USA :: Texas :: Austin

Love NaNo? Read this!

lazym — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:33:33 +0000

Hey everybody! As I write this, the NaNo FundOMeter is registering a whopping $415,295.00. To break even for the year, we need $109,705 more – to cover expenses for 2009 and retire debts. This will keep the lights on at the OLL office, the NaNo and YWP forums will stay up for another year, and the staff can start working on the 2010 event.

OLL would like to do more than just break even – they’d like to increase staff and server capacity, improve the website and the YWP, and expand the programs for an expected 250,000 novelists next year.

Nationally, fewer than 5% of participants have donated. Austin is doing far better than that, with over 11% of our folks donating directly, and a bunch of penguins donating at events. So far, we’ve donated $2,240.00 – just about $64 shy of the total we sent to NaNo all of last year. Still, of our 564 homed penguins, only 65 have sent money directly to OLL.

Let’s do something about this!

Chris Baty is launching a fundraising event this week: Help us embarrass ourselves this Tuesday! It will be an all-day online fundraising drive. The goal is to raise $100,000 in donations in 24 hours.

Chris says, “The most we've ever raised in a single day is $30,000, so this is a little loony. But we have faith. We also have a very special offer.

If NaNoWriMo and the Young Writers Program can raise $100,000 in donations through our online Donation Station on Tuesday the 24th, I will write a song about the fundraising drive—tentatively entitled "That Beautiful Tuesday"—and perform it on NaNoVideo with staff musical accompaniment and Lindsey doing an interpretive dance alongside us.

This video will be a keepsake that NaNoWriMo participants of all ages can treasure and wince at for decades to come. Better still, your donations will mean we can bring back NaNoWriMo and the YWP for another great year of inspiration and encouragement in 2010.

The drive commences at 12:01 AM Pacific on Tuesday the 24th and runs till 11:59 PM Pacific that night. Thanks for helping us in our wordy mission!”

Check out the Donation Derby

The Donation Derby page shows donations from all NaNoWriMo regions around the world. We’ve divided the regions into leagues based on each region’s number of homed, active participants in the prior year. The derby compares last year’s average donation to this year’s. The winner in each league will be the region with the highest average increase in donations between last year and this year.

Austin is currently #15 out of 21 regions in our league. Because we have lots of new people this year, we’re behind on our average donations so far. But I believe we can move up the board – and arrive in positive territory soon. There are many ways to donate – and some of them cost you nothing. If you are enjoying your NaNo experience, please donate to the cause.

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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Events: Week four! (updt 11/23)

lazym — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:00:42 +0000

Here's our calendar for the fourth week of NaNoWriMo. There may be additions and changes, so check back before setting out.

SUNDAY, NOV. 22

What: Write-in at Café Caffeine
When: 2 pm – 5 pm
Where: Café Caffeine - South Austin 909 W. Mary St., Austin, TX
What: Weekly write-in at one of our partner cafes. Look for a write-in sign and a penguin. Lazym will be out of town for this one, but there will be other friendly writers there.
Who: Age 13 and over, please. No need to RSVP or adhere specifically to these hours, though live music is scheduled for 5 pm.
Contact: lazym
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MONDAY, NOV. 23

What: Write-in with the Austin Java Company
When: 7:30 pm – 10 pm
Where: Austin Java Café and Bar - Centralish 1206 Parkway, Austin, TX
Description: Join with the Austin Java Company writer's group for a NaNoWriMo write-in. Monday is $3 wine night. Look for BubbaSue the penguin, and expect “the group” to be scattered around the place.
Who: We suggest you be 18 or over to attend this write-in due to possible adult discussions and salty language. No need to RSVP.
Contact: Mex Headroom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TUESDAY, NOV. 24

What: Write-in at Flightpath
When: 9 am – 11 am
Where: Flightpath Coffeehouse – near 51st 5011 Duval St., Austin
Description: Join returning Wrimo Marianne (mtb0001) for morning writing every Tuesday in November. To find Marianne, look for the Moomintroll on the table.
Who: It's OK to bring your kids if they are well-behaved and don't bother the writers. No need to RSVP.
Contact: mtb0001

