Worth1000 Writers' Lounge

Nice room, Molly! I brought cookies. :)

~*Nim*~

Yes! I found it again! Stil some good Scotch lying around from last year.

I won't be participating here but I'll be back with nibbles and encouragement when the pressure is on. Consider me your chearleader!

I'm proud of the writing Worthians. You are the best.

Hi *proffers bag of Sumatran blend* I'm Lollypop1407 over on W1k. I've just recently started there, but I'm having fun with it. It's been a lot of 'that was fun! Now what can I try?' lol

"What I need is a strong drink & a peer group!" - Ford Prefect

aim - lumatam, ym - lollypop1407
http://fast-paced-fiction.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/Lollypop1407

Looks good Molly, I like what you have done with the place.

Put the story first.

Vercingetorix here, name was already taken. That's the problem with picking historic personages, no matter how obscure and hard to spell.

Going to give this thing a try, and as crazy as November will be even without this added to it, I'm pretty excited.

Unsanctioned Maritime Wealth Redistribution Officer
Also known as Vercingetorix

Yay! More Worthian WriMos!! :-D Welcome aboard, newcomers, and welcome back those who've visited before!! :-D

Please excuse me, I've had a tad too much ginger wine tonight so if I stumble over the new couches you'll know why ;-) Of course, not only are there new couches this year (comfy AND ergonomic, no less!), you'll note the new artwork on the walls and the installation of the climate control system to keep the northern hemisphere chaps and chapettes warm and those of us south of the Equator cool. We now have WiFi and I'm working on getting us some waiters/waitresses and baristas so we won't have to pour our drinks ourselves whilst we're busy typing away.

Failing that, we can always put Jujubie in a mascot costume and have her wave some Worthian flags around to boost our moral ;-)

So what's everyone writing this year . . . ?

Caffeine Spider

Ooh, ginger wine. That sounds nummy. Wanna pass that along. I promise not to spill any on the nice new couch. ;)

Lovin' the climate control, but right now I'm sitting in the A/C with you Aussies cuz Arizona has not yet received the memo that we're nearly a month into Autumn in the northern hemi, and it's still HOT here!

I am in my usual state of almost-panic over the fact that I have no earthly idea what story I'll be writing in less than two weeks. The terror is tempered only by the knowledge that I have been in this exact spot every single mid-October (sometimes up until the 29th!) for the past four years, and I've always figured it out in time.

~*Nim*~

Oh good! Plenty of people to cheer on this year.

That Sumatran will be handy in the morning. You all like your coffee strong, right?

Here is a jar of fresh honey from the neighbours. It's guaranteed to heal any writing wounds and to sweeten life in general.

Can't wait to start waving the Worthian flags as you whiz by with your words!

I'm actually partial to Papaya New Guinea coffee, but Sumatran will do. Strong is essential.

I have pretty much decided that I am going to reach back two years and pull out my Geritocracy novel and see if I can add 50,000 words. I will also be doing some re-writing, so I am not sure yet how I will count words. Ending up with about 100k words would be great.

Put the story first.

Bleh, no coffee for me. I do have some tea prepared, some amazing looking Oolong tea, and a couple varieties of green tea that I have no idea how to read. They smell amazing though, hard to save them for November. To make up for no drinking coffee, decided to go with another authorly stand by and bought a jar of Red Star Spirits for a little sipping while writing.

At first I planned on writing a fantasy, building off one of my old 'First Paragraph' stories from Worth, but only because I thought non-fiction was no good. Then I saw the rebels forum and found out that nobody actually cared if I wrote a non-fiction or not, so I went with what I really wanted to do all along; a memoir about my year here in China. But more than just a collection of stories and reminiscences, I'll throw in some travel information, history, language, political affairs... I'm looking at it as more of a first-hand introduction to all things Chinese. And also to what it means to be American, have to say that spending time in a foreign culture like this has really taught me what my own culture and country means to me. Hard to really see until you have another perspective to look at it from. So the hope is for publication, but first and foremost doing it so that I always have a record of what it was like to live here, something I can look back on when time makes the memories fade.

Unsanctioned Maritime Wealth Redistribution Officer
Also known as Vercingetorix

Hi ho, Worthians! TinStar of Worth1000 here - although if you've never heard of me, that's 'cause I'm pretty new there.

