Awesomeness of KOP & future meets!!

Hey Ellie,

thanks for all the hard work you put into today, i think everyone had a great time for sure :) i sure did. and it was greta to meet everyone again, and others for the first time

cheers,

chris/mordechai

PS, the midnigth startt idea sounds good...

2005 - "Untitled SciFi Novel" (Won)
2006 - Epic Phail
2007 - "Untitled SciFi Novel" (Sci-Fi)

User formerly known as Kezzaa

Glad to hear it was a good day. I spent the morning watching a bobcat dig up the ground, and cursing the concreters who cancelled on us. Don't think I'd be able to make a midnight meet either, but hope everyone has a great time!

NaNo '06 - Divided Loyalties

Midnight meeting sounds good - I'd probably be up for that.

Still, it needs to be planned with the assumption that people won't be able to get home from it because, y'know, I wouldn't. So it would have to be either a place where we write until the morning (long enough for public transport to run) or somewhere where we can sleep (which pretty much means someone's house).

... and it would have to have powerpoints, because laptop batteries do not run eternal.

So, that sounds pretty much like someone's house. The only other place that fits this description is a university - I know that the Griffith technology building is open 24/7 (having essentially lived there for several days). Someone's house might have a nicer atmosphere however ... though less computers.
... and yeah, that's all I've got.

I think the only way I could manage a midnight meeting would be if I wrote until I left to go to work -- and that would not be a great way to get through the rest of the day. :-)

But depending on what gets decided (no ideas here, I'm afraid) I may yet decide that they can do without me for a day!

2005 - Array Wars Episode 1.0: The New Hope Strikes Back [60522]
2006 - Array Wars Episode 2.0: Return of the Phantom Menace [73689]
2007 - Array Wars Episode 3.0: Attack of the Stiff [?????]

They were my brownies! Gosh! (You do have the container right?)

I had a great time and would love to catch up on Oct 31, but, a little thing called school on Nov 1 prevents me from doing so.

Hope to catch up with everyone again soon - hopefully near the beginning-ish of Nano. :D

-- "Lovely" Elle

"They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here tod

It would be great to meet up for the midnight countdown, but I might have to work (lazy boss hasn't posted next weeks roster yet), and it would probably be a bit hard for me to get there that late. But I wish everyone else fun and good luck for Thursday.

Chewy

A.k.a. Chewy... I'm Here...

*giggle* I thought that would get your attention ;-) And yes, I have the container. The brownies were a huge hit! There weren't any left within an hour of getting home.

Ellie
Municipal Liaison for Brisbane, Australia

NaNo Title: Her Private Dancer
Genre: Sci-Fi Erotica (minus the tentacles...)

Well, I would've turned up, but I forgot about it... and I hadn't realllly come to the conclusion that I wanted to do it yet. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to make it to the midnight kick off due to already taking a couple of days off work to go to the Matthew Reilly signing and do a few other things... oh well... Hope to make it to some events this year.

Hell, I'd be up for a midnight meet. However, like others public transport is a problem for the getting home thing.
I personally think the Griffith idea is a good one, however it's probably not the most convenient place to convene. Then again, what is? It's convenient for me!
So yeah, I'm up for it and I don't really care where it is, although I would prefer to be somewhere where I have access to a computer as I don't have a laptop.

Well, yeah, Griffith would probably be one of the least convenient places to get to.

... anyone go to QUT, which would have the be *the most* convenient place to get to ever? (no envy here, no, not at all...)

I won't be able to make it, alas.
I have work til 4:30 wednesday, and then i work like...eight hours on thursday. So I'd be pretty stuffed.
Plus, the whole transport problem.
Otherwise I so totally WOULD.

Being midnight and all during the week (Brisbane shuts down post 8pm like a creepy Stonemason town), we're pretty limited in venues.

We could do the Pancake Manor, which is open 24/7 and well, cheap at least. Other than that we're talking some of the swanker cafes - the cocktail bar at the Brissie Hilton stays open all night (and it's layout is actually pretty awesome for a gaggle of writers), but it's prohibitively expensive.

Times running short, kids :-P

You can most likely count me in, as long as I can convince my friend to come (he's got the car; not yet signed up for Nano).

Pancake Manor would be probably the nicest place to meet, though it would rather suck for those without laptops. Do we care about them? :P

Anyway, someone take the initiative and decide where to meet, otherwise we'll still be pondering the point by the time midnight tomorrow rolls around. :P I'll probably need to make some kind of arrangements in order to go, so something soon would be wonderful.

There are writers without laptops? Do they lug around an old typewriter or scratch their ideas down in cuneiform? (actually, that sounds kind of cool)

In the dark days before my laptop, I *shock* used to write with a pen and notebook, then transcribe it next time I was near my PC. These days, I feel as if somebody is trying to cut off sensitive pieces of me if they ask me to put the damn thing down, and I carry an extra battery so I can work for 8 hours straight without power if I need to :-D

I'm voting for the Pancake Manor for two reasons: it will be a nice environment, and I do care about the people without laptops!

I have a solution for the laptop-challenged among us. I have in my hands a Linux CD that supports multiple keyboards. What does this mean? Two (or more) people typing into two separate documents on the same laptop. It works on my laptop, and I have a spare keyboard, so I can offer typing ability to one other person without a laptop. I can provide additional CDs, so everyone who is willing to share a laptop or has a spare keyboard should say so so that I know how many extra CDs to bring.

