Come to an informal gathering of your Municipal Liaisons and fellow wrimos, who can be your support for the ups and downs in the month ahead. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have about NaNoWriMo.
We’ll have an information session, handouts and goodies (NaNo Die, anyone?), a prize drawing for a No Plot? No Problem! Novel-Writing Kit, and some warm-up writing activities.
The Kick-Off (like all write-ins and this forum itself) is All-Ages Friendly. So whether you’re young or old, NaNoNew or NaNoExperienced, come on out!
Oct. 26, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
The Writers Place, 3607 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, MO
The Writers Place
That's the official meeting time, anyway. But I think we have the place reserved until 10 pm; if so, you're welcome to stay and talk about the upcoming November craziness or do some last-minute planning. (I know, the Sunday before is not even near last-minute...)
Parking: For this large of an event, we can use the parking lot of the defunct grocery store across 36th Street.
Accessibility: Handicapped parking and a ramp are behind the building, up the small drive.
PLEASE REPLY HERE IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND. THANKS! If you have any questions, ask away.
----------
poetT / Teri
the ML in the black hat
United States::Missouri::Kansas City metro area
130,270 / 50,000
oct. 11, 2008 - 04 49
I'll be there.
but not with bells on.
102,217 / 50,000
oct. 11, 2008 - 06 41
Teri,
count me in! Katherine will also come along (i'll try to talk her into wearing bells). :)
Hopefully this new locale will have enough chairs!
Zen Fruitcake
78,080 / 50,000
oct. 11, 2008 - 10 11
Count me in!
----------To withdraw myself from myself has ever been my sole, my entire, my sincere motive in scribbling at all. ~Lord Byron
92,302 / 50,000
oct. 11, 2008 - 19 04
I will be there. Meeting the veterans and talking about things beforehand should make a newbie like me feel less intimidated once November 1st hits.
----------Where will NaNoWriMo take us?
76,974 / 50,000
oct. 11, 2008 - 20 32
Bastion62 (my boyfriend) and I will both be there. We're looking forward to it!
----------[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/mj1l][img]http://dragcave.net/image/mj1l.gif[/img][/url]
[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/FCu4][img]http://dragcave.net/image/FCu4.gif[/img][/url]
Sexy is indeed a word. ~Luke
50,562 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2008 - 05 41
I'd love to, except I don't have a car. So, if anyone from the Olathe/Overland Park/Gardner area would be willing to taxi me, I'll help by tossing some gas money their way and offering crazed humor.
This is my first NaNo and I'm jumping in with both feet.
I may be slightly incoherent if I do manage to make it because I work overnights. Fortunately, I'm off on Sunday nights.
Anyone interested in a little extra gas money for the trip just e-mail me. We can work out times, funds, and other assorted plans from there.
I'm a bit of a freak, but I don't bite, I've had my shots, and I use the litterbox. Promise!
~Da Mish
----------~ Mish
"I don't merely write a story. I slit the wrists of my soul, bleeding it out in a readable form and hope that someone else can make sense of it."
50,132 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2008 - 08 53
Me too.
No bells, but maybe I'll bring something jingly.
Should we bring refreshments? Anything besides jingly percussion?
----------Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.
63,896 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2008 - 09 42
Count me in! Sounds like a great way to fan the crazy fire...=)
-Hazztastic
50,846 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2008 - 10 35
I plan to be there!
50,562 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2008 - 09 32
Much love to Yasaibatake and Bastion62! Mish is gonna be dere!
Lock up your anime, your manga, your microwave popcorn, and your crab rangoon!
*gets spritzed with water*
Oops... I'm ranting again. Sorry. I'll be there, sans bells, but with a big old dumb grin plastered on my excited face...
Which is rather silly looking on an old bat like me. LOL
~ Mish
----------~ Mish
"I don't merely write a story. I slit the wrists of my soul, bleeding it out in a readable form and hope that someone else can make sense of it."