Molly, your enthusiasm has infected me with the get up and go to get up and give it a go, or something like that. Suffice it to say, I've joined up here and am polishing my word processor. If I lose my mind during November, I place the blame firmly on your shoulders. : )

Now, about the small matter of a subject or plot idea... I got nothin'. But hey, we don't kick off for another week, so there's plenty of time, right? How many people just sit down and start typing, and THEN get the great idea? I'm thinking that's probably how it happens more often than not. Or maybe I'm just one of those disorganized people? I tend to have an idea, start writing it, and find that I've got a better idea developing as I go, and end up running with that. Ooooh, it's so excitingly out of control, isn't it? It's like climbing out of your car window and sitting on the roof - while you're driving - only without the messy accidents and horrific aftermath and lengthy recovery time. Or with it...? Who knows? I've not done this before.

Anyway, I have my stack of hygienic individually wrapped plastic cups at the ready, so no drinking from the communal bottle, alright?

*passes the bottle of ginger wine to Nim* Don't worry, I think we lost the season memo altogether here . . . the other day we had hail and Antarctic blasts and a few days later it was hot and sunny! How are the ideas going now?

But on the subject of the Sumatran vs the Pupau New Guinean, I'm with you, Vercingetorix, so you can pour us a cuppa while you're up :-) Never could stand the taste of coffee. Actually, I've got some really nice chai that would go really well with that fresh honey that Jujubie brought along . . .

(Oh, and Vercingetorix, my old housemate spent a year on exchange in China too back when she was at university . . . *lots* of interesting stories there!)

And hygienic disposable cups?! Huh? This isn't a university party?! I thought we'd be chugging from wine casks by the end of it! Anyway, TinStar, if you lose your mind I can't be held accountable - you think I'm stable enough to be legally responsible? :-P

Oh man, this is going to be a fun year . . . so many interesting ideas already, and so much potential . . . I'm doing a loose setting of the Macbeth story in the early days of the Roman Empire. Lots of sex and drugs and rock and roll, if by "rock and roll" you mean gritty, graphic violence. I don't know much about Rome, but dammit, the story's gunna work!

Caffeine Spider

Hello, everyone! I'm PeaDevil from the recent Worth contests and . . . well, that's about it actually. This will be my first NaNo as well as my first Novel. If you guys have any advice, let loose.

The best idea is to just start and then keep going. The idea is to jumpstart the creative juices and have some fun. I have used stories from worth as beginning places. The novel I am working on this year started as a story for a four area challenge.

I don't mind tea in the evening. I like a good Keemun. If I get desperate I am hitting the scotch. It doesn't make me a better writer, but I don't tend to be as fussy and waste time fixing silly mistakes like splling or such.

Put the story first.

Here, I'm back with a bottle of Scapa, a smooth tasting single malt Scotch.

Will you join me in the first round? It's perfect to initiate those of you who aren't sure about the stuff. And a lovely casual scotch for those of us who appreciate the stuff.

So far, here's the drinking schedule: coffee in the morning, tea in the evening, scotch anytime. I'll be hanging out here while you write so feel free to express any special request.

Massage, dance, tooth extraction, exercice equipment, you name it, I'll arrange for it. Please note that I don't do brain surgery.

Just say, mke me happy, Jujubie!

Awwww. :-( No brain surgery!! :-(

hehehe

Hey there, PeaDevil, and welcome aboard! The only hint I'd give you is just one simple rule and one that isn't terribly fun: it's all about discipline, discipline, discipline. Last year I thought, yeah, sure, I've done this twice before, so I can balance social time with novelling, but I let myself get behind and I didn't stick to my daily deadlines. Bad move. Writing up to the last hour to get past the finish line is NOT FUN to the point where capitalisation is wholly justified.

This year, well, I'm a little worried. I'm going to a party on the night of the 31st October, meaning a) I won't be doing my traditional "write-at-the-stroke-of-midnight" thing and b) the next day is likely to be a hangover-riddled write-off. Add to that a day paintballing (and probably out on the piss afterwards) the following weekend and that's already more social things than I'd like to have scheduled this month . . .

