Rules for the 2009 Challenge: Team Lushguin v the State of Maryland
Eligibility
• Texans: You must live within 60 miles of Austin or Houston. You may not come from another city that has its own Regional Lounge.
• Marylanders: You must live in the state of Maryland.
Sign-ups
• Notify your challenge coordinator via email ONLY - texas (at) flickguy (dot) com in Texas or maryland (at) flickguy (dot) com in Maryland - by midnight on November 3 that you want to participate. Your email must contain your nano username.
• During the challenge, you must respond to any requests from your challenge coordinator within a maximum of three days so we know you aren’t missing in action.
• Your challenge coordinator will provide a “word count thread” in your regional lounge to track word count. Participants will post ONCE to this thread when instructed by the challenge coordinator. When everyone has posted, the thread will be locked.
Updating Word Count
• You must update your word count at least once every five days. If you are unable to update your count, contact your challenge coordinator.
• During the course of the contest, we may ask that you update your word count more frequently.
• You must input your final word count by midnight on November 30. After midnight, you will no longer be able to update your count.
Scoring
• You may drop out of the challenge at any time up to midnight on November 15 without affecting your team’s count.
• Only the official word count from the locked “word count thread” on the NaNoWriMo website will be considered when computing the final score.
• After midnight on November 30, the challenge coordinators from each team will drop the highest and lowest scores from their respective counts. They will compute the average score for all remaining competitors.
• The team with the highest word count average will be the winner.
• The challenge coordinators will compare results, and when both coordinators agree, the results will be posted on the NaNo boards.
Trash-talkin’
• Each team will have a clearly labeled “trash talk” thread. The Lushguins trash talk thread will be in the Austin Lounge. Trash talk is to be posted ONLY to the trash talk thread and should remain in good fun and within the bounds of good sportspersonship.
Our God-like powers
• Challenge Coordinators decide what “good sportspersonship” means.
• We reserve the right to remove folks from the competition for any violation of the rules and guidelines listed above.
• We are the final authority in any dispute or question about the rules.
Remember It’s All in Fun
• In the heat of competition, we sometimes forget it’s just a game. If you have a concern or question about anything regarding the competition, please contact your challenge coordinator before you post.
(If you’d like to discuss this further, please post questions or comments to this thread or shoot your challenge coordinator an email or pm.)
----------
GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
77,896 / 50,000
oct. 28, 2009 - 10 44
You see correctly, my Lushguins -- the rules are finally HERE.
I'm flickguy, and I will be your Challenge Coordinator for this year's Challenge. I hope to receive many, many emails from y'all by November 3.
A few items I want to amplify:
#1) By email only means just that. If you only reply here in this thread, you are not entered. Send me an email, please. And make sure that email includes your NaNo ID.
#2) We're doing the averages a tiny bit differently. In addition to dropping the low score of each team, we're also dropping the HIGH score. This does not mean we don't value you if you write hundreds of thousands of words. We love you, in fact. We just want EVERYONE to try their hardest. It's easy to use the high-count writers as a crutch. Let's not, okay?
#3) Even though we're doing battle with the Crabs, they are our friends and we love them. Let's remember that when playing in the Trash Talk thread, please.
Questions? Comments? I'm all ears.
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
2,704 / 50,000
oct. 28, 2009 - 11 16
Email sent. Let me know if you haven't received it and I'll resend it.
Kathryn Krastin
----------txbluebonnet2006
Austin, TX
31,547 / 50,000
oct. 28, 2009 - 11 33
We especially love the crabs with tartar sauce!
----------Silver
Team Lushguin
2009 - The Night of the Descendants
“You’re pure, gallant and cheeky; but I’m unbearable, insufferable and intolerable.”
77,896 / 50,000
oct. 29, 2009 - 17 50
Hey, kids! I finally got around to writing up the "welcome" email to let you know you're in. So check your mail -- if you didn't get a message with a title beginning with "Challenge 2009", one of three things happened:
1) Something failed from me to you.
2) I never got your initial request to join
3) You haven't sent me an email to join.
So far, twenty of you fantastic beings have taken up the banner against the crabs! Y'all rock.
I want to hear from more of you. If you think the Challenge would help you write more than you think you can... sign up today!
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
43,301 / 50,000
oct. 29, 2009 - 18 54
Who are the Lushquins and who are the Crabs? It may have been explained to me, but I don't get to all my email.
Newbie Saavedra
77,896 / 50,000
oct. 30, 2009 - 06 45
Just as Silver is the Keeper of the Penguin Story, I suppose I could be considered the Keeper of the Lushguin Story.
It begins before my time, in 2003. It may even begin farther back, but if so that part of the story is lost to the winds of time. Back in 2003, Austin and Houston were not teammates. In fact, they were rivals in their *own* Word Count Challenge. I recall not who challenged whom, but the battle was mighty. The Penguins were victorious.