What: Write-in at Summermoon
When: noon - 4 pm
Where: Summermoon Coffee Bar - South Austin 3115 S 1st St # 1b, Austin, TX 78704
Description: Join Myke22 for a Tuesday afternoon write-in. The venue requests that everyone purchase food or drink. The parking lot is small, but there's plenty of parking on the side streets.
Who: No need to RSVP.
Contact: Myke22

What: Write-in Pflugerville Library
When: 6 pm – 8 pm
Where: Pflugerville Community Library, 102 S. 10th St., Pflugerville
Description: Write-in with librarian and NaNo hatchling Julia Riley in the library conference room. Free wi-fi is available.
Who: All ages welcome. No RSVP necessary.
Contact: Julia Riley at 251-9185

What: Write-in at Genuine Joe’s
When: 7 pm – 9 pm
Where: Genuine Joe Coffeehouse - North 2001 W. Anderson Lane, Austin
Description: Join veteran Wrimo mapelba at one of our partner coffeehouses every Tuesday night. She may be a little late this week, but she will be there – and so will other Wrimos. Expect the group to be scattered throughout the café. Mapelba will have a NaNo sign and Opus the penguin with her.
Who: This write-in is not especially for kids but well-behaved kids are welcome. No RSVP necessary.
Contact: mapelba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 25

What: Write-in at the Green Muse Café
When: 9 am – 11 am
Where: Green Muse Café - South 519 W. Oltorf St.
Description: For folks with their mornings free, here's a write-in for you! kswope has been hosting a morning write-in at the Green Muse for years. There's nearly always strange art and bad music. Gotta love South Austin - it's great for getting the creative juices flowing. You’ll usually find Kendra at the large table in the back room. Look for the penguin.
Who: This write-in is not especially for kids but well-behaved kids are welcome. No RSVP necessary.
Contact: kswope

What: Write-in at La Madeleine
When: 6 pm – 10 pm
Where: La Madeleine - Arboretum 9828 Great Hills Trail, # 650, Austin, TX 78759
Description: Join WittyGlib for a write-in at the La Madeleine at Great Hills Trail and 183. Although WittyGlib may not be able to get away from his houseguests, the write-in will go on! Look for – laptops and NaNo shirts, and don’t be afraid to walk up to someone and say “do you NaNo?”
Who: No RSVP necessary. Well-behaved children are welcome.
Contact: WittyGlib

What: Write-in at Vino100
When: 6 pm – 9 pm
Where: Vino100 in Round Rock 3021 S IH 35, Round Rock
Directions to the store are at vino100rr.com -- it's on the southwest corner of I-35 and SH-45, a couple of stores down from the Target.
Description: Vino 100 Round Rock and returning Wrimo DaShlom are pleased to host three Wednesday write-ins this year: Nov. 4th, 18th & 25th.
Note that Da Shlom will not be hosting on the 25th, but do show up anyway!
Dimas serves up wine by the glass and bottle, as well as nibbles like cheeses, bread and oil plates, beef quesadillas and the like. There's bottled beer and ale, as well as soft drinks (water is free). Outside food and drink are not allowed, so please come hungry and thirsty (and with money).
Who: This write-in is appropriate for folks ages 11 and up. It's a wine store, so if you've got someone who might run wild, this probably isn't the best way for you to spend your paycheck. :)
Contact: Da Shlom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THURSDAY, NOV. 26

Happy Turkey Day! Don’t let the holiday eat your novel. You CAN find time to write, and there will be word wars tonight from 9 to 11 pm in the chat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRIDAY, NOV. 27

What: NaNoBruMo (National Brunch Morning)
When: 9 am – 3 pm
Where: Our location has changed to a home on Steck (near Spicewood Springs, just West of Mesa).
What: Austin’s traditional day-after-Thanksgiving brunch and write-in. We ask for donations to cover our costs, and whatever is left is sent to the Office of Letters and Light. For details, see this post.
Who: Space is limited. Please RSVP to DaShlom at dashlom(at)gmail(dot) com with how many writers, how many chairs, and what food you are bringing. Also, please note that you'll need to climb a flight of stairs to reach the write-in.
Contact: Da Shlom at the email address above.