But that said, don't think NaNoWriMo is all about not having a life. Some people balance it really well, but I know once I'm in the cliché "zone" I find it really hard to relate to other people so social occasions suck. The main advice I'd give to you is to just focus, set yourself some clear goals and just revel in the process. Don't make it a chore, make it an adventure into your subconscious/unconscious/potential/whatever works for you. Enjoy the process, but stick with it at all costs and you'll be amazed at what you can do :-)

< /end cheesy pep talk>

Oh, and yeah. I promise to stop posting here on a weekend night/early-am after I've been out drinking. Sober posts from now on, I promise, or else I'm going to sound like a raging alco (which I'm not).

(oh, and PS - I have my last year's NaNoWriMo reward LOCKED IN!! I have my appointment with my tattooist on the 27th and I am STOKED! :-D Seriously, the promise of an hour or two enduring the pain of tiny needle pricks into my flesh is the only thing that got me over the edge last year and it's going to keep me going this year too. *squee* can't wait!!)

Caffeine Spider

Molly, am I reading you right??? Are you seriously tattooing your NaNo award on yourself?? For real??

If so, I must demand (or beg for?) pictures.

Love the story ideas you people have. I'm all for taking a year to write non-fiction once in a while. I did that last year (sorta) and it was great fun. I kinda feel like I need to come back to noveling this year, though. Don't want to get out of the habit of making up stories.

As for my story, well, I'm still in a state of panic. I have several ideas, but none that are calling me with any vigor. For those of you in the same place, all I can say in the hopes of soothing the terror is that I am virtually always in this place a week before NaNo and, so far, the idea has always come to me in time. TinStar, one time all I had on November First was a scene idea. I had a guy digging himself out of crumbled concrete with his bare hands. I spent November 1 writing that scene, and by the end of the month, I had my novel. That's kind of a fun way to go, though I must admit it's very unnerving at first.

Now, if I could just feel the soothing I-always-get-my-idea-in-time for myself....

V, (can I call you V?) I *love* your idea to write about China. So much that I'd love to read it. I've always wondered what it was like there. Never been anywhere outside the US except Mexico, and even then, never more than a mile in, or for more than a day. I find that idea very compelling.

I'll have some scotch later. Not sure how it'd mix with the ginger wine.

Oh, and Jujubee, you're the greatest. :)

~*Nim*~

^^^^ that was 2007's reward (I think I've posted that over at Worth before), taken on the day it was done with my mobile phone camera (and it was a HOT day too, hence the shininess). This year's reward will probably be a complementing piece on my left calf or a complementing piece on my left arm/shoulder to match the one I'm getting done on the 27th.

Caffeine Spider

V is fine Nim, I've used the tag Vercingetorix so long I must have been called by nearly every variation of it so far.

I've kindof been blogging about my time here already, nothing much, just a few little observations on Facebook that are more focused on how I'm holding up and some of the eccentricities of Chinese culture (as viewed by an American anyway) just to my friends. Now that's a biased audience, but I kept getting good responses from people, saying they loved my little insights and opinions on culture. Actually that's where I thought about making a book, somebody said I should seriously write a lot more about China. I'm hoping that people agree with you and like the idea so much it's worth buying, publication would be amazing. But I need to pull it off first, and then edit and add for months, maybe get something good.

Glad to see this room hopping, can't wait for November to start, then we can begin all writers-block pep talks, stories of epic runs of words, more talk about favorite liquors... glad to be doing this with you all!

Heh, at first I thought that you actually tattooed something to do with 'NaNo Winner' on yourself for completing, but it looks more along the lines of just a reward for completing. Still, very cool. Always considered getting a tattoo, but haven't thought of anything I'd want on my body permanently yet.

Unsanctioned Maritime Wealth Redistribution Officer
Also known as Vercingetorix

Dio checking in, limbering up fingers, and hoping this November goes better than last one (where I spent most of the month in ICU)

What's this "editing" thing I keep hearing about?

I'm only a dilettante Worthian, but hello all. I'm not at all confident that I can do this, but here goes. (Can someone pass me a drink?)

Hey I'm back in too. I haven't done this for a while...didn't even try last year, and haven't been very active on worth for....a while. (the new site redesign really threw me didn't even know they were doing that)

Hoping this helps get the creative juices flowing and gets me back in the game.

"That would be intelligent and therefore wrong."

Haha, I thought the same thing V did, Molly! I pictured you covered in little "NaNoWriMo Winner 200x" icons. That's a beautiful tree tattoo, by the way. Did you design it yourself?

