We need to think about our Word Wars for 2009.
Last year, Paul, Injun Joe, and I invaded the write-in of Columbia MO, and they were very good sports and a fun bunch of people. Also they met in a restaurant with the biggest portions of fried chicken you've ever seen. It would be fantastic to repeat the performance with a bigger raiding party, while simultaneously rocking their world with the "words per wrimo" statistic for our regions.
So Columbia is in our sights. Lyra suggested we pick a fight with Texas, how do you all feel about that? Are there any other regions, or countries even, that you think we should take one? We're a mid-sized region, but there's always the "per wrimo" stat we can fight on.
(For the newbies, a Word War is a friendly challenge with another region over who can write the most words. There should be bantering between the regions, but it never gets nasty. It helps motivate our guys to write more, ad that's a good thing. If you have to paste in a few song lyrics, so be it, all's fair in Word Warring.)
(For the not-so-newbies: I have the Pointy Stick of the Word Wrangler in the garage, waiting to motivate you all. Promise not to hit anyone on the head on purpose.)
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http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
52,334 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 05 18
Obviously I'm a bit of a mercenary this year, still calling St Louis home but doing most of my writing in Columbia, a bit of the "masterless Samurai". Having said that, I shall certainly contribute my all to any fight my fellow St Louisans pick (at a very reasonable price per word to be billed to the ML - I am a mercenary after all).
I'm all over picking a fight with Texas, and would suggest we renew hostilities with Indianapolis. If you want we could try the I 70 corridor thing again.
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
40,604 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 07 06
Hey all, say welcome to your Word Wrangler, Allison! She's good people. Harken to what she says.
*sets out collection hat for donations to pay Mercenary Jim*
Has France ever actually responded to our challenges?
Mike suggested Indy again...or the I-70 corridor.
What about them Mancunians? Or something on the West Coast? Has there been a Forks, WA group set up yet? ;)
~j
----------Municipal Liaison for St. Louis, MO
Previous NaNovels: King Arthur, angels, dragons, the Forest Lord, and prostitutes. Apparently this year it's folks rising from the dead.
aspirations: http://etoiline.com
35,426 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 08 04
Having moved to this area from Iowa, I'm all about word wars with Iowa City or the Quad Cities :) But the I-70 corridor sounds like fun to me. Or, Chicago? :)
----------52,334 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 08 57
Oooo... France! I'd go to war with them for free!
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
53,483 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 10 53
I'd be up for an invasion of Columbia. Haven't been back there since my one ill-fated year at Mizzou back in 97-98.
Jen
----------Reading and weeping opens the door to one’s heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one’s soul. – M.K. Simmons
http://www.jenniferksights.com
50,058 / 50,000
oct. 15, 2009 - 13 16
I'm up for warring with Columbia, and I'm sure I could get a few folks to travel down there with me if we go. (assuming my exam schedule allows it) I'll actually be in Columbia for Halloween, so I plan to start writing my novel whilst among the enemy ranks :)
----------7,207 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2009 - 08 14
I'd be up for Columbia. I've never really looked at the Word War threads, so I have a question that could possibly sound stupid: can we have word wars with multiple cities? If so, I'd like to challenge my other home: Louisville, KY. Isn't Louisville close to us in terms of population? I just think it wouldn't be exactly fair to challenge some little place with 20,000 inhabitants or something like that.
----------My writing blog!
46,284 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2009 - 08 27
We can challenge as many cities as we chose, but in practise, it's best to stick to three or less, with one main opponent.
And in Word Wars, city size really doesn't matter. There is a Word Count Widget, written by our own Paul Hawke, that gives us statistics of how many active writers there are in a region, and what their average wordcount is. So we can challenge a region as small as Luxembourg, or as large as Africa, and still be able to compete.
I will keep a web page to track our regional progress against our chosen victims, I mean, colleagues, once the madness starts. I also tracked St Louis donations, which was interesting.
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
52,334 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2009 - 14 04
Personally, I would really like to see us challenge on donations, and WIN! This is an item I feel very strongly about. The minimum donation is like $10 right? That's one less #5 combo at the Golden Arches for the month. We need to keep this thing funded!
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
22,211 / 50,000
oct. 18, 2009 - 17 17
I'm up for invading Columbia!
46,284 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 16 08
Columbia has been officially challenged! Let's see what they say:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3319685
Who else do you want me to go pick a fight with?
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
52,334 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 16 14
So I was logging on to make a post that I had been to a Columbia Wrimo meet up today and that i told them St Louis would be challenging them, when i saw Allison's post. I can tell you it sounds like they are up for the fight and welcome an invading horde at a write in. I think you guys should schedule a road trip. I guarantee I'll make that write in :P
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
46,284 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 16 21
Have Columbia set a write-in schedule and location yet? I'm thinking the second Saturday or third Sunday of November would be great. We know how Week Two of novelling can suck the life out of you, and this could be something to look forward to. Also incentive, we don't want to show up and be lagging in the word war!