What: Eleventh Annual P(ie) Party
When: 3 – 9 pm
Where: Contact Da Shlom for the northend address: dashlom(at)gmail(dot)com
What: 11th Annual Pi(e) party for Wrimos, their families, guests, and many non-Wrimoers. This is a potluck; bring something round! Details are here.
Who: All ages event.
Contact: Da Shlom at the email address above.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SATURDAY, NOV. 28

What: Write-in with the Round Rock Writers
When: 10 am - 1 pm
Where: Hastings Books & Music 2200 I-35 Round Rock, TX 78681
What: Returning Wrimo pcalico and the Round Rock Writers Meetup group invite Austin NaNoers to join them at the tables at the back of the store, behind the music section. You're welcome to bring your own food and drink. End time is flexible - peeps may stay longer if they wish, and if attendance is light, the write-in might end earlier than 1 pm.
Who: Please RSVP if possible so pcalico can prepare the right number of chairs and power strips.
Contact: pcalico And see the calendar at the Round Rock Writers Meetup Group for details.

What: Kid-friendly write-in
When: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Where: Pflugerville City Park 515 City Park Road, Pflugerville
What: Write outdoors while the kids whoop it up around you. Ballyhoot, a returning Wrimo, will host this write-in every Saturday except the 21st. Bring drinks and snacks or a full-blown picnic. Bring a blanket and/or chair in case the stone picnic tables are taken. Stay as long as you like.
Meet at the stone picnic tables – Once you park, walk past the playscape – the tables are next to the gazebo. Look for a NaNo sign or a penguin.
Who: All ages are welcome, with or without kids.
Contact: ballyhoot

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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Housekeeping notices! Please read. (Update 11/13 ~8 am)

lazym — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:28:58 +0000

Please read the most recent item(s) in this thread for updates on things I'd really really like everyone to know.

Please make sure you affiliate with us, and make Austin your home region. If you're affiliated, I'll be able to reach you with informative and encouraging emails. If you are homed with us, your word count and donations will be included in our regional totals. Show your Penguin pride and home with us today.

If you are a returning Wrimo, please take a moment to make sure you are still homed with us, and don't miss the note below.

Here's how to get affiliated and homed:

If you’re not affiliated with Austin:
Go to My NaNoWriMo and click My Regions. On the Regions tab, locate Austin, and click Join. Then click Join again.
If you are already affiliated:
Do not pass Go. Proceed directly to the Home Region tab.
On the Home Region tab, click the circle beside United States::Texas::Austin, and click the Set Home Region button.
Now you’re homed with Austin!

NEW THIS YEAR: Please make sure you have accepted the Terms and Conditions. If you don’t, you’ll be a “user” instead of a “participant,” and your affiliating and homing will have no effect. Go to My NaNoWriMo and click Edit Info. User Settings. Scroll to the bottom on the account settings tab, read the text, and click all those boxes. Then click Submit and you’re an Official NaNoWriMo participant!
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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

>00< Born to the PURPLE! - Validate your novel and be an official winner!

Caeraerie — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:52:46 +0000

OK, so I'm a bit early this year with my Purple Post; usually I wait until we can actually start validation. But I'm all fired up because I spent the last two days flying between Austin and Las Cruces (NM) and writing while the kids went to see Grandma.

So, having stuffed almost 70K in the box in two days (and still looking for another bit tonight!), I'm opening up the shout-out thread for those people who have finished the course. Who are ready to validate...

Speaking of validation (for those not in the know), this is how it works.

Step 1: This will work with either an uploaded (preferably text only) version of your novel, or a cut-n-paste job. Either way, save your novel, then copy and paste the entire thing into a text editor (a la Notepad).

Step 2: Replace all hyphens with a space. Yes, I know this seems to be a cheat, but the word-count robots don't see two-words as two words, they see it as one. So replacing the hyphens gets your word count accurate.

Step 3: Scramble your text (if you want). The easiest way is to use the "Find and Replace" feature, just seeting each letter to X. If you are using Word, there's a was to using regular expressions to format the entire work in one command, but it takes something approaching forever. My recommendation: change E, T, O, A, N, and S to X and call it good. Trust me, no one will be able to read it after that.