Dio! Great to see you! And let's be clear at the git-go. Spending NaNo in the ICU is against the rules! Ok, so it's not really. But seriously, I hope you are well this fine November.

Welcome, Vespica. Here's some yummy ginger wine. I'm sure someone else has something stronger (I heard rumblings about scotch earlier...) but this stuff is lovely and a sort of romantic writing type drink IMO. :)

And welcome back Rubix. Third time's a charm!

I finally have my story idea. (Woohoo!) Went through major angst last week and almost came here to whine, but then I stopped and reminded myself that the idea always comes in time. Not ten minutes later, it fell in my lap. Now I'm eagerly waiting, fingers itching, to get started. This is gonna be so much fun!!

~*Nim*~

Well, Nim, what is it? :) Do share it with us! Mine will be about a gifted fortune teller in a sort of early industrial society that values logic and machinery. So he has to join the seedy world of back-alley divination, where the people in power go to indulge their repressed magical urges.

I like your idea, Vespica. I'm fond of magical stories. :)

Well, the (very, very) general idea behind my story this year is a group of people who, due to their very unique history, are the (nearly) sole survivors of an apparent apocalypse. They must escape bondage, traverse the desert, find a place to settle, and build a community in order to survive and rebuild humanity. One or two interesting things may happen along the way. ;)

~*Nim*~

Nim, I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels. Good luck!

Question though, about the rules. I read that character sketches are allowed beforehand. I wrote a couple of sort of character sketches for a W1K '30 days of text' exercise that I thought might integrate into my story in some form - the characters, at least. The sketches were a few paragraphs long. Is it kosher to borrow from those or fold them into the story in some form? I'm not dead set, i just liked the characters and thought they might fit in the story I'm imagining.

I just want to be clear, since I'm new, and especially since a couple of people may have read the sketches in question ;) ...

Those sound like they'll be a lot of fun to write, good luck! I'm actually a little jealous now, I mean, I planned to write a memoir about my time in China as soon as MollyCule first posted the NaNo thread at worth, but nothing is as exciting as developing characters and creating worlds, all that fun stuff. But if I don't write the memoir now, I probably won't later, and then I won't have it as a record to remember my time here. Next year.

Speaking of China, I get to start tomorrow because of my time zone, in fact the count down is down to just one hour for me :D

Unsanctioned Maritime Wealth Redistribution Officer
Also known as Vercingetorix

Vespica,, as long as you don't do a copy/paste type thing and use the words you wrote last month to add to your word count in November, it's okay. You are allowed a week's worth of planning, to include plot, outline, character development, world-building, etc. You're just not allowed to contribute any words to the actual novel itself. So it sounds like you're good. :)

AKBK, starting at the beginning of your post, I was feeling for you. I did a bit of a non-fiction rebel yell last year with NaNo, and I missed the fiction aspect a little bit. I ended up having so much fun with my project, though, that I didn't suffer. In fact, I ended up having a ball. Maybe you'll find the same groove.

However! All sympathy went out the window when I read the last part of your post!! You get to start in an hour! Waaaaah! I am SO itching to get started!

(jealous much? lol)

~*Nim*~

Yay! More people! And technically NaNoWriMo kicked off about five and a half hours ago for me except right now I'm quite drunk and I have three people passed out in my tiny one-bedroom flat (including one in my bed but she's a good friend *LOL*). But yeah, so much for the "not-posting-whilst-drunk" rule.

Anyway, the plan is to finish my midnight/5:30am snack, reclaim my bed, then start writing once I've kicked everyone out of my flat. I feel so guilty that I haven't started yet and part of me feels like it's a bad omen not to have stayed in and started at the dot of midnight, but at the same time, screw it. I'm here. I'm loud. And I'm gunna do this thing ;-)

Good luck all and I can't wait to see how you guys progress this month!! *squee* Ah, so exciting!! :-D

Caffeine Spider

If it helps you any Nim, I didn't really use my advantage that much. I didn't get started writing until the afternoon here, and by that time it was already November 1st in a few places in the US as well. But, I have my first 2161 words written, made my first word count update, broke out the alcohol (man, shoulda got something a little weaker, that burned funny going down), I'm doing good. Were it not for the mid-term exam that I have tomorrow, I'd keep at it!

Unsanctioned Maritime Wealth Redistribution Officer
Also known as Vercingetorix