United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Write-In, Wednesday Nov 5th, Coffee Station, 6 PM and Later (and other write-in info)

persianpenname — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 08:21:27 -0800

Hello everyone! My name is Zari (persianpenname), and I am currently in the process of becoming our new ML, so the first thing to do is arrange for some write-ins! As shown on the Write-in Tallies thread, the most popular days/times for write-ins is Saturday afternoon to evening, and Wednesday evenings, so I would like to set up regular write-ins during those times.

For the wednesday meet-ups, I have heard Coffee Station suggested because they have many outlets available for folks with laptops, and because the turn-out of the Halloween write-in wasn't as large as anticipated, they should have ample space. Folks can start rolling in at 6:00 p.m. or later, and the write-in will continue until everyone gets tired or they kick us out!

Since Saturdays are game days, folks have suggested finding a location in Bryan, which is less likely to be crowded, and I think that's a great idea. If anyone has a place they would like to recommend for the Saturday meet-ups, please post and let us know! I will be looking around for locations myself, in the meantime.

For people who need rides to the write-ins, there are options. If you would like to volunteer to give rides to folks, please post or PM me to let me know. I am volunteering myself, so please post or PM me if you need a ride, or call me at 832-858-7973. If you need to contact me via email, I am not yet set up to receive the ML email, but you can reach me at heedthecat@gmail.com.

I will have a cup set out so folks can donate to the fine people at the Office of Letters and Light (not required, but every little bit helps). If folks want to get things from the NaNo store, the option exists to pool our orders and save on shipping. Hope to see everyone there!

~Zari/PersianPenName

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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

How's It Coming?

Collectonian — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 20:34:11 -0800

So, five days in, how is everyone coming so far?

For me, with tonight's session I hit the 10k mark, which makes me pretty happy. I decided at the last minute to go with a totally new piece that popped in my head the week before kick off, and so far its working well. Its gone in a few directions I hadn't quite planned, and one of the first scenes I pictured when I conceived the story hasn't even come up yet. LOL. My characters are definately driving this story so far and I like the direction its going. My readers seem to like it too (I post my day's work on my LiveJournal blog).

So, what about everyone else? Are you staying on track, getting behind, way ahead? Its is a breeze, is it a struggle? Is your plot running away with you or your characters taking over your life? etc etc. :-) Gripes or brags? Share them here!

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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Anybody else have sponsors?

Reverend Robbie — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 18:56:43 -0800

I've never been able to donate before, but this year I decided to try to get sponsors at my job. It worked - I've got a sponsor who's donating $5 to NaNo for every 10,000 words I write.

Anybody else trying this motivational technique?
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http://robbietaylor.net

United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

When will the next write-in be?

Firebrimstoneshadow — Sun, 2 Nov 2008 13:21:26 -0800

Does anyone know when and where the next write-in will be? My roommate and I couldn't go to the first one but we were wondering about this next one.

Hope everyone's writing strong still!
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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Kick Off Party + First Write-in

Zanne Chaos — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:21:13 -0700

I was in attendance at the first IHOP midnight kickoff/write-in, and something dawned on me about the location.

I love IHOP. The food is good, the coffee is fantastic, it's a really good place.

But the restaurant is fairly small, and booths do not make it easy for larger groups to get together. The booths that we were stuck with when we went in '06 were comfortable, but very isolating. UO and I wound up having to sit apart from the others because the other booths with NaNoers were already full with four people a booth.

I want to find a location that would allow us to have tables pushed together so we can all sit together and socialize.

I'm suggesting we change the venue to Denny's, which is extremely comparable to IHOP in terms of price, food, and hours, except their restaurant is far larger, and has plenty of tables to go with the booths, so we can have both (especially if any members cannot sit comfortably in normal chairs for whatever reason, such as back problems.) Another reason is that navigation-wise, Denny's is more accessible for those with assistive devices, such as crutches or wheelchairs.

I would have liked being able to offer an option with Coffee Station at Woodstone on Harvey Road, but unfortunately, Oct 31/Nov 1 is on a Friday night/Saturday morning, and I know from experience that the place will be insanely noisy and packed. Denny's does run that possibility, but I can also speak with the manager there in advance and make arrangements and get there early to secure our area, which I cannot do at Coffee Station.

