Winnipeg has had name tags for a number of years. What started out as a simple square with word count goals around the outside has become increasingly complex over the years. I got... a little carried away this fall and they probably won't be this complex EVER again, but whatever...
While putting together the slide-show for the kickoff, it occurred to me that while our more distant participants might not be able to attend events here in town, it might be fun for them to make checklists of their own.
Sorry, you'll have to buy your own stickers, but I'll list all the boxes on our name tags and indicate which ones are specific to Winnipeg events. The rest of them, anyone can do, anywhere, so print them out and get your stickers at the ready!
1) Word Count Goal Boxes: 5k, 10k, 15k, 20k, 25k, 30k, 35k, 40k, 45k, 50k, WIN!
2) *Winnipeg* Kick-off and Kit Bag boxes (came to launch party and got starter bag)
3) *Winnipeg* Write-In #1 and Idea Seeds boxes (came to WI#1 and got your 'idea seed' vial)
4) *Winnipeg* Write-In #2 and Worlds boxes (came to WI#2 and got your 'worldbuilder' tube)
5) *Winnipeg* Mid-Month and Toys boxes (came to mid-month party and got your 'toys')
6) *Winnipeg* Write-In #3 and Surprise! boxes (came to WI#3 and got your 'surprise')
7) *Winnipeg* Write-In #4 and Stick It boxes (came to WI#4 and got your sticker[s])
8) *Winnipeg* TGIO and Purple Bar boxes (came to TGIO and got your 'purple bar')
9) Virtual Write-In #1 - Attended the Virtual Write-In on November 8 in #nanotoban
10) Virtual Write-In #2 - Attended the Virtual Write-In on November 22 in #nanotoban
11) +1 Make a New Friend (x2) - introduce yourself to a participant you don't know / make noveling buddy
12) Write-Out [Attend] - go out and write in public at a non official (Write-Out and Coffee Klatsch) event with others
13) Write-Out [host] - post an invitation for others to join you at a non-official (Write-Out and Coffee Klatsch) event to write in public
14) 5k Day - Write a minimum of 5000 words in a 24 hour period
15) 15k "weekend" - write a minimum of 15,000 words in a 48 hour period
16) Use Dare / Tickle - use a dare or an item from the Tickle Trunk or the Local Dare thread in your story which is NOT already specifically listed on this card (you cannot get this star for the Agent of Darwin; it is its own category)
17) Contribute Dare / Tickle - contribute an item for the Tickle Trunk (or if you are a distant writer, contribute to the Local Dare thread)
18) Stealth Noveling - noveling when you are supposed to be doing Other More Important Things, such as working, looking after small children, having sex, performing CPR, studying for a test etc.
19) Protect the Guilty - 'any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental' Pfft. Have someone in your life do a cameo in your novel who is SO OBVIOUSLY that person that changing the name to protect the guilty is a pointless exercise
20) Weird Noveling Place - the bus, the bathroom, the checkout line at Sobey's, the top of a hydro pole, the bar, the local drunk tank... find somewhere you would never normally novel and let your muse out to play
21) Communal Noveling - write with other people; better still, steal ideas from them in the process (write-outs and write-ins count or this star)
22) Donate / GoodSearch - Donate to Nanowrimo and get your halo; or if too broke to donate (it happens), then set up the Office of Letters and Light and use GoodSearch for the month of November (they get a penny a search - which doesn't sound like much until you factor in 130,000 participants...)
23) Set Home Region - set your home region to Canada::Manitoba
24) Forum Introduction - introduce yourself on the forums in the increasingly random thread n introductory questions **remember to add a question at the end!!*
25) Agent of Darwin - The Agents of Darwin are a special category of plot ninja. Attributed to ChaosHippy from a mid-month a few years ago, they are effectively 'chlorine for the gene pool' - someone in your novel gets eliminated from the genetic material (they don't necessarily have to die) as an improvement to all humankind, because Darwinian selection doesn't work fast enough for the terminally stupid to get weeded out on their own...
26) Caffeine or Sugar Abuse - pretty self explanatory
27) Creative Non-fiction - work something that happened in your day into your novel; kudos if you can make something utterly boring sound really cool (and take forever doing so)
28) Eureka! - celebrate that moment when your plot comes together and everything suddenly makes sense (especially if you started out with no clue...)
29) Stalling / Avoidance - you ought to be writing, but there's a new episode of Lost....
30) Rainbow Plot Ninja - Kill 'em all and let God sort them out. Or at least a few of them. Ninjas swoop in, utterly disrupt your story, and then swoop out, often leaving your characters baffled. Sneak-sneak-sneak...
31) Popular Music Reference - most of us run on caffeine, sugar and music; insert a reference to some song that speaks to a scene or situation in your story
32) Hooky Day (Self-Care) - take a day off and do something nice for yourself; remind your family that you exist, treat yourself to a movie or dinner
33) *Winnipeg* Signed "Thank You" Card - signed the Thank You card for Winnipeg Public Library
34) Gauntlet: Calgary - posted to the Calgary word war thread (will also honor this star for the Saskatoon word war thread)
35) Gauntlet: Postcard - participating in the never-ending story postcard dare for the Tennessee ML - see the forum for more information and PM me for the mail address)
36) Use a different sense - we depend very heavily on sight and sound when we write; do a scene that uses scent, taste or touch as the primary sense for description
37) Back Up Your Novel (Nov 7,14,21,28) - it is imperative to regularly back up your work; keep it on a flash drive, save it to Windows SkyDrive or Google Docs, e-mail it to yourself or do all of the above frequently and regularly. Nothing sucks more than losing the only copy of your work at the 48k mark. Really.
That's everything on the badges. So now, whether you're in Emerson or Cranberry Portage, you can try to work through the same bizarre checklist we all do. *grin*
Feel free to post your progress to this thread; there's just something about those shiny, shiny stars that speaks to our monkey brain and motivates us ....
-Betty-
(Who really ought to be writing... does this mean I get my stalling star?
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Participant / Winner: 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08 ...09
Winnipeg, MB Municipal Liaison: 04, 05, 06*, 07*, 08*, 09*
* with help
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Reach the Winnipeg co-MLs at
http://www.nanowrimo.org/mlcontact