26,406 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2008 - 07 57
I will be there.... maybe even with bells, should I find any in the interim. ^_^
And remember: I don't actually /cause/ the distractions, I just participate once they're in play!
----------author * artist
philosopher * madman
====
NaNoWriMo Winner 2k7: "Changeling Child"
50,542 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2008 - 15 00
Planning on being there with my girlfriend (who, though not a writer, is an absolutely amazing artist, and will be painting something worth 50,000 words while we write).
----------2006: Reaper (winner!)
2007: Anatomy of an Eyeball (loser, but now finished!)
2008: TBD
0 / 50,000
oct. 14, 2008 - 15 46
I'll be there. I'm tweaking some NaNo rules to fit my own goals, but I could still use the camaraderie and support. My fiance will be tagging along, as well as a friend. They aren't writers, but they're both creative types.
----------http://www.happygothproductions.com
http://melissalytton.wordpress.com
130,302 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2008 - 05 50
Bringing a friend or parent is fine if it will make you more comfortable in an unfamiliar setting or group. He or she can hang back from the writing stuff. (Just don't bring a whole clan!)
I'm assuming there will be enough chairs; I'm not sure how many to expect, this time around. Fantastic!
---------------
"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamouring to become visible" --Nabokov
poetT / Teri
the ML in the black hat
United States::Missouri::Kansas City metro area
10,786 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2008 - 16 52
I would like to make it but as I'll be coming off a weekend retreat w/ 60 teens, I'll have to play it by ear!
50,283 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2008 - 20 06
I plan to be there. I look forward to seeing if we all look as crazy as we must be :)
61,083 / 50,000
oct. 17, 2008 - 05 07
I'll be there!
50,302 / 50,000
oct. 18, 2008 - 14 41
I wish I could come, but I know I can't, since my mom doesn't even know I'm doing NaNo, and if she knew that I put KC as my home region, she would kill me. Literally. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
0 / 50,000
oct. 18, 2008 - 15 45
I am planning to come
130,302 / 50,000
oct. 18, 2008 - 16 20
Well, Katricia, I'm sorry you don't have your mother's support. (I certainly feel for you there.) I suppose the home region issue is because you're not supposed to reveal private info?
If you do decide that your mom might be open to knowing what you're doing, you might use this letter to parents that NaNo HQ put together:
----------http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/lettertoparents
And if you do, let her know she is absolutely welcome to contact me--through private message or regular e-mail or phone or however--to get more information. I'm a mom of kids your age, too, and they will also be writing (with various word goals). In any case, if there's any kind of help I can give you, just let me know!
poetT / Teri
the ML in the black hat
United States::Missouri::Kansas City metro area
0 / 50,000
oct. 18, 2008 - 18 42
Katricia - I write in support of Poet T's suggestions. Some schools promote NaNoWriMo and even sponsor student programs for them. Of course, I can't vouch for everyone in this group, but I can assure you that I am a grandmother and former teacher of English. I suspect many of us in the group are retired. I won't be making it to the kick off myself, but it is not because I'm leery of meeting the people who show up. I am handicapped. I will be home thinking of everyone and trying to picture the woman in the black hat who keeps this group going along with a few others.
As a mom and grandmother, I understand your mother's feelings and respect them. I also think it would be good if you could share a little of this with her because once she gave you the "go ahead," she might be your biggest supporter. How are you going to explain all those hours locked away in your room using the computer?
You didn't share your age, but I think it would be best to be up front about this with your mother. She can check it out for herself, and you just might be amazed what her reaction will be. I have a lot of faith in cautious mothers. After all, I was one of them. I would have been very proud if one of my children or grandchildren wanted to tackle such a big goal for themselves. I'm proud of you for thinking BIG.