Step 4: Beginning the 25th, upload or cut and paste your scrambled, de-hyphenated (is that like decaffienated?) novel into the word count validators. If you are unusually verbose, do the poor robots a small favor and just post a portion of the work...enough to win without killing the bots. (Yes, I'm looking at me when I say that).

Step 5: Bask in your Purple Bar Glory!

Simple, no?

Keep it up Austin! You people are going strong!
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

Challenge 2009: Trash Talkin' Texas Style

lazym — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 02:07:44 +0000

Hello, Lushguins! This thread is cross-posted. That means it will appear in both the Austin and Houston forums simultaneously. Your replies to this thread will appear automagically in both the Austin and Houston regional lounges.
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Hiya! It's flickguy here, via lazym. I asked her to post this for me so it could be cross-posted to Houston.

My fellow Lushguins, as of Midnight on the morning of November 1, WE ARE AT WAR! A word count war, that is. Fighting to write the most words on average over our very worthy opponents in Maryland.

Here is the promised Trash Talk Thread, in which we will goad them into wasting precious hours bad-mouthing us while we ignore the bad-mouthing and write write write.

It's a brilliant strategy, no?

What follows is an excerpt from the Official Rules to remind us not to go overboard in our goading and bad-mouthing:

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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.

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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Houston

Austin word counts

lazym — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:26:37 +0000

Heyo! I've got some numbers for you, and I'll post them regularly in this thread. Last year, I was able to post these almost daily. This year I am sooooo busy that I can't promise that. But I'll do what I can. I know how much some of you love your numbers!
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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Anyone at UT?

Missfrancon — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:39:41 +0000

Hey everybody! I'm just wondering how many of my fellow writers are at UT...I'm figuring in a school of what, fifty thousand? I can't be the only one here.
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

North Austin writers?

WittyGlib — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:14:33 +0000

Anyone living south of Cedar Park and North of Mopac looking for a regular write in and social gathering? Looking for a few hearty souls to share coffee and support.

WittyGlib
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

Emails from your Municipal Liaison (ML)

lazym — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:48:18 +0000

Well, it looks like the website is pretty stable, but there may be a problem with the system MLs use to send you emails. In case you aren't getting emails from me - or Headquarters, for that matter - there could be several reasons. Rather than go into all the possibilities at the moment, I thought I'd start posting my emails on the forum. I'll make a reply in this thread each time there's a new one.

Update: 11/3
Since Halloween, there's been a giant clog in the NaNoWriMo email system, so I've avoided sending emails to our (currently) 1,744 affiliates. I've got a lot to tell the folks in our region, so I sent emails yesterday to our AuNoWriMo Yahoo and AuNoWriMo Facebook groups. Since not everyone is a part of those groups, I'm also posting it here. When the email system clears, you can expect to receive mails from me again via NaNoWriMo - assuming you're affiliated with Austin and have chosen to receive emails from the event.
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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Flightpath write-in

mtb0001 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:55:44 +0000

I woke up late and got to Flightpath around 9:15. If you're here, come say hi. I'm in the front room with a Moomintroll.
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--
Marianne

USA :: Texas :: Austin

VINO 100 ROUND ROCK WRITE-IN INFO

Da Shlom — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:34:00 +0000

I hate shouting, but it's occasionally useful. :)

As you know from the calendar, there's a write-in at the Round Rock Vino 100 Wednesday, from 6-9PM. Here's the scoop:

It's a WINE store. But there's beer as well (snooty and plebian both), and folks can buy coke, diet coke, red bull, arizona iced tea & diet iced tea.

For those 21 and above, there's a special on wines with a mystery theme: Phantom and Masquerade are $1 off per glass. People can buy any wine by the bottle (drink there and take home leftovers, or just buy bottles to go), order cheese platters, quesadillas and all manner of other nummies

Their web site is www.vino100rr.com, The map to the location is here.

Please PLEASE RSVP (along with what you might be drinking) to Da Shlom so we can be properly stocked.
Cheers!

