United States :: Idaho :: Boise

[Sticky] Welcome! Introductions, and more!

machorse70 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:22:52 -0700

Hello and welcome to all! Welcome back to those of you returning. To First Year Wrimos, welcome to the game! I sincerely look forward to speaking with each and every one of you. I have a weakness: I love people.

So, usually we have a forum used to welcome and introduce everyone, so here it is. I've already done the welcoming, so, why not have everyone introduce themselves? Here, I'll go first so no one has to be shy.

My name is Megan. I'm known on the internet (and NaNo) as machorse70. This is my 2nd year MLing, and I couldn't be more excited for the month of noveling ahead. This year, I have things to say and a story to tell. I write and read mostly Lit-Fic. I'm slightly mis-placed: I study English at Boise State (yes, I'm going back to school), and I'm a staff accountant at a small CPA firm in Meridian.

What about you? I'm sure you're much more interesting.than I. Tell us who you are, what you read, what you do, your pet alien's name, whatever you care to divulge. Just please, keep it PG-13, and, as always, no insulting or otherwise demeaning another WriMo on the boards, and all that other fun stuff. If you need help along the way, I'm here to guide you.
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

[STICKY] TGIO Party

machorse70 — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:23:43 -0800

We're half-way there! And that means it's about time to start scheduling the TGIO party. Remember, this party is for ALL participants. It doesn't matter it you haven't come to any other event, or even if you finished. You've spent a month noveling, and you deserve a reward and a party.

I need to know from everyone what their scheduling restrictions are. Remember, I need to receive this in written format. Please send me a NaNoMail with your schedule so that I can take it into account.

Also, where do you want to have it?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Givens Hot Springs writers?

JMorgan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:36:54 -0800

I'm seeing threads in here for a lot of different areas, but none of them for where I actually live! Might there be any other writers from the Givens area out there? I live a few miles away, but I'd like to meet anybody who comes from about that area. Basically anyone in the Marsing/Givens/Melba area would be pretty cool, actually.
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Inspiring music of choice?

Hands of color — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:56:38 -0800

I'm trying to develop a list of great music (without lyrics) that I can listen to when I want to pep up my brain. I heard once that music with lyrics can interrupt the flow of thought and language when you're trying to tap into your creativity. I'm looking for classical, electronic, etc...anything without lyrics. What's working for me so far is a bit of Yo Yo Ma for those soulful moments and some Chemical Brothers thrown in for good measure. Any more tune ideas?

Thanks!
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

An idea for music for writing

amguynes — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:28:15 -0800

For those of you who like to listen to music and have access to the internet while doing so, I suggest giving www.pandora.com a look. It's an internet radio station that is free to everyone in the U.S. It's awesome. You put in a song or artist that you particularly like and it creates a radio station that plays music of a similar style. I have one for classical music, one that's old time country, one that's holiday music, and one that is based off of the artist (Within Temptation) whose music is actually inspiring this year's NaNo.

It's something I found that I thought some of you might also enjoy. Happy writing everyone!
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Creativity is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. ~Thomas Edison

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Where are y'all at word-wise?

TNHawke — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 00:18:33 -0800

I just broke 10K !!!

After thinking I wasn't even going to participate this year- and being sick as a dog all week, I'm doing WAY better than I thought.

So, where are you?
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I am Hawke: Griff Ov Sorts, The Tackler of Peoples, aka Wacks with Pickles.
Christian, Creationist, Asexual, Otherkin, Psionic, Domme.
Want to talk? AIM me at TNHawke

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Kudos to us, Treasure Valley-ans!

Hands of color — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:39:07 -0800

I was just looking on the word count scoreboard, and I noticed Boise at #115 for total word count. Not bad, not bad! But even better, check out our average word count... We're above 20,000, and that is higher than most of the regions! Some of us are a bit behind *ahem* but we should still be proud of ourselves! Woo hoo!
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

When Plot Goes Wrong ... or Good

Pennalynn — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:15:15 -0800

I worked for a month and a half on my Outline for NaNo.