----------SunflowerSage aka Grandma Marge
50,562 / 50,000
oct. 19, 2008 - 05 30
Katricia: I agree with SunflowerSage. Try talking to your mother about this. Believe it or not, they can be very understanding about something like writing. Especially because you're going to be spending a lot of hours doing something creative and constructive that won't be spent doing drugs, drinking, or other things that mothers worry about their daughters doing.
I'm 35 years old. My mom's been silently (and not so silently) supporting my passion for writing since I was 13. I don't know how many times, as a teenager, I'd leave one of my multitude of notebooks laying around with a snippet of story. I also can't count how many times I left a sentence unfinished and came back to that notebook to find that she'd finished it for me... usually with something absolutely hilarious or off-the-wall.
I admit, there was a while where my mother thought that my passion wasn't going to go anywhere. But, after I told her that I didn't think I'd improved enough at that time to really take it anywhere, she understood what I was saying. My mother is one of those people who takes her life seriously and she wants me to do well. She also wants to see me do well at something I love with all my heart and soul.
Maybe I just got lucky with her, I don't know.
All I know now is that she knows I'm doing this big writing thing this year and she's supporting me. She can tell I'm really excited about it. She *wants* me to succeed at it. She wants to read something I created with my own hands and my own brain and my own imagination.
Parents can be really amazing that way, Katricia. If she knows that you have a love of the written word, she'll probably be understanding about it. Even if she doesn't, isn't something like this one heck of a way to try to demonstrate discipline in yourself?
There's also the possibility that something like this can help her understand if you include her in it a bit. Ask her opinions on characters or situations, especially if you're not sure how a "normal" adult might act. I do it all the time with my friends, family, and even co-workers. Most parents love it when their kids ask for advice about something that isn't going to send them to jail.
~ Mish
----------~ Mish
"I don't merely write a story. I slit the wrists of my soul, bleeding it out in a readable form and hope that someone else can make sense of it."
0 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 05 50
I'm in
----------Like The Phoenix, I Too Shall Rise From The Ashes
130,302 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 08 58
You're lucky, Mish. I love my mother like my own mother (hee), but I long ago had to come to terms with the fact that she doesn't appreciate the same arts/activities/values that I do. A notebook I left out as a teen got me an invitation (in the angry tone of a threat) to get counseling. (Okay, well it was emo, before that was a common term...)
I was just telling others at the write-in last night: The last time I let my mother read my writing, her response was a dry, "Well, that's weird." It was a poetry collection for my master's thesis. And her comments about NaNoWriMo have been less than supportive, shall we say. Ah, well--c'est la vie! I just have to brush it off, and try to be super supportive of her own artistic pursuits and interests. (And work to be not critical of my own kids' projects ...)
Funny! ----------
poetT / Teri
the ML in the black hat
United States::Missouri::Kansas City metro area
0 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 10 42
Id like to be there as well. Being a newbie its good to meet others who have done NaNo before and will hopefully boost my confidence in my first true attempt at writing a book.
Looking forward to meeting you all!
----------'... we must be kind to one another. Because each voice enriches us and ennobles us and each voice lost diminishes us. We are the voice of the universe, the soul of creation, the fire that will light our way to a better future. We are one.'
- G'kar and S
0 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 11 57
I would like to attend- my name is EThomson
25,012 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 13 26
I plan on being there. Leave room for my husband, he's putting in his 50K as well.
3,546 / 50,000
oct. 20, 2008 - 18 29
I will be there because I fear zombie-ninja guilt monkeys.
----------"Even at my lowest times, I can feel the words bubbling inside of me. And I had to get the words down or be overcome by something worse than death. " -Bukowski
50,496 / 50,000
oct. 21, 2008 - 05 56
Please count me in- I hope to attend.
15,248 / 50,000
oct. 21, 2008 - 10 31
I don't think I've RSVPed yet. I'll *most likely* be there, barring unforeseen circumstances. And I must say, I've been wanting to go to the Writer's Place for a long time and I'm glad that you've made all my dreams come true. *Now* what will I do with my life??