Da Shlom
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Help, my keyboard's wearing out!!!
My NaNo blog for the year: http://nnwm09.blogspot.com/

USA :: Texas :: Austin

If it QWAQs like a duck...

tweetywill — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:32:01 +0000

You knew it wouldn't take long for someone to get the QWAQ back up. For those new to the concept, QWAQ stands for Quote Within A Quote. Here is how it goes:
1. Don't hit reply. That breaks the QWAQ and a whole truckload of bad karma will descend on you like a swarm of angry ticks.
2. Hit "Quote" Then, type your own inane and pointless comment. Commenting both above and below the collected quotes is acceptable, although we generally reserve the bottom for the snarky portion of our inane messages.
3. Hit "Submit"
4. Watch the QWAQ grow througout the month, and revel in its beauty and browser-crashing power!

Now... don't break the QWAQ! :-)
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Tweetywill
The Piker Press

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Writer's Resources - reaching 50K

lazym — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:04:48 +0000

Last night at the most excellent planning presentation, a bunch of web resources and personal organizational techniques were discussed. I managed to grab some of them as they flew by, and I'm hoping others who were there will fill in the gaps. Also - everyone - if you have favorite resources, anti-procrastion (or pro-procrastination) tools - anything you'd like to add, please do so.

Here's what I've got at the moment:

Planning or getting unstuck

StumbleUpon Helpful, fun, and dangerous! This web resource displays random web pages for you. You can identify sites you like or don't like, and StumbleUpon will learn your preferences and begin displaying more (or fewer) of that type of site for you. This morning, I got hooked on graphics and checked out some amazing photos from China. Maybe that's what my novel will be about!

Seventh Sanctum is a collection of generators that create random characters, plots, ideas, and more to use in your novel.

Wikipedia The Wise and All-Powerful Wiki displays a different article every day on the main page. Plus, if you click Random Article under the globe on any wiki page it will display something truly random for you. Who knows where the next great idea will come from?

Racking up the word count

Word wars We're planning to have an online chat virutally every night in November from 8-10 pm. Much of the time, we'll be setting up timed word wars. Begin typing when told to do so, stop when it's time to stop, and compare your word count with others online at the time. (More on the chat will be posted soon.)

You can also set up a word war for a longer time span. Maybe the weekend is coming up, and you're behind on your word count. Post a challenge on the forum - set a start and end time, note your word count, and the race is on. You can even up the ante by betting something - maybe the loser will wear a tutu to the TGIO, or send $5 to NaNo.

Dr. Wicked's Write or Die This web application encourages writing by punishing the tendency to avoid it. Start typing. If you keep typing, you're fine, but if you stop, there will be consequences! Some people find this app encouraging, others find it intimidating, and one of our authors lost words last year when trying to save her text. Please be cautious if you use this application. Kamikaze mode WILL start deleting words if you stop typing.

Tips

There is no perfect time. Don't wait for "the right time" or "enough time" to write. Carry a small notebook or electronic device and write whenever you can - even if it's just a sentence or two.
Impose artificial deadlines. Do you have to be at work or class at 8 am? Get up an hour before hand and start writing. With little time to write, you don't have time to procrastinate, and you'll be amazed at how much you can get done in an hour.

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ML Captain of Capital Ideas & Austin, TX Municipal Liaison

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Official NaNoBruMo NATIONAL NOVEL BRUNCH MORNING invite

Da Shlom — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:52:23 +0000

Who: YOU!
What: National Novel Brunch Morning (NaNoBruMo)
When: Friday, November 27th, 2009
Where: 4159 Steck Avenue (entrance is west of Mesa on Spicewood Springs Road), #294. Map is here. Phone #: (512)970-8558
Why: We need to make our goals, and we need to collect money for the OL&L project

Okay, you're read the book, seen the movie, ridden the ride. Now it's time for you to experience NaNoBruMo on your own flesh.

Come! Bring your chair, your laptop, your notepad, your bottle or rare leviathan ink! Bring your tired body, your hungry belly, your word-deficient intellect.

Come, the day after Thanksgiving, November the 27th at 9AM. Come ready to blast through any preconceived notions of what you can and cannot achieve in a dedicated writing sprint.

09:00:00 Breakfast tacos, Turkish coffee with cardamom, orange juice, tasty pastries.
09:01:37 The first thousand words of the morning
14:59:58 Work complete.
15:15:00 Arrive at the 11th Annual Pi(e) Party (q.v. this forum)

In the middle: lot's of writing, laughing, silliness and more writing. Chimes to be rung every thousand words. Applause to be garnered with every chiming bell.

