing NaNo and honestly I'm a bit nervouse. I've done a lot of fanfiction (on HPFF) but this is going to be my first real attempt at an original. Luckily I was struck with a plot bunny last night and managed to start outlining. I'm up in Stuart, but there wasn't an option for Martin County :(

Best of luck to everyone!

Much Love
~MooN~

Good evening all -

Only a fiew nights left to get more than 4 hours sleep! Are you ready?

Good luck to all.

GaelicQueen

Hey everyone!
I am a newbie to this also, and I hope to get a first draft done during this adventure (yeah, this will definitely be an adventure). I can't really offer any real novel writing advice, seeing as this is my first time trying to complete one, but I will say what I learned from journalism.

Focus.

Have strong subjects (or in this case, characters) that drive the story for you. If your characters are fleshed out enough, then they will sort of lead you. That's been my experience at least.

Everyone get their coffee ready! Less than one week 'till kickoff!

Angel

This is my first go at it too. I"m in Wellington. Maybe a bunch of us could meet in Boca at a B & N or something?

Stacie

^ Sounds great! I would love to meet at a B & N.

I'm Emiko (Amy), and this is my fifth NaNoWriMo. All four of my previous ones were completed primarily in Santa Barbara, California, where I went to college. I moved here at the end of August to spend a year in a service position, teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages and literacy to adults.

So I'm starting to get some NaNo anxiety... it's getting closer and closer! Thus, any motivational meet-ups or pep talk type things would be welcome! I'm in Boynton Beach, but don't mind traveling to Boca, etc, as long as it keeps me on track with my writing!

Well, there's the B&N off of Glades, across from FAU. I think they have some rooms upstairs that they rent out or what have you. Of course, there are also Panera Breads around that actually have meeting rooms. B&N charges for WiFi, while Panera is free.

If anyone wants to meet, let me know.

Lori

Hi! I won't be in Boynton Beach for NaNo...I just wanted to say hi because I'll be moving to Boynton Beach from Huntsville, AL to be with my fiance there. 50k words isn't that hard. Just gotta emerse yourself into the world of your characters. Let your senses take over. See, hear and feel everything around you. Close your eyes and live the lives of your characters and always remember Plot springs from character! You'll do fine! Good luck and hope to see you in a couple of months when I get down to Boynton Beach!

Glenn

Hello, everyone! Third year doing NaNo, though I fell way short of 50k last year. I'm skipping out on most of my social obligations this year to work on my novel, though, so hopefully I'll manage to cross the finish line with the rest of you at the end of the month.

I live in the Wellington area, but I go to school in Riviera Beach (anyone from Suncoast doing NaNo?). I'd be up for doing write-ins at a local library if anyone else wants to, but I probably won't be able to meet up at a cafe or something like that because I don't have a laptop.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this month, or at least talking to you guys on the forums. Let's have fun this November!

/sldjflk long post

^^ Hi, this is my first time ever doing this.
Though I did find this site last year too, but by then most of the month had gone by
so I just let it go. This year however I was only about a week late when I ran into the link again.
Therefore I actually decided to give it a try this time.

I'm hoping this will give me the motivation I need to finally start a story I've been thinking about for a very long time.

Also, since I am kind of new at this if anyone has any tips...
I'm all ears.

(oh, and I also live in Boca.)