In 2004, when I joined the fray, Houston adopted the "Lush" as their mascot. Or as an admission. Again, I forget which. Penguin and Lush clashed, and that year the Lushes were victorious. They battled again in 2005, the Penguins winning handily.
By 2006, our rivalry had morphed into camaraderie. We no longer wanted to do battle against each other, so we set our sights on a lofty foe: The State of Maryland, who in 2005 had achieved the highest word count as a region. (2005 was also the first year they counted total words by region.) Banded together, Austin and Houston threw down the gauntlet at these wordy -- and worthy -- foes... and the Challenge was answered.
With our forces joined, we needed a new name -- one that would incorporate the majesty of the Penguin with the fun of the Lush. We became... Lushguins. (Incidentally, we can't seem to waddle in a straight line.) Foster, drawn by Silver, is our official mascot. You'll see him in several of our signatures. He is reserved for those who serve in the Lushguin Army.
Similarly to the origin of the Penguin, Maryland has a Regional Dare, in which they attempt to incorporate a common theme into their novels. That year it was the blue crab. Thus were our Maryland opponents known as the Maryland Crabs. They, too, have a signature mascot. You will likely see it once we get the Trash Talk threads up.
And that... is the story of the great Lushguin Vs Crab battle, now in its fourth year.
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
51,000 / 50,000
oct. 30, 2009 - 09 12
Here's a humorous side note to our challenge to Maryland. The year before, our region was third in wordcount in the entire world (well, I think it was third - anyway, we were really up there.) I picked the region closest to ours to challenge to a word count competition. Well, I thought I did. But I must have gotten confused, because I challenged the region first in the world instead. That's how we challenged and met the wonderful folks in Maryland.
Although Maryland usually has about twice the homed participants of Austin, teaming up with Houston means we've ended up with teams with about the same number of participants. And because winning is based on averages, it's a pretty fair comparison of relative word generating power.
Gooooooooooooo! Lushguins!
----------ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison
43,301 / 50,000
oct. 30, 2009 - 18 26
Thanks for this. Now for the definition or origin of the word "Lushguin." Seems like a combination of lush (as in lush) and Penguin, and I seem to remember references to Penguins.
So Houston members are crabs, and we are Lushguins. Not being native to the area, I don't know about Penguins.
Am I contributing my word count just be being in this group? I hope so, because I fully intend to hit 50,000 this time.
Lisa/Saavedra
43,301 / 50,000
oct. 30, 2009 - 21 01
Thanks for this history. I'm finally getting it. I do want to have mywords count. Will they automatically do so as I post them on my profile, or do I have to request being in the competition.
saavedra
77,896 / 50,000
oct. 30, 2009 - 22 03
Our army increases in number. We are now 31 (counting me, of course).
Next batch of "Welcome" messages sent out. If you think you have signed up but didn't get my lovely form letter crafted especially for you, please see the previous "what went wrong" message in THIS thread.
I'm going to bed now. When I awake, I will go see a movie.
And I'll see some (hopefully many) of you at Dragon's Lair! :D
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
43,301 / 50,000
oct. 31, 2009 - 07 48
I'd like to sign up. I don't have my NaNo mail organized and may not have the original sign-up instructions. But with about13 hours left before starting, I want to be sure I'm signed in.
Thanks,
saavedra
41,471 / 50,000
oct. 31, 2009 - 10 39
Thanks,
saavedra
saavedra,
Just send an email, from your primary email address, to texas@flickguy.com and tell him you want to be included in the challenge. Make sure to tell him your NaNo board name.
Thanks!
----------~alan m rogers
77,896 / 50,000
nov. 1, 2009 - 11 03
As of Noon Central Standard Time on November 1, our count stands at 41.
I have sent out 40 Welcome Letters since sign-ups began. If you have not gotten yours, one of the three things previously mentioned happened. Please resubmit your sign-up request.
If you have not signed up yet and would like to, you have until midnight Tuesday night.
If you're still on the fence, remember there is an opt-out clause. It can't hurt to give us a try. You might find a word count challenge to be quite motivating.
We will get the Trash Talk threads going this week.
That's all for now... Stay tuned.
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
113,879 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 08 14
*chomping at the bit* Must write more...must write more...finally glad she moved home to Houston in time for Nano...
-----------------------
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
2006 - Leaving Despair - 250+k words - Winner
2007 - Continuity - 425+k words - Winner
2008 - A Time to laugh - 97+k words - Winner (but not to me)
77,896 / 50,000
nov. 2, 2009 - 22 51
Hey, Lushguins!
Something seems to be going on with the webmail my flickguy.com host provides, so I'm having difficulty with the steps involved in sending out the 18 verifications that are still pending. So what I'm going to do instead is post here a list of those for whom I have received sign-up emails and go from there.
If your username is not on this list and you think it should be, send an email to texas (at) flickguy (dot) com to remedy the situation. (Be sure to include your nano name in the email.) It's officially November 3 now, so you have until the next time the clock strikes midnight to sign up.
