United States :: Ohio :: Akron

TGIO UPDATE- 12-6

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sat, 6 Dec 2008 10:19:17 -0800

I know this goes without saying but I'd feel a lot better saying it. Use your best judgment when coming to the TGIO tonight. Word around the street is that it's supposed to get kind of bad tonight. I've been keeping an eye on Weather.com and I don't see anything majorly destructive in the forecast, but just in case, be careful. If the roads are too bad to drive where you are, don't risk it. I'd rather have you around for another year than have you at the party tonight and if things are just bad all over Akron, we can reschedule.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

TGIO Official Plans

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:11:40 -0800

I'm breaking tradition and it seems that everyone else I've talked to is all for shaking things up, too.

Akron's TGIO party is Saturday, December 6th at...

LASER QUEST!

We're not going to be handing out awards or superlatives or anything even remotely related to writing. NaNo?! What is that? We are going to go, have fun, and forget the very thing that has consumed our brains for the past month. We've worked incredibly hard and I just want to reward the group with something that gets us up and moving rather than sitting stagnant.

As an added bonus, your family and friends are invited! In fact, bring everyone who has been with you throughout this writing venture. They've done a very important job of being supportive so let's let them have some fun too.

I haven't set a time yet, but it will most likely be in the evening, possibly around 7. More news as it developes.

EDIT: We're definitely meeting at 7. WHOOHOO!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Share an excerpt?

CoffeeGirl1224 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:43:00 -0800

Have you put a bit of your novel in your profile for others to check out? If so, let us know so that we can enjoy a break from our own creations.

I have an excerpt up, but in true NaNo fashion, there is no editing (so it's really bad) and it's got a bit of foul language so if you're squeamish to that sort of thing (Shirley, there are bountiful eff words) you might want to skip it.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Fin.

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:32:06 -0800

With less than an hour left in 2008's NaNo, I wanted to take a minute to congratulate you all. Even if you didn't make it to the 50k, you did something fantastic just by signing on to try. When I talk to my friends and family about NaNo, their eyes glass over like they've just heard the most terrifying thing ever. The fact that you were willing to give it a shot, to even attempt to write 50k words is something awesome. Even if you didn't win, your work helped Akron reach 1.5 million words this year. For a new and relatively small group, that's huge.

For those that won... wow. I'm still in a bit of a haze, but a month from now it will probably hit me that I just wrote a flippin' novel. A NOVEL! Until then, it's not sinking in and I'm still a little overwhelmed with the gravity of winning. Of course, this could also just be residual from my brain being fried throughout the month because I know I'm still thinking in terms of word padding. I can't even write an email (or a post on a forum, heh) without interjecting words anywhere I can make one fit.

I'm proud of you, Akron Wrimos, and you should be proud of yourselves. While we had a few things not go according to plan this year, in all, I feel that our first year as a region has been a huge success. Our Write-Ins have had a lot of attendees and we've all had a great time talking about writing and everything outside of writing, also. It's been great and I feel like I've made some good friends this year.

But NaNo isn't over for me. As the ML, I've got a few months of a break and then I'll be back to planning things out for 2009. I've got to take the good and trim the not so good of 2008 to make sure that Akron will be a region that brings the Wrimos to the yard. And here's where I'll be needing your help. I'm not going to make a survey or anything along those lines, but if there was something this year that stood out in your mind as something you want to make sure happens again next year or something you want to strongly suggest doesn't happen again, please let me know either here in this thread, in a PM or via email. I want to make sure we keep doing what works for the group so I need to hear from the group what is working.

I'm glad that I took on the ML position for Akron. You all have been fantastic and have made what is usually a really hectic month for me, well, a hectic month with good company. I've never been a part of such an awesome group as this and you really made November great. Meeting you all was fun and I hope that we're able to keep in touch with each other through the year.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

The sweet, sweet taste of victory

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 17:00:40 -0800

Post here when you reach your 50k so we can all congratulate you and stare at you enviously!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

TODAY'S MEETING!