If anyone has any other suggestions of any establishment that is comparable to Denny's/IHOP in price or cheaper, is open until at least 2am or later, and would not be TOO insanely packed or noisy, PLEASE SEND ME A **PM** AND I WILL CHECK OUT THE LOCATION, AND PRESENT THE CHOICE TO THE MEMBERS IF IT WILL WORK AS AN OPTION. (And no, Sweet Eugenes wouldn't work for the same reason as Coffee Station, and quite honestly, they both close at 1pm so that's not terribly ideal.)

How does this sound to you?

Denny's Restaurant
10:30pm - 12:00am : OFFICIAL KICK-OFF PARTY
12:00am - 2:00am (or whenever) : First Write-in

If you are reasonably certain you'll be able to attend and are interested in doing so, please let me know ASAP so I can contact Denny's and find out what I need to do to set up an area for us.

We've only got half a month left for me to make these arrangements, which is why I'm a bit pressed for time.
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"There is a technical term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"
-- S.M. Sterling

United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

What are you planning on writing? (fantasy, chick lit, horror, etc)

wren1024 — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:25:30 -0700

Everything I've ever written would fall under fantasy/horror/SF. With the fantastic elements very downplayed, of course. What type of stuff do you guys tend to write (even if you plan on writing something different)?
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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Tally of write-in times

Unoriginality — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:37:21 -0700

I finally sat down to do this and got the tally of most popular times for write-ins from the other thread Zanne posted.

First popular choice - Saturday afternoons

Second popular choice - tie with Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Also, Sunday afternoons. (We can probably hold an afternoon/evening longer write-in on Saturdays, just to combine the two and give more people a chance to show up.)

Third choice - tie with Monday evening, Wednesday afternoon, Saturday overnight.

Probable best write-in schedules look to be Saturday afternoon/evenings, and a Thursday evening. Does this mesh well enough with everyone, or should we grab one of the other second popular choices instead of Thursday evening? (Keep in mind that we are totally open to doing a third if we can't find a second choice that fits enough people. We can be all over the place, pretty much.)

We could even, on the first weekend and the last weekend, extend the Saturday afternoon/evening write-in to last overnight (yes, we can do that, we are superladies that way) as well. Everyone's fresh and eager for the first weekend, and pulling overnight sprints for the last weekend, so that might be a neat way to kick off and end the full write-ins.

Also, if after more people pipe up on these times we have available here, and you just can't fit your schedule into any of them, please don't be afraid to go ahead and post and say "hey, anyone else up for [insert your time here]?" and try to organize a smaller write-in here. The ML might not be necessarily be able to attend those, but you are, of course, encouraged to make sure you get a write-in time, however you need.

Now, since first popular choice was far and away Saturday afternoons, we should start to figure out a good meeting place for those write-ins. I'm gonna remind everyone (although I'm sure most of us will know this anyway) that those are game days, and unless I'm totally misremembering, about half of the games in November are home games, and November is also the time that finals start to creep up on us, so we'll have to navigate around game day traffic and crowds, as well as fight for space, depending on where we start looking for this.

So let's get some suggestions on here! Restaurants, coffee shops, parks, anywhere you can think of. Keep finances in mind a little with your suggestions, and transportation, as well.

Speaking of, is there anyone worried about transportation to anything? And anyone willing to volunteer to help out with giving people rides as need be?
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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

What time frame is best for you for write ins?

Zanne Chaos — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:06:45 -0700

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS, THANK YOU

Taking a head count here. The most popular day/time will likely be the dominant write-in time, with the second most popular following.

Post your preferred time of day and what day of the week, as well as secondary and third choices. If you happen to have nothing that matches up with the first and second most popular time frames, we'll look into when would be best for a third write-up schedule, so everyone who wants to participate will have an opportunity to do so.

Right now though, I'm mostly looking for what days of the week and what time brackets to start looking at. The specifics (i.e., after a certain hour or before a certain hour) will come once we have this worked out.

The time frames are divided as follows:

a) Morning (6:00am - 12:00pm)
b) Afternoon (12:00pm - 6:00pm)
c) Evening (6:00pm - 12:00am)
b) Night (12:00am - 6:00am)

Yes, I am fully able to run a write-in at two in the morning if people so desire.