A MONTH AND A HALF.

I was proud of it. I was excited for it. I itched every day to start writing so to keep myself from cheating I drew maps of the world I was putting the story in. I made family trees for noble Houses that I'll never have to put in the book. I told myself that I was writing a Fantasy-Romance and that was that. I had plenty of conflict, lots of verbal bouts from character to character and an Antagonist that was biting at the bit to get at the two mains.

......

And suddenly Guerrilla Warfare entered the plot. Just ... BOOM! A flash-bang takes out a merchant table right near my two mains.

My initial reaction was that there couldn't be a flash-bang in my medieval fantasy. Flash-bangs are very modern.

My characters would not budge. They said there was a "flash" and a "bang" and the table exploded. Then they dared me to find a better terminology for it. Which, of course, I couldn't so I went about finding a way to twist the compounds of the flash-bang into something that fit the world I had created.

All of this worked out fine, even if I was a little grumpy. And the the real sticky part of it came into focus. The Guerrilla Warfare was coming from a third faction of people, political freedom fighters and they are definitely NOT in my Outline. Inasmuch as I have been working with them, writing the scenes out even though they are straying away from my Outline, I have managed to connect them to another point in the Outline so it should work out fine.

And I said all of that to ask you guys what surprise plot conflicts have entered your books so far?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

The Kunanites are pulling novels right out their heads! It can get a little messy...

matthias_oreklein — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 20:26:54 -0700

Hello all from Kuna! Welcome to the second year of the Kunanites! First order of business: come up with a better name. Honestly it's kinda funny and dorky. So lets have a poll.

Also if you have heard of a site called twitter.com then go there and find me! username: theravenclaw
If you haven't heard of twitter you should totally go and join. It's so much fun and I can show you some cool ways to stay connected with it.

So for a discussion let's talk about our plots... or lack there of. HAVE AT IT!

--M@--
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Currently suffering from imagination constipation.
NaNoing from FOO!

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

My computer is a threat

crenshaw7777 — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 11:31:36 -0800

I'd imagine most of us are using our computers to write. I've tried for years to do that, and have produced essentially nothing to date. Chalk it up to a lack of self-discipline or something.

Effortless cutting, effortless copying, effortless pasting. Fiddling with fonts. The letters on the screen are just massless, weightless photons that can silently vanish in an instant. In a way, the writing isn't really even there at all.

And then there's the Internet. Aside from surfing for fun, I keep looking for that one writing website that will make writing as effortless as it is to edit it with a word processor. Still looking. For hours. And hours. And hours. And days. November slides by.

For this year's NaNoWriMo, I exhumed and dusted off my old electric typewriter, and I'm cracking off 5 - 10 pages a day. A piece of metal snaps a ribbon of ink onto physical paper. Editing as I go is orders of magnitude more difficult, forcing me into productivity. Writing isn't supposed to be easy, convenient, or effortless like the computer tries to make it. It's a physical process. The typewriter imposes discipline. For the typewriter, forward progress isn't just an inevitability, it's a big "duh." Editing is when I sit at the dining room table with my manuscript, pen in hand, the way God intended. :-)

I'm no Luddite! I love my computer. For games, movies, surfing the net. Computer time is candy time. But IMHO, my computer room is no place for a writer. For polishing the third or fourth draft? Okay. A computer would be a great benefit then. Good for saving the final draft and emailing it and printing a hundred copies of it, sure. For administrative and logistical stuff like that, the computer is unbeatable and generally required. But for the creative process and the heavy lifting of the first and second drafts? No way. Once I've finished the second draft, I scan it into the computer and go from there. Call me crazy.

Who else out there is using a typewriter rather than a computer? By choice or necessity? Are you upset about it? Neutral? Or are you like me and feel like you just found the key to the vault?