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:45:03 -0800

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that I won't be at today's meeting. That's more like... neutral news because you guys don't need me there to kick out that last bit of your ultra awesome novels! If anything, you won't have me there chattering up a storm at you and you'll get more accomplished. Perhaps this should have been filed under good news?

The original good news is that the meeting is still on. Most of you know what the others look like by now so gather around and enjoy the company. I'll be back in full force (Good Lord willing) on Saturday for the TGIO, which is definitely set for 7 pm till whenever they kick us out or you get tired of being shot at.

See you guys Saturday!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Happy Thanksgiving, etc!

CoffeeGirl1224 — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:00:07 -0800

We've got three more days of writing, gang, and winners are already jumping up and down all over Akron. Keep your head up if you've still got a way to go. A lot of words can come to you at the tail end, when the finish line is in sight. You guys can do this!

Just a tad bit of info to toss in here really quick- The meeting this week is at Barnes and Noble in Fairlawn on W. Market. Since it's also the last day of writing, I'm going to request that we really do our best to respect the wrimos who need to really plug out these next few thousand words by keeping the conversation quiet and/or off to the side. The cafe area there isn't that big, but they've got tons of comfy seating throughout the store where we can all just veg.

Also, last call on the idea of having dinner somewhere before we go to Laser Quest on the 6th. If anyone is interested in doing that, please let me (or Carmen) know.

I hope you've all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I just want to thank you guys for being so awesome and making my job as an ML an easy and fun one. To quote someone else and I completely forget who: You're made of sparkly awesome.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Body count

CoffeeGirl1224 — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 12:25:18 -0800

It happens every year and we want to know all about it!

How many people have you killed in your novel? How did they die? How does that make you feel?
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Unreal!!

Shecrab — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:10:42 -0800

I have reached, and exceeded my goal! I actually got to 50K on Thursday. Since then, I've added another 10K.

The book is almost done. Maybe two more chapters. It's exhilarating!

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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Bookcrossing links

talon2claw — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:36:46 -0800

http://www.bookcrossing.com

The local Akron bookcrossing group (aka: The Rubber City Book Posse):
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akronbookcrossing/

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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Anyone Else Feel Validated???

gothamgal — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:10:07 -0800

I tried the validator last night and I lost about 60 words--I think I ended up having to add at least 211 last year to the 50k in order to validate with 50 k...

Has anyone else given it a try? I'm wondering what types of words the validator leaves out.
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*******************
Script Frenzy 2007: Love, Hope (WINNER)
Script Frenzy 2008: Searching for Jake Ryan (WINNER)
NaNo '08: The Next
NaNo '07: The Last (WINNER)
NaNo '06: The Modern Playlists of Major Deities (WINNER)
NaNo '05: Untitled Novel (Grea

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

You don't have to go home but you can't stay here

CoffeeGirl1224 — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:07:05 -0800

When November is over, what will you be going back to that you've missed all month?

I seriously miss painting. It's been driving me nuts that my spare time is taken up by the novel because I have this super cool idea for a painting. I can't wait to get back into photography. I also really miss spending more time with my daughters. They're awesome kids and I hate saying "Not right now, Mommy's got to write." Also, I miss journaling. I have a paper journal that I usually do some sketching and collaging in, along with writing down my thoughts and ideas, but I've only written in that once since October 30th.

I'm homesick for all of my non-November hobbies. At this point, I almost feel like busting through the rest of this novel just to get it overwith already so I can go back to normal life. Anyone else feel this way or am I just having a mid-nano crisis?

(As a side note, what on Earth am I doing up at 1 in the morning?)
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Panera on Arlington today (22nd)

talon2claw — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:23:44 -0800

Hey all, I'm writing at Panera right now. I'll probably be here at least a few hours since I have to bust out some major words. I'm hiding out at a small table near the fireplace for now.