If you want to share your laptop: you will have to run Linux. You will not be able to use your favourite writing program while sharing; you are stuck with whatever comes on the CD. Hopefully the good karma from sharing your computer outweighs this point.

I can probably bring at least one and possibly two more keyboards (so up to three in total), so everyone who is willing to share, yell out! Also pipe up if you are one of those with a laptop deficit, so we know if we'll have enough.

What's the keyboard sharing app? There may be a way to run it on my Mac lappy (BSD & X11), or barring that I keep an Ubuntu 7.01 install safely tucked away in a VM.

i.e. I'm quite happy to share use of my lappy if I can make it to the meet, but I don't have the ability to run Live CDs - it's gotta be installed.

The keyboard sharing app is called MPX - it's a replacement for some of the input elements in the X windows server. It looks like a pain to install - you have to get the X source and then recompile it with the MPX changes. If you want to give it a blast, here's the website: http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/mpx/

Can you boot the live CD from whatever VM software you're using? I still have the ISO image for the live CD, if that helps.

Note to other writers bringing Mac laptops: the CD will only work on MacBooks or MacBook Pros, not any of the previous models.

Cool idea with the multiple keyboards - I have a spare but I have this suspicion that it's one of those mega obsolete ones that won't actually plug into anything that isn't ~10 years old.

Anyone know about the power point situation at the Pancake Manor? I'm pretty sure my battery can only go for about 2 hours - would be tragic to get to 2am and run out of puff.

Edit: Yeah, it's an old one ... unless someone has an adapter for it it's pretty well worthless, though it's really quite filthy in any case, so perhaps that's for the best. Would be happy to plug in someone else though.

The brownies were wonderful! Thanks! :-)

2005 - Array Wars Episode 1.0: The New Hope Strikes Back [60522]
2006 - Array Wars Episode 2.0: Return of the Phantom Menace [73689]
2007 - Array Wars Episode 3.0: Attack of the Stiff [?????]

So, when do we meet, exactly? I've been thinking at around 7-8, hopefully not any later than that.

Any updates on the power point situation? I have a vague 'I think so' from one person, but that's about it.

We need some of those spiffy clockwork powered laptops... Nothing would stop us then!

EDIT: I just rang them and was told that there are no power points. Anyone have any bright ideas?

My laptop can hold out for 5-6 hours if all it's being used for it writing, so lack of powerpoints doesn't bother me. Most laptops can run for a long time - just turn all the power saving settings up to maximum, and turn off bluetooth and wifi. That should be fine for writing. For those whose laptops lack the stamina, you might have to - gasp! - socialise. Or bring notepads.

Well, I shall be setting out shortly, and should get there at around 7:20. With some luck you shall all show up at some point also, and everything will be just dandy. :)

*gasps* I stray away from my internet life for a mere few weeks and you've all done things like had a KOP and thought up brilliant ideas such as the Pancake Manor for a Midnight kick-off... stuff sure does happen around here.
Anyway, if a few more people wander into the forum and annouce that they'll be there tonight, then I'll come along, too!

But a note to all those without laptops: scribbling your first few chapters down with pen and paper has it's advantages... like when you type it all up the next day and find a thousand sentences which can be bulked out and added too :) This worked really well for me the first year.

Fark. Man, I would have been there too. Oh well, at least this way I have a computer in front of me so I can type.

I will make one of these meets eventually. I'll cry if I don't.

Hey all,

So what's happening with write-ins - I'm sososososo keeeeeeeeeen :D

FIRST WRITE-IN!!

Date: Wednesday 7/11
Time: Between 12pm and 4pm (you don't have to be there for the whole thing)
Where: Throw some ideas at me, people!

Just remember - we will be having one WRITE-IN (all writing, little talking) and one SOCIAL MEET (all talking, little writing) each week so don't feel like you have to go to every meet. I know I won't be because of work commitments. They will alternate between the two types of meets - one week day and one weekend each week!)

So give me some suggestions guys! Pref. inner-city and near public transport or some parking :-)

Ellie
Municipal Liaison for Brisbane, Australia

NaNo Title: Her Private Dancer
Genre: Sci-Fi Erotica (minus the tentacles...)

double post!

Don't think I can make the week day writeins due to the whole full-time work thing. But I do work in the city so maybe could drop by at lunch.

The city's so busy during the day I'm not sure where the best place to meet would be!

There is an open pavement area with some seating in between the casino and the new brisbane city square library - but don't know how comfortable that would be.

The library has some space for small groups of people - maybe like 10 here and there - but not really a big space altogther.

Sadly -- and here's a line I never thought, even a couple of years ago, that I'd be saying -- I suspect that my social life may get in the way of my, uh, other social life! :-)

I'm pretty sure I won't be able to make it to the write-ins, especially if they're during the week ('cos of that whole silly work thing!) Mind you, that was my approach last year as well. I'm a slow enough typist as it is, without spending two hours driving from/to Redcliffe that I could be using to actually type... :-)

(Edit: OTOH, I guess I could afford to take half a day of work at least once this month. They owe me that much, dammit!)

I'll probably have to cut back a little on the weekend social meets too -- although I'll do my best to get to one or two of them. They played havoc with my novelling last year (although my worst weekend was the weekend I opted to skip the meet to stay home and write -- and then didn't get a word down all weekend! Hmmm...)

*sigh*

I'm way too busy!!! :-)

2005 - Array Wars Episode 1.0: The New Hope Strikes Back [60522]
2006 - Array Wars Episode 2.0: Return of the Phantom Menace [73689]
2007 - Array Wars Episode 3.0: Attack of the Stiff [?????]