United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Yoopers Who Wrote 50K

rparker — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:52:36 -0800

I know that there is a site wide 50K "shout out" post, but I'm curious to see how many people from the UP win this year. So post here when you hit 50K! I know that a few other people have already :)
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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Write-In on Saturday

Linnybelle — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:28:34 -0800

Hello! Sorry if this counts as a double post, but I wasn't sure if people were reading the note I put in my check in. BerserkerWriter and I are planning on hosting a write in on Saturday either at Cyberia in Houghton, or at the Conglomerate Cafe in Calumet. It'll be at 1 PM at either place because I finally have a weekend off and can sleep in. :)

Let us know if you're interested and where you'd like it to be. We're hoping to have some people besides ourselves. :) Brothers and sisters, you know...
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"I opened the fire door to four lips, none of which were mine, kissing; tightened my belt around my hips, where your hands were missing." -Ani DiFranco, 'Fire Door'

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Week three check in

scissor pirate — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:10:07 -0800

How is everybody doing?
Is anyone hosting/attending a write in this week in their area?
Who needs support?
Who is sailing along?

Please reply back and check in!

Mavis
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5th year participant
4-time Nano winner
4th year ML
Municipal Liason for Michigan's Upper Peninsula

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

please consider making a donation!

scissor pirate — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:03:44 -0800

It’s NaNoWriMo’s tenth year! From Adelaide to the Yukon Territories over 115,000 adults and 21,000 kids and teens are taking up the challenge of writing a novel in November.

NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program are possible because of the energy and optimism of a tiny staff at the Office of Letters and Light and an army of volunteers. Because the Office is a nonprofit, your tax-deductible donations are essential. It takes a lot of money to keep servers humming, websites up and running, forums moderated, pep talks flowing, the office functioning, and the coffeepot perking. NaNoWriMo is free to everyone, but it has lasted this long because people like you donate to the cause.

There are many ways to give something back to the organization that gives so much to you, and many of them take no money at all. You can:
* Donate directly by credit card, PayPal, or check
* Purchase some fine and stylish merchandise from the store
* If you are monetarily challenged, set GoodSearch as your search engine, and Yahoo will donate a penny for every search
* Set up a sponsorship page at Firstgiving.com and invite your friends and family to donate on your behalf
* Or, see this page for more ideas on donating when you are broke

Please donate today to keep NaNoWriMo alive and strong!

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5th year participant
4-time Nano winner
4th year ML
Municipal Liason for Michigan's Upper Peninsula

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

some inspiration

scissor pirate — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 16:32:15 -0800

I just found this:

http://www.wordle.net/

it's a pretty cool tool to generate ideas when you are stuck. And slightly addictive!

Anyone have a writer's block buster? Please add it here.
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5th year participant
4-time Nano winner
4th year ML
Municipal Liason for Michigan's Upper Peninsula

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

OK, HOW DO YOU FEEL?

Bingocliff — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:30:57 -0800

Today is Nov 5th and I decided to start a new topic hoping that this will carry through the month of November and that people of this region will check in and express their pleasures or displeasures. As I near 6,000 words I feel good about where this mainstream fiction story is headed as I follow a plot outine that was prepared ahead of schedule.

I took a break yesterday to head to the poll booth downtown Iron Mountain. Could anyone believe it was 70 degrees?
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" border="0" alt="nanowrimo_paticipant_100x100.gif" />

Clifford P Wollum

http://thecliffchamber.com/novels.htm

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Eskimos?

goodevilangel — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 00:57:03 -0800

Hi!

My name is Caitlin and I'm a resident of Delta County and a graduate of NMU. I got into NaNo while I was in school, and most of the people I know who participate are either still there or have graduated and moved home to other states. I got about half-way in 2006, and I won last year with my Sci-Fi Novel "Netstruck" which I'm hoping to get printed if I'm organized enough to finish it. This year I'm switching genres into Fantasy since that's mostly what I write when I'm NOT in the midst of NaNo.