You bring: a chair ('ve got seats for seven, but can seat up to 20 if folks bring folding chairs). Bring some kind of food, according to the list below.

2G Orange Juice

1 lb. bacon

2 dozen organic jumbo or extra large eggs

3 dozen 10" tortillas (the ones that need cooking are best)

eggs, milk and pancake mix

Paper plates, plasticware and paper towels

So: to recap: Day after Thanksgiving, 9AM-3PM. Writing, bring chairs, breakfast food as above, writing stuff (there's wifi and tons of outlets!)

What you need to do?

RSVP to dashlom(at)gmail(dot) com with how many people, how many chairs and what you are bringing. PLEASE GIVE ME A NUMBER!
How many are you?
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Help, my keyboard's wearing out!!!
My NaNo blog for the year: http://nnwm09.blogspot.com/
- USA :: Texas :: Austin

Personal Challenges

Caeraerie — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:14:56 +0000

With kswope, our usual Wordcount Warlord, not reporting for duty, I announce that I have stabbed her in the back and swiped the mantle for myself.

It's itchy. Maybe I should have cleaned it off first.

Oh well.

Personal Challenges are a fantastic way to make words happen. You challenge yourself (or someone else!) to write a specific number of words by a specific time. You also set a failure penalty (usually cash, occasionally humiliation).

Example: I (Caeraerie) challenge myself to write 20,000 words or more by 11/7/2009. Failure means I cough up $10 for the OLL.

Example 2: Caeraerie and lazym challenge each other, starting 11/5 and ending 11/7. Highest number of words written on those two days wins. Loser pays $10 to OLL and has to wear a tutu at the TGIO party.

Get the idea?

Post your personal challenges in this forum, or use the NaNoHelper Challenge feature (http://www.fearingisland.net) to set up your challenge.

Go Penguins!
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

You know you're ready for NaNoWriMo to be over when...

Missfrancon — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:35:01 +0000

You're writing papers for class and you find yourself focusing not on content, but on getting as many words as you can.
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

Are you behind? You can do it.

helenathemuse — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:39:04 +0000

I wrote 10,042 words today. Yes, today. In 10 1/2 hours.

Pick a day. Put butt in chair. Turn off the internet, TV and stow all electronic devices (except the one you are typing on.)

And catch up.

Now, GO!
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_______________________
Deanna
Austin ScriptFrenzy ML
www.deannaroy.com

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Atlanta v. Austin Online Word War - Friday, 9pm eastern, 8pm Central. Join us!

mattkinsi — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:51:56 +0000

The Pandas of NaNoLanta will be taking on the Penguins of Austin this friday night at 9 eastern/8 central time in an online word war. There will be at least two separate 15 minute wars, one will be determined by the highest average, and another by the top 2 participants on each side. So, join us in the regional chatroom and root your side on.

The Atlanta room is at http://goodchatting.com/rooms/nanolanta.php
The Austin room is at http://goodchatting.com/rooms/nanoaustin.php

A few minutes before the start time, join up in your regional room to participate.

If you're an IRC geek, the server is irc.goodchatting.com and the rooms are #nanolanta and #nanoaustin

This will hopefully be put up in linked between both regions if I don't mess it up :-) So, use this thread for some good spirited smack talk :-D

Go Pandas!
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Back for year #6, and MLing for the first time. Go NaNoLanta!
Co-Moderator of LitFic Genre Board
This year's Novel: "Just A Normal Thanksgiving."
Goal: 135k (9 chapters, 15k a pop)
Genre: LitFic
POV: Rotating First Person Stream of Consciousness

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Write-in somewhere central-ish tonight, 11/19?

mtb0001 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:25:01 +0000

Anyone want to meet at Flightpath or Epoch this evening to write? Genuine Joe's has an open mike, so I would prefer not to meet there. Austin Java is also a possibility if they have their heat on.
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--
Marianne

USA :: Texas :: Austin

>oo< Online Write-Ins for Virtual Penguins

akelsey333 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:14:38 +0000

The Austin NaNo chatroom is up and running! Come and join us for nightly NaNo chats, words of encouragement and awesomely fantastic wordcount-boosting Word Wars with everyone's favorite bot, Battle Jesus.