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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Impromptu Write In

amguynes — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:21:00 -0800

Hey guys, I'm going to try to be at the Rediscovered Bookshop on Friday the 14th (as in this Friday) from like 6p-8p. Normally I'm at work but I've got something going on earlier in the day that, well, let's just say I took the day off and I'm going to need to get out and get away from the house for a while.

Anyone want to join me?
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Creativity is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. ~Thomas Edison

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Writing Tools

mandolina — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 22:43:37 -0800

So I'm sure you all know how picky writers can be with their preferred instruments. Font types and size, notebooks vs journals, pencils vs pens, etc. If I have to write with pen, I prefer fountain pens. Does anyone know where I can buy cheap fountain pens? I have a cheapo calligraphy one, which is okay, but the nib is pretty wide and tears the paper if I write too fast.

Thanks!
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

My Crazy 2008 NaNo Experience... Thus Far

Mrs. Baker — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:28:34 -0800

So, I'm running the Young Writers' Program at LSMS in Meridian.

I figured that 40 or so kids would indicate interest, and that about a dozen would actually participate. I figured I'd have 2-3 kids finish. Well, it's a good thing I asked the school to order another teacher's kit, because at the kick-off meeting I had a CAFETERIA full of kids. At the first weekly meeting, somewhere around 150 kids packed the library with word count goals.

To date, I have 105 kids actively participating, and our cumulative goal is over ONE MILLION WORDS for the month. As of this past Monday, we were about a quarter of the way there. I don't anticipate that we will make that sizable goal, as many kids are producing pretty slowly, but some kids have already surpassed their goals and are still writing. I even have one 8th grader who has increased his goal from 20,000 words to 50,000, and is on track to surpass that by month's-end.

We're holding weekly meetings for lessons, ideas, check-ins, etc.. I'm doing twice-weekly write-ins after school, only about 45 minutes long, for optional word wars. My school has agreed to fund publication of the completed manuscripts through Lulu.com, and I'm planning a great TGIO party.

Meanwhile, my novel is... well, it's finally off the ground. I'm about to cross the 10% mark, and I just did the math to discover that it is hypothetically possible to meet my 50K by the end of the month. I was trying to write something that I didn't want to write, and now that I've reverted to my original idea I'm actually enjoying myself a bit...

Anyway, I guess I'm putting this out here as a sort of weird reassurance. No matter how hard you are finding it to reach your goal, at least you are not also trying to wrangle 100 11-14 year olds through their noveling experience (and 150 12-13 year olds through "how to write expository essays"), too! :)
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Success is 10% inspiration and 90% self-delusion.
The NaNoWriMo Formula: competition + motivation + deadline = novel!

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Almost-Mid-NaNo Crisis

Mutt_Dawg — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 09:14:32 -0800

I've been working on a story that came to me about 12:15 am on November 1. I've gotten about 7k+ written. But I'm stuck. I have no desire to continue this story line and I think I'm going to drastically change gears and do an entirely different story. Has this ever happened to anybody before? Or, if this muse hit you, did you just plug on with your old idea until it was hammered out and done?

-Terry/Mutt_Dawg-
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Terry, Screnzer/NaNoWrimist
ML for Boise, ID
Script Frenzy '07 - Luck of the Devil - WON
Every NaNoWriMo attempted...not...won...sad panda...

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

MERIDIAN EVENTS

hattjam1008 — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:43:12 -0700

I'm just checking if there are any write-ins, etc., scheduled in Meridian? I'd like to participate in some of the write-ins, but I'd like to participate in stuff in Meridian.
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"There's no negotiating with plagiarists." -- the Middleman

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Help! I have no plot...