Please post the following information as follows:

Choice 1:
Time Frame(s) of Day + Day(s) of Week

Choice 2:
Time Frame(s) of Day + Day(s) of Week

Choice 3:
Time Frame(s) of Day + Day(s) of Week

Examples would be:

Choice 1:
Evening, Mon-Wed-Fri

Choice 2:
Afternoon, Tue-Thur

Choice 3:
Night, Fri-Sat

Note: I'm not posting mine, because currently, I can arrange my time to be available for nearly every possible time for a write-in.

PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION. Only post the time frame and day of week and three choices for that. We will narrow it down later, but this will make taking a tally easier, and there's too many possible options to easily set up a poll.

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"There is a technical term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"
-- S.M. Sterling

United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Where will we meet?

arthur_rider — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 07:31:01 -0700

Anyone have any suggestions on the place & time to meet for writing, encouragements, etc?
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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

We need a group name and a mascot

Zanne Chaos — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:47:46 -0700

C'mon, guys! Let's have suggestions for a group name.

While I do know that many of you are Aggies, many of us are not, and I would like to try to find a creative group name that does not play off a TAMU association.

And a mascot. We need a mascot. I VOTE FOR BUNNIES. (more on this in a minute)

Also... who amongst us is good at drawing? You don't have to be good at creating a masterpiece -- if you're a cartoonist, or manga artist, that's just as good. Any volunteers for a mascot drawing once we've got our group name and mascot finalized?

Now as to why I pick bunnies...

Plotbunnies, of course! Plus we'd have a nifty John Steinbeck quote we can use with it:
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

Plus, for those of you on LiveJournal or InsaneJournal, I can provide all kinds of interesting Plotbunny Icons free for the grabbing. Bunnies have my vote.

I've got a theory-
It could be bunnies.
Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes,
They got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses.
And what's with all the carrots?
What do they need such good eyesight for anyway?
Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies!
--Anya, B:tVS, "Once More With Feeling"
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"There is a technical term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"
-- S.M. Sterling

United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Your new ML: write-ins and meetups

Zanne Chaos — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:11:16 -0700

I'll be making a post that will be stickied later that will be meant for keeping track of the write-ins.

I request that members do NOT make any posts for plans yet - I'll get to this when I wake up. (I currently have a blinding headache and got up when Unoriginality came to let me know about someone's phone number being distributed without his permission). That matter has been brought to the attention of the regional moderators and will be taken care of ASAP.

I'll start putting together something for helping us plan write-ins, and schedule them, along with setting up the google calender for it.

ALSO - volunteers needed

1) Cameras - the more the merrier. I'll have to check for where, but unless it's been taken down entirely, one of the fun things of the Austin regional group was people taking candid shots of the write-ins, sharing the fun.

2) Volunteer for treasurer - One of the jobs the ML has is fundraising for NaNo. We're encouraged to have another person act as treasurer (probably shouldn't be you, UO, since we live together) for helping count out the money and keeping track so everything is ensured to be in order.

3) Word wars with other regions. Did B/CS have a rival region in any of the previous years? If not, I'll look into figuring out how to find one so we have somebody to compete against for word count :D Austin's was Houston when I went with them. It was such a fun motivator.

More later. Sleep now so head stops doing the 'splodey thing.
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"There is a technical term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot.'"
-- S.M. Sterling

United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Is there a Municipal Liaison?

lolacolleen — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:51:51 -0700

I'm not volunteering in the least since I'm already in charge of A&M's new Writer's Guild but having an official municipal liaison might clear up some of this vagueness and anxiety about where, when and how we'll meet. I'm new to this but it seems like our region is very excited and wants to meet but there's no one to lend focus to it. Just an idea.
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United States :: Texas :: Bryan-College Station

Anyone here?

Goten1214 — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:27:44 -0700

Howdy! It's my last year in Aggieland, and I want to make it a memorable one as far as Nano goes. I never got involved with the crowd that seemed to do this every year because I didn't have transportation in 06 when I won, and I was too busy to participate in 07. This year, however, my schedule should allow me to get involved in Nano! Anyone know of any plans or anything?
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