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
46,284 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 16 26
Oops. sorry for the double post. :-(
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
50,057 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 16 53
Count me in. Columbia gets my vote since they are close.
52,334 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 18 32
Nothing set yet, should solidify by the weekend. will keep you posted even if I have to attend their midnight 11/1 write in and the St Louis one at the same time to find out :P
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
34,210 / 50,000
oct. 25, 2009 - 18 38
As a native Hoosier (it's our state Nickname, and according to Wikipedia it's only derogatory coming from St. Louisans, jerks!) I would love to take on Indianapolis.
----------If it don't Blam, we don't want it.
44,447 / 50,000
oct. 26, 2009 - 20 09
I'm down for Columbia AND Indiana. I do also find it funny that Hoosier is only derogatory here in St. Louis. Even had a t-shirt when I was young that said "Hoosier from St. Loosier". Crazy. I'm down with taking on Indiana any day!
If we go to Columbia, I'm always a fan of Shakespeare's pizza, but I'm always interested in knowing other places there.
52,334 / 50,000
oct. 27, 2009 - 17 07
Columbia Write-ins
Saturdays, 4:00–6:00
At the Underground Café (formerly known as the Cherry Street Artisan). We'll grab the big round table if we can (in the back, to the left of the counter). 111 S. 9th Street
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
52,334 / 50,000
nov. 1, 2009 - 09 31
I doubt Columbia is organized enough or taking the Word War thing seriously enough (yet) to check up on our forums, so I'll just go ahead and post this here. I would suggest a Saturday, 11/7/09 raid on the Columbia write-in.
And now a touch of wisdom from my old Brigade Sergeant Major, this is in fact one of those direct quotes I have never forgotten and will never forget:
"Knapp, it's awful hard for the bastards to ambush you if you're the first person to the Rally Point."
Having said that, how about we all show up about 3:30 (it's roughly a 1.5 hour drive from 270 & 70). Those of us that are able to arrive that early can secure the LZ for any that arrive later. I will most likely be the advance scout party, since it's like 2 miles from the new InjunJoe TeePee.
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
46,284 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 03 34
I just updated our page with the November 1st stats for St Louis, we as a region have written a collective 365,444 words, which is an average of 2687 PER WRITER! You guys rock!
For the record, Columbia MO has writted 59,317, which is a respectable 2281 per writer, and Indy is at 273,885 which for them is 2,445 per writer.
On the donation front, we've chipped in $1275, putting us at the #18 spot for regional donations. Keep it up people!
A couple of years ago we had some fun with the Dayton Ohio region, who are standing at 168,892 total and 2,412 per writer. Want to to sneak in a challenge to our I-70 sharing neighbours?
In summary St Louis, we rule!
----------http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
20,437 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 04 29
Those are certainly honorable stats...if one could argue about who rules, we are at the very least in upper management. You know, the level where we get bonuses from federal bail out money!
Time to update mine and add to it.
See you at a write in!
----------Charlotte Mielziner
Certified in Canine Behavior, Purdue University
AKC Rally Judge #43992
ABC Training Mentor
"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." Mother Theresa
38,670 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 05 12
Just dropping by to remind myself why I'm not putting my word count (17hundred something) in the little box yet.
Must.. not... drag...down... region. ;)
52,334 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 06 12
uhm.... zero word count would be less than 1700 something... and figures into the regional average?
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
11,719 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 08 46
Plus, 1700 is pretty respectable for the first day!
13,006 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 12 21
I got over 2100 total yesterday/this morning (I stayed up all night).
46,284 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 14 51
Guys, it is ON! This Saturday, November 7th, we're invading Columbia. Their write in is at 3:30, and our advance scout Injun Joe will be there waiting for us.
Paul and I will likely leave for Columbia from the Crooked Tree, if we gets the rocks out of the back of the car, we'll have space for two people in the back (my husband is an excellent driver, and you'll be safe with him behind the wheel.)
We're currently a little ahead on the words per person scale (we have 3,519 to their 3,272), and we're so far ahead on donations and percentage who donated that it's a little sad.
So, who's up for the raiding party?
I believe this is our Landing Zone:
----------http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Cherry+Stree...
http://www.quantumtea.com/blog/
52,334 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 15 37
The official write in begins at 4:00, I had suggested we try to get there by 3:30 for the ambush.Paul and Quantum Tea have my cell# in case there are any issues finding the place. Who else is planning on attending?
----------As kids we fried ants with magnifying glasses. Now that we are adults we fry characters in far more interesting ways with plot twists
38,670 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 05 23
No, zero word count makes the word count widget think I'm not playing this year, and therefore not counted in the average. I think. (Hey, Paul Hawke?)
50,006 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 07 35
I'm totally in for a battle with Columbia, if someone has space in their car, that would be great, but if not, I have a honda accord with three nice seats for people to occupy, and I'm a very safe driver.
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