I've been passing along the information about NaNo in the Escanaba area, and realized that I don't know how many people around here are actually participating. If you're in, around, or from the Escanaba area, drop me a reply! Also, I've made up a poster and they've got some great flyers on the site, so if anyone wants a copy of that, or wants to make a concerted effort to spread NaNo around here, let me know.
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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Hello, Yoopers! Writing, eh?

raeganm_1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:05:42 -0700

This should be pretty intuitive, but just in case, a short explanation: There's quite a few of us, spread throughout the region, and some of us may never meet face-to-face. However, that doesn't mean we have to be complete strangers. Just copy the format below (or create one of your own) and give everyone an introduction to who you are, what you write, and what you're doing here.

* * *

Intro: I'm Jennifer! I write Fantasy. I'm engaged as of Wednesday! I'm writing about mages, a half-dragon, a thief, and the complications that arise when we become too dependent on the changeable things in our lives, like people.

History of the Written Word: I've been writing forever, or so it seems. I remember 'publishing' a collaborative work in elementary school (on which I think I did most of the work, of course.) I started picking up Harlequin romances at age 11 (the thin ones, 180pages thereabouts. It was how Mum kept me from reading what's been termed 'girl porn'.) I've been an avid reader since, though I tired of romance at about age 15 and moved on to fantasy.

Today, I read pretty much anything that comes across my line of sight. Last year, I read Caeser Milan's "Caeser's Way", I've read a handful of Stephen King. My to-read queue at the moment is "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer and "World War Z" by Max Brooks.

NaNo Project: Mages, as stated above. It's an idea that's been swimming in my head for over a year, I think. Probably since last December, at the earliest. It's morphed from being about two normal twins to being two half-brothers (one is 9/16th dragon, the other is 1/16 dragon, so there are differences.) I have a bad guy who wouldn't stay as a bad guy, a bad guy who has a pretty good reason for his immoral actions, a hero and his love interest, another hero and his complete refusal to be paired up easily (though he's working on it.)

There are all kinds of magical creatures, though I don't play with most of them. I have created a magic system I haven't seen anywhere else (though that's not saying much. There is so much out there.) and that I'm happy with. I have characters I like.

The only draw-back I can see is that I may not have enough conflict as it's planned, but those tend to crop up during the writing, so I'm not actually worried about it at the moment.

Non-NaNo Things: I work part-time, I'm a full-time Physics student... I'm addicted to water. I like the Pandora music station online. My fiancee is my writing-beta. My little sister graduates from high school a year after I graduate from Northern. My older sister and I graduate Uni at the same time (different schools, and she goes a week before I do.) I'm really liking my Jazz Dance class, and I have a hankering to watch a scary movie.

- Rae
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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Copper Country?

KWDragon — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:21:12 -0700

Wow, there sure are a lot of people in this group. Any others from the Copper Country?
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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Go Gremlins!

chocolatebunny — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 14:11:37 -0800

My first year of NaNoWriMo. Are any other Gremlins going to join me?

Gremlins, Gremlins, don't be shy!

You gotta love that one, at least. : P
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-you know you love me (:

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

He said, she said... WHAT now?

raeganm_1 — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 09:16:18 -0800

In the course of writing, I'm constantly surprised by the arrival/appearance of characters I haven't planned on. And, of course, the existing characters are full of surprises themselves, when they chime in with quips, insults, observations, and random comments I'm not expecting.

What great lines (or punny lines, or laughable lines) have come out of the writing process for you this week? Was it dialogue? A line of narration? Or has your story been taken over by an unlikely supporting character who was just supposed to help along a plot point, but who hasn't gone away like they should afterwards? What surprises has NaNoWriMo delivered for you this week?

* * *

1) I actually found the first 8k words, all written in the first day, to be much easier than any of the words written during the rest of the week. This is because of RL interfering, of course, but it still surprises me.

2) There are twin boys living in my mage's home whom I knew of until the moment they appeared and began interacting with the rest of the cast. Now, however, their presence makes perfect sense and I can make perfect use of it, so yay!

3) My main character isn't a thief, he's a spy... and a kleptomaniac, which is all kinds of interesting.

4) My MC/protag (from #3) also has a bit of a cruel streak in him, as evidenced by his goading of the high mage.

"You're no one's first choice, are you?" Dav asked. He knew the words were cruel before they were spoken, and the rising tide of anger that swept over Nex was exactly what he had been after.

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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Kick-Off/writing group in Hancock/Houghton/Calumet area?