Carmen
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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

All purpose post

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:29:33 -0800

Well, I'm back at it after Robin has been sick all week. My word count suffered quite a bit but I'm glad I had that big buffer saved up.

How is everyone doing? I've noticed that Icesis has won and that several others are pretty close. I've also seen that others are struggling. Don't give up! You can do this! You've come too far to not win at this point. You can do it!

Another reason to celebrate, the Akron region has busted out over ONE MILLION WORDS so far!! That's amazing, you guys, and you should all be proud. For our first year as a region, we're doing a fantastic job kicking some NaNo butt!

Alright, I'm going back to my novel, hopefully to kick out those last 4k in the next two days.

GO BUCKS!!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Shout Out (Congrats!)

drobit — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 05:40:12 -0800

Feel the need to shout a congratulations to your fellow Akron NaNo for something they accomplished? This is the spot!
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2008 - The Project (win)

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Introducing Tim

CoffeeGirl1224 — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:21:59 -0800

For those of you who are taking the Tim dare, tell us how you've written him into your novels.

For mine, Tim is my main character's novel's main character's dead husband. I didn't get the joy of killing him since he was already dead, but he died in the arms of a lady of the night.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Reach for the stars!

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:20:29 -0800

I'm setting a goal for myself-- 40k words by bedtime Monday. If I write for 12 hours straight, that's about 600 words an hour, or 20 minutes work for each hour. This is, of course, if I was on a deserted island.

Anyone else care to set an absurdly high goal and see how close you can get to actually reaching it?
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Some weirdness about myself along w/ an observation about my story

Colubridlady — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:46:08 -0800

I don't know if anyone will find this interesting, but I will share it anyway...

Last night my husband and I got into a discussion about the type of guy I am typically attracted to. I forget at this point why or how the discussion started, but anyway, he said something off hand about how I was probably attracted to the Joker (the Heath Ledger version).

And the interesting thing is, I had quite an internal conversation with myself during and after seeing the latest Batman movie over just why, and how, I could like the Joker so much. I'm still not sure if it was it because of this particular incarnation of the Joker or if it had something to do with Heath Ledger. I feel REALLY weird saying this (b/c there has got to be something wrong with me as a result), but I found this Joker to be very sexy and I started to wonder what it would be like to live in the Gotham Universe and be in a relationship with the Joker, if it was even possible to have a relationship with him.

I mentioned this to my husband and he said I was like Harley Quinn. (I had no idea at the time who she was, but have since read a little about her and the Joker's relationship)

Anyway, enough about me and my weird neuroses...

This morning while getting ready to write, I started thinking about my story and noticed that some of it parallels the relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn (at least going by what little I've read about her since last night). My MC is in love with a guy who treats her like crap, but also loves her. And she puts up with his crap because she loves him. I know a lot of stories have this element to them, but I seem to have this sort of thing in many of my stories.

Anyway, I found this interesting and decided to share. Back to writing now.

Oh... and in case any one was wondering, my husband is an exception to my "type" in men.
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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

This Thursday's Informal Meetup (11/20)

CBair — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:51:34 -0800

I don't know whether I'll make it this week to the Thursday Informal Meetup at Panera on Howe. It's been getting busier, so people who want to go should still go.

It's my birthday this day, and I don't know what my family has planned, if anything. But knowing them, they make plans to include me without telling me, and expect me to leave things open or else they get upset.

So, for now, I'll play it by ear. If I don't show up, they had plans.
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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

11/12 555k!

CoffeeGirl1224 — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:12:22 -0800

I'm so proud of you guys. I'm verklempt. You're doing an amazing job, everyone.

Those of you who are behind-- DON'T LOSE HOPE! There's still plenty of time to bust those words out. Just do not edit!! You can do it! To quote Stewie from Family Guy "Whether you think you can or think you can't-- you're right." Hang in there.
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Commercial Break: Akron Writers Group

apurcell — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:54:23 -0800

I hope it's kosher to pimp the writing group that exists in Akron on this Forum. :-) I thought it might be an incentive for those of you who will be looking for feedback on your 50,000-word masterpiece after December 1.