Our Roster Thus Far - 59 of us!
AdenPenn
----------akelsey333
awewriter
Caeraerie
Cambrie Mae
Daymorn
Deia
DeniseR
diabeticangel
Dominick D
duskweaver
Elana
Elephande
Faeth
faience
FGHart
flickguy
FourteenthTarget
freidabee
garretwriter
isle.sam
Ithiliel
jayiin
jc78729
Jen_Shumate
KleenexCow
Knight Z
kswope
ktne
laifana
lonelyfilly
lumos_aeternum
Lunis
mamawildbear
maxxgrl
mayhopebringushome
medusacascade
MizLacey
mtb0001
Myth
nuttyknitter
OctoberDreaming
OrangeTangoDoble
parhelion
RL Copple
RockinB
Silver
Sithwitch13
SkyMomma
Soluna
Stitch
Tathry
TexasDutchie
Thestral
Tippy
toastytreat
Towner
txbluebonnet2006
Tyloric
GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
113,879 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 10 51
WEEE GO LUSHGUINS!!! I promise to do my very best this year! :D
-----------------------
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
2006 - Leaving Despair - 250+k words - Winner
2007 - Continuity - 425+k words - Winner
2008 - A Time to laugh - 97+k words - Winner (but not to me)
881,823 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 14 57
All people on flick's list (above) will be able to see themselves on the NaNoHelper website Word War tracker in about 3 hours.
If you don't show up, make sure that flick has you listed. Which means an email to him, not to me.
If you are in the list above, THEN send me a NaNoMail, and I'll try to straighten it out.
----------881,823 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 19 06
OK, so it was a bit more than 3 hours, and the site was acting really wonky. It's fixed now.
Currently, the NaNoHelper refreshes on an 8-hour schedule (since Nano's servers are overloaded). Once stuff calms down (about 11/10 or so), the NaNoHelper will go to real-time.
Check it out! http://www.fearingisland.net
----------77,896 / 50,000
nov. 3, 2009 - 22 21
Midnight came...
Midnight went.
The sign-up period for Challenge 2009 has ENDED.
Thank you all VERY much for coming out to play with us. We had an unprecedented turnout this year. Our Lushguin Army has 72 combatants.
That's right. 72!
In the morning I will compose the Word Count thread post. The 72 of us will need to post to that thread ONE TIME.
We are, in alphabetical order by username:
AdenPenn
akelsey333
awewriter
Caeraerie
Cambrie Mae
clover_green
Da Shlom
Daymorn
Deia
DeniseR
diabeticangel
Dominick D
duskweaver
Elana
Elephande
Faeth
faience
FGHart
flickguy
FourteenthTarget
freidabee
garretwriter
gpanza
isle.sam
Ithiliel
jayiin
jc78729
Jen_Shumate
KleenexCow
Knight Z
kswope
ktne
laifana
lonelyfilly
lumos_aeternum
Lunis
mamawildbear
maxxgrl
mayhopebringushome
mcrog077
medusacascade
miothrio
mitda
MizLacey
msirois
mtb0001
Myth
NetOwl
nuttyknitter
OctoberDreaming
OrangeTangoDoble
parhelion
RL Copple
RockinB
RodwenofRohan
rosemarypepper
saavedra
Sandpaper7
Silver
Sithwitch13
SkyMomma
Soluna
Stitch
Tathry
TexasDutchie
Thestral
thetruax
Tippy
toastytreat
Towner
txbluebonnet2006
Tyloric
All I can say is HOLY MACADAMIA NUTS! We are gonna ROCK!
----------GO LUSHGUINS!
50,000 words is easy.
50,000 words that make sense? Much harder.
51,000 / 50,000
nov. 4, 2009 - 09 31
CRIMENY CRICKETS! That's some roster you've got there! It's going to be an amazing challenge this year.
Would everyone do your MLs a HUGE favor and make sure you are homed with either the Austin or Houston region (as appropriate)? We want your words to count - not just for the challenge but for the honor and glory of our home regions as well. It would take us a very long time to check all your profiles, but should only take you a few seconds to check your own. Spare your ML! Make sure you're homed today!
The instructions for homing with Austin are in the first post in this thread. Only a minor tweak to the instructions is necessary for Houstonians to set their home sweet home.
Good luck with the challenge. Go Lushguins!
----------ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison
2,704 / 50,000
nov. 5, 2009 - 03 48
As of this morning, I have 2,704 words; however, I have been sick with food poisoning from early Monday morning forward. I'm just now regaining strength and hope to forge far ahead soon. :)
----------txbluebonnet2006
Austin, TX
41,406 / 50,000
nov. 10, 2009 - 03 50
I think I forgot to do this earlier, so here's my posting.
----------2009: Raining Mercy
2008 Winner: Mourning Pages
50,270 / 50,000
nov. 10, 2009 - 07 19
...off to the blinking cursor.