BerserkerWriter — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:05:17 -0700

Anybody in that area feel like putting together a kick-off party and/or a writing group for NaNo? I'm feeling very alone up here, lol.
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Live forever in that one white-hot moment, when the crowd screamed. When every note was a heartbeat. Burn across the sky.
/\/\from Soul Music by Terry Pratchett.
NaNo 08: In A City's Ashes
Dystopian horror/scifi.

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Week 1 Write-Ins at NMU

raeganm_1 — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:45:12 -0700

The following list of write-in times are subject to change, but I'll do my best to give warning at least 24 hours in advance, if not more; such warnings shall be posted as a replay and will have "CANCELLATION" as the subject heading.

The write-in times are broad. Please feel free to drop in as you can and stay as long as you can, but don't feel as if you are required to start and end each session exactly on time. There may or may not be unplanned word wars during any of the events listed below.

Sat, Nov. 1st: Write-In 2-7pm. 1240 Center St. #2.

Sun, Nov. 2nd: Write-In 2-7pm. 1240 Center St. #2. On Sundays, I also run a writing group starting at 1pm, same place. Feel free to drop in on the group!

Wed, Nov. 5th: Write-In 12-2pm. Skywalk betweem JXJ and West Science. (Hopefully it'll be a pretty day.)
Wed. Nov. 5th: Write-In 6:30-10pm. 1240 Center St. #2.

Sat, Nov. 8th: Write-In 12-5.
Sat, Nov. 8th: Word Wars! 1-1:30pm, and 3-3:30pm. In person, or via the internet (I'll create a post the day of so we can all track and compare numbers.)

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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Gas $ For Taking Some Boxes Downstate

RootyToo — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 08:59:46 -0800

I know this is off topic, but if there is anyone passing near around Florence, Wisconsin (near Crystal Falls or Iron Mountain)
who might be heading downstate to Ann Arbor and you have a big SUV or clean truck bed,
I have some boxes (3 long ones) to be picked up there and transported to Ann Arbor and can offer $40-50. for gas if you take them down there.
You can private e-mail me here at NaNoWriMo.
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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Kick-Off Party in Marquette!

raeganm_1 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:06:58 -0700

I know our region is not centered on Marquette, and that quite a few people here in the UP won't be able to make it. However, I'm offering up my home (or the home of a friend, if we get quite a crowd) for a Kick-Off party.

WHAT: NaNoWriMo Kick-Off Party!
WHEN: Halloween night, Oct. 31st, 2008. We'll start about 8pm.
WHERE: Marquette, exact locale TBD - it depends on how many people will or may show.
RSVP: send me a PM. I don't need a definite count, but an estimate would be lovely. Please PM, instead of leaving a message here (it'll make it easier for me to count.)

To-Bring: refreshment of choice (we'll discuss potluck vs. pizza possibilities in October), tools of the trade (computer, paper/pen,) sleeping bag...

I can hear someone asking now, "What's the plan, Stan?"

We'll meet around 8pm at the place of choice, my apartment or a friend's place. We'll eat, share refreshments, get to know each other. There might possibly be games, tacky and horrible games, because I am that kind of person. Music will most likely be listened to, a movie may be watched (or not.) When the clock tips over to 12:01am, November 1st, all those who have stuck around (or arrived late) will settle in to write down those first words of NaNoWriMo.

General rule is that I won't be kicking people out until the following morning (I'm a nice person that way,) so for those of you who like all-nighters, or are brave enough to fall asleep in a corner while others are still awake, bring a sleeping bag. Also, for those who stay (especially those who will make an hour+ drive to come and visit), we will discuss breakfast possibilities.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them here or PM me. If you are going to host a Kick-Off Party somewhere else, let the region know!

Rae,
Ready for November

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United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Houghton and Michigan Tech

Marcus IND — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:57:27 -0700

Any fellow techies out there? If there are enough we need to have a kickoff party on the first! :)
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http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/NanowrimoMiniGraph/415867.png

United States :: Michigan :: Marquette and the UP

Ironwood?

rparker — Mon, 6 Oct 2008 15:45:22 -0700

Is anyone else in/reasonably near Ironwood? I just moved to the UP from California, so it'd be great to meet some people.
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