Our group meets the first and third Thursday of every month at Angel Falls Coffeehouse to critique manuscripts (short stories, novel chapters, poetry etc). Manuscripts are posted to the Meetup website, read by the other members prior to the meeting, and then we do a round-robin sort of critique about each piece of work during the meeting. We average about four submissions per meeting and the size of the group continues to expand. For the past three months we've had 12-15 people at each session -- that's 12 to 15 perspectives and opinions you could gain on your work as you hit the revision stage!

We've been in existence almost a year now and writers range from beginners to veterans with publishing credits. You can sign up through Meetup.com by following this link: http://writersblock.meetup.com/109/

There are also a couple of Akron NaNo-ites already involved in the group and they might pipe up and give their perspective if they're checking the forums. Stop in, observe the group, and see if it's for you!

Commercial break over - back to NaNo-ing.

Thanks,
Amy
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A. Purcell
www.amypurcell.com/blog

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

It's going to be one of those days...

lucratcia — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:26:49 -0800

It's going to be one of those days when:

at 4:30 in the morning the baby is screaming for a bottle, but you really got to pee. You sit down and go and realise that there is no toliet paper.

at 5:00 in the morning the lovely lovable baby spews puke along the entire length of your bed and it takes two full sized -towels- to clean it up.

at 5:05 in the morning the remote control falls off the bed while cleaning up said spew and lands in the dog's water dish. (it still works btw)

at 5:20 you realise that without medicine this early in the morning you're a total bitch and might just see things the wrong way especially about a friend.

It's going to be one of those days.
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United States :: Ohio :: Akron

11/16 783k

CoffeeGirl1224 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 07:53:25 -0800

After the end of the half way day, I'm pleased to report that Akron's total word count is 783,161 words. You guys, this is truly phenomenal and you should all give yourselves hearty pats on the back today. Even those of you who are behind in your word counts should celebrate, because you're going to be the big push at the end of the month that gets us the extra burst. C'mon Wrimos! Let's aim for 2 Million words on December 1st!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Where have all the writers gone?

gothamgal — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:15:28 -0800

Hey, a bookcrossing meeting has totally turned into a writing meeting.
So brave souls, I ask that you come to the Panera on Arlington road to write!
Pretty please????
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*******************
Script Frenzy 2007: Love, Hope (WINNER)
Script Frenzy 2008: Searching for Jake Ryan (WINNER)
NaNo '08: The Next
NaNo '07: The Last (WINNER)
NaNo '06: The Modern Playlists of Major Deities (WINNER)
NaNo '05: Untitled Novel (Grea

United States :: Ohio :: Akron

Akron Roll-Call!

CoffeeGirl1224 — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 13:58:20 -0700

I'd love to get an idea of how many writers we have that will be joining our fledgling region. How about some introductions? Instead of the usual "tell us what you're writing" prompt, let's try something new. Tell us about yourself and then give us a song whose lyrics you think would make a great novel! I'll go first.

Hi! I'm Nicole! I'm an artist, musician, writer, blogger, house-cleaner, vegetarian, teacher, goofball, boo-boo kisser, and compulsive motor-mouth. Contradicting my username, I am not much of a coffee drinker anymore, but I do enjoy a good cuppa joe now and again. I get strangely attached to inanimate objects (ask me about Mr. Scrubby, my 8 year old S.O.S pad with a toupee) and hug trees in my spare time. This is my third NaNo and will be my first win. It will, I tell you.

One song that I have always wanted to know more backstory about (aside from "Lola", by The Kinks) is "Beautiful" by Storm and The Balls. I would love to read a novel based on the lyrics of that song. Maybe some other NaNo.

Now tell us about you!
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NaNo 2007- Lucy in the Rough- Fail
NaNo 2008- Thirty Days of Ollie- WIN!