The chats will be held every night from 9 pm - 11 ish.

Keep in mind that the chatroom needs to stay family friendly for the younger writers, so keep it PG-13, please ;)

~~~

To use the GoodChatting site:

Go to http://www.goodchatting.com/rooms/nanoaustin.php

The owner of GoodChatting.com would like users to register their nickname. Here's how to do it:

1. Go to the website. Fill in the "Nickname" text box with the name you'd like to register and hit the connect button.
2. Type: /msg nickserv register YOURPASSWORD YOUREMAIL
3. That's it. Quick and painless.

The next time you connect to the server:

1. Type your nickname in the "Nickname" textbox and hit connect.
2. Type: /msg NickServ IDENTIFY password (replacing "password" with your password) and hit the enter button.

You're ready to chat and Word War with us.

~~~

You do not need to download an IRC client to use the chat. However, if you actually know what this means, and you would like to use one:

For Windows: GoodChatting suggests you use mIRC software (http://www.mirc.com). Although it mentions a 30 day trial, this is actually a free program with the option to donate to their project.

For the Mac: Snak (http://www.snak.com/Snak.html) or Colloquy (http://colloquy.info/) are both fine options/

Everyone:To connect to our channel, go to the server list and select "Goodchatting." Then select "Random Server." The pop up needs to be filled out in this order:

GoodChatting.com
irc.goodchatting.com
6667
#nanoaustin

Then fill out your nickname, hit connect and you should be in. The next time you log in, you should just be able to connect, since it seems to save the last client you used.

~~
If you have any questions, feel free to post them here and I'll do my best to answer =)

Thank you, Julie and the crew at GoodChatting.com for donating your server and software to the Austin Penguins during NaNoWriMo.
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

What Books Inspire You to Write?

jinxleah — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:43:32 +0000

What books inspire you to write? Is there a book that you've read that made you think that you could actually do this crazy insane writing thing? Maybe you've written for a very long time, but not very seriously, then you read a book by someone that let you think that you might actually be able to be a serious writer, even if you never get published. The kind of book where the author seems to be talking to you and telling you that you can actually do this thing, and maybe even one of these days get published. What is that book?

For me it is Stephen King's "On Writing." It can be boiled down to one sentence, "Read, write, and don't stop." It was the book that made me think that just maybe I could pull this writing thing off and maybe even one day become published.

So, what book will you be looking at three weeks from now when you are in the dark doldrums and convinced that you will never finish this thing?

Leah Adams
Jinxleah
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

East of Austin

farmtomarketroad — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:42:30 +0000

Is there anyone east of Austin? Manor, Elgin, Taylor?

Lonely write wants to know.
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

Plot Ninja!

jinxleah — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:53:04 +0000

I opened my plot ninja Sunday. Talk about a great plot ninja! It was from BoneHart, and it said that I ran over a box while driving. What was in the box.

This inspired me so much that I think that I have a new book idea! My MC has so far hit the box, and has managed to take it home, but hasn't been able to open it yet. It's become a major plot point!

Has anyone else opened their plot ninjas? What was the result?

Leah Adams
JinxLeah
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USA :: Texas :: Austin

Green Muse Write in tomorrow (11/18)

ribbit — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:30:31 +0000

Does anyone know if they would let me bring in my dog? It would make my day flow easier if he could come with me and we could leave for the country from there. He's ginormous but he'll just want to make friends and then sleep. He's getting up in years.
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A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.

USA :: Texas :: Austin

Question from Lock-In

ballyhoot — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:17:05 +0000

Hey, if you were at the Lock-in and you used one or more of my Nano cards in your novel, I would love to read how you incorporated the card into your novel.

Basically, I had created a bunch of cards, which anyone could draw from the deck. The idea was that then they had to somehow incorporate the word or phrase written on the card within their novel within the next 100 words. I know some people used and I think it would be fun/funny to see how they got pulled into your book.

Any takers?

Thanks,
Kyle (ballyhoot)
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