Hands of color — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:59:32 -0800

I just realized that I didn't really spend the necessary time to develop my plot. I just went for it. I thought everything would come to me, but I'm having a problem. Instead of moving forward progressively from A to Z, I am writing all about Q, then F, then X, then A... I'm tending to write in random snapshots of the story rather than telling the story in a sensible manner. The problem is that I now don't really know where the story is going because all of my "snapshots" are completely disconnected. This results in the very big problem of me wondering if I even have a substantial plot here. Is anyone else going about this the same way? Should I read back over what I've written from the beginning and try to connect the dots? Or do I just continue throwing in random ideas and try to make sense of it all later?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

The Elusive Art of Body Snatching

Pennalynn — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 07:35:20 -0800

Diana Gabaldon mentioned once the art of Body Snatching. Where you take the physical characteristics of someone you know and insert them into one of your characters. Most of the time this only works for minor characters for me but this year I've actually stolen the physical body of a co-worker of mine and used it for my heroine. It was completely accidental and when I realized I'd done it I showed the description to said co-worker, who is not much of a reader, but who now wants to read the manuscript when I've finished it. I only showed it to her after struggling for the better part of an hour to try and alter the Heroine's description.

Me: "You can't look like this! I might get sued!"

Heroine: "I don't act like her, I just look like here."

Me: "That doesn't matter."

Heroine: "I'm not listening to you. Your word count is suffering and if you change my hair color again I will reach through your computer screen and strangle you."

At which point I gave up and turned to my friend and asked her if this was all right with her. Obviously it was or I would be strangled by now.

How many of you have snatched a body or two from the people you know?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Muse Dragging

machorse70 — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 13:03:58 -0800

Who else is dragging their muse by the hair today? Personally, mine seems to have gone and hid in a closet somewhere. Going without her is a bit difficult, but I guess I'll just have to manage.

Thanks to kipsla for the illustration.
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Midway Day

machorse70 — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 15:21:40 -0800

Midway day is next Saturday! To celebrate, we're going to Flying Pie on Fairview in Boise at 11:30. Come on out for entirely too much pizza and entirely too much fun. But leave your novels at home! Midway Day celebrations for just that: celebrating! Whether you've written 5 words, 50000 words, or something somewhere in between, come on out for some pizza and fun!

Hope to see you all there!
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Inspiration

Pennalynn — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:57:29 -0700

Ok, so I just got done watching "Becoming Jane" ... you know, the movie about Jane Austen who is one of my all-time favorite authors. I even got looked at funny for having a copy of "Jane Eyre" in my locker in the military. And it got me thinking about the authors who have inspired me to write.

Even if you're just trying this writing thing out for a month, no doubt you've read enough to know the basics of plot structure so ... who has inspired you?

Mine - Jane Austen (obviously), Diana Gabaldon, Jennifer Crusie, Wilbur Smith

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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Where is your quiet writing place?

mjdike — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:02:22 -0700

I had the best writing day this am as I waited to get my oil changed...an hour worth of uninterrupted outlining that led me in a lot of creative directions--without the guilt of being at work or being at home seeing all that needs to be done instead of writing.

Tomorrow I must find another quiet spot. Not a coffeehouse for me or even the library...to much going on...where do you go to get your writing done when you want to be alone?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

Boise, we need a name!

machorse70 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:58:58 -0700

It has come to my attention that the participants of NaNoWriMo in Boise need a name. So, let's have at it! What would you have yourselves called?
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

flying m . . . ?

pollution aviator — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:19:21 -0700

In nampa or boise. anyone interested in starting a group of some form?
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“Boring damned people. All over the earth. Propagating more boring damned people. What a horror show. The earth swarmed with them.”
-charles bukowski.

United States :: Idaho :: Boise

How do i add a buddy?

mjdike — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 14:01:49 -0800

Why can't I figure this out.?It says on the buddy page I need to visit the users page to add my buddy...but all I know is his user name. Is there a search by username or am I only able to contact the buddy if they have a post? This person is not in my forum.
Thanks!
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United States :: Idaho :: Boise

I'm just curious

amguynes — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:27:48 -0700

I saw a handwritten ad for NaNo at my work place today in our breakroom (WDS Global). That got me to thinking...how many of us will be writing at work? In my case, I'll have to work only on my breaks and my lunch since we're a "paperless" area and I'm not allowed to write between calls.

How about the rest of you?
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Creativity is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. ~Thomas Edison