USA :: Maine

TGIO--Time to start planning

Aunt Silly — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:33:21 +0000

Whether you reach your goal of 5k, 50k or 100k, I'm sure you'll be glad when the madness is over, and I hope you'll join other Maine Wrimos in celebrating that fact.

So I'm putting this out there for people to start thinking about possible ways to have a TGIO (Thank Goodness It's Over) get-together, if you can get a small portion of your brains to break away from your stories for that purpose.

Aynslie
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Municipal Liaison, Greater Portland Area
"If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[pasdlgkhasdfasdf."-- Lemony Snicket

USA :: Maine

Starting Over . . .

EelKat — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:35:47 +0000

I can say this is the strangest NaNovel I have ever written:

My plot about Jack Frost taking over the world turned into a Dracula meets Jack Frost fan-fic, which turned into a Choose Your Own Adventure story for kids and the kids for some odd reason went off looking to capture vampire chickens instead of going after Dracula, than they meet an FBI agent who was chasing UFOs (I had just watched X-Files that night). It got really cold and all the plants died, but Jack Frost never got there. :( I'm so side tracked now it ain't funny.

Than for no reason at all a window washer on the 78th floor sees a murder and no one believes him, esp when I says the murderer was Dracula. No idea why I wrote that. It's just there in the middle of my novel for no reason at all!

Another character jumped in for no reason at all, pulled up a soapbox, and went off on a 9,000 word rant about why vampires are not romance heroes, don't glitter, and are bloodthirsty murderous monsters. Than Liberace ran by - glittering concert pianist by day, blood sucking sparkling vampire by night.

And than just when I thought my story could not possibly get any weirder: another guy shows up and wakes up one morning to find his roof gone, and that vampires who are allergic to rancid yak butter (thank you DARES thread!) had stolen his roof for I have no idea why. (That section was so absolutely utterly ridiculous that I posted it as my NaNovel excerpt on my profile, if you want to read it.)

Finally, tonight, I decided the whole thing had gone so far off track, that I needed to put it away and try a different plot, so, now I'm starting a new novel about an Incubus attack on a secluded fishing village. Teenage girls are having demon babies and the main character is a tabloid journalist that's investigating the girls' claims that the father is an Incubus. Let's see if my NaNovel 2009 Take 2, stays on track any better than Take 1 did.

Any body else have a plot that ran away from them and are now starting over with another one?
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Incubus: Fear the Night

http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot

USA :: Maine

Write-ins at the North Star Cafe in Portland?

Chester.Copperpot — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:30:32 +0000

I live really close to the North Star Cafe in Portland, and I plan to do a lot of my writing there (they have fabulous sandwiches, vegan items, tea, booze, and nachos!) during November.

I plan to be there regularly on Tuesdays from 4pm until 7pm (when the Spoken Word jam starts. You're welcome to stay for that, but it's really not my shtick). I'd be happy to have company and do word wars, etc., but if nobody can make it, that's fine! I'll still be there. Tuesdays are the one day aside from Sunday that I definitely don't have to work, but if anyone else would prefer another day/time, just comment on this thread!
I know that it's only on-street parking available here, but there's a decent amount of parking spots here and on Munjoy Hill.

Could one of the fabulous MLs would put these write-ins on the calendar? Tuesdays 4-7pm at the North Star Cafe, 225 Congress Street in Portland

Info about the North Star Cafe can be found here.
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USA :: Maine

Word Count Discrepency

Paakaa10 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:18:47 +0000

First off, hope everyone is having a good second week of writing for NaNoWriMo!

Now, to my issue; I am using Microsoft Word 2007 for my word processor, and the word count in the program has supplied my current word count of 47,058.

However, when I post the entirety of my writing into the Word Count Validator here at nanowrimo.org, it's giving me a word count of 46,832.

I'm pretty certain that the word count I'm getting from my word processor is correct, since I'm writing on a brand new laptop with a brand new version of Microsoft Office installed. I know that the Word Count Validator doesn't go full-power until the last five days of the month, but has there been a history of the word counts being off between word processor and word count validator in the past?

A word count differential of 226 is pretty paltry in the long run, I suppose, and the planned length of the novel will breach the 50,000 word mark by more than that, but this was just an unhappy little speed bump as I'm trying to reach my goal for the month.

Any help/reassurance would be greatly appreciated!
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USA :: Maine

Maine NaNo Chatroom

Maemi — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:23:24 +0000

Hey, everyone! Just thought I'd drop a message here to let you know that I (kind of?) created a chat room for Mainers. I thought it would be good for people who want to keep in contact with each other in a quicker way, and for doing word wars against each other :) Just go to http://tinychat.com/mainenano and put in a nickname.

Feel free to drop a line in here if you're going to be in the chat room, too, so we'll know when someone's in there.
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Click the banner to read my novel blog.

USA :: Maine

excerpts - look at the one before you/add your comments/then your own excerpt

RootyToo — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:01:49 +0000

please be (cool - if you have to diss, please make it private) supportive, we are all trying to glow.
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USA :: Maine

Words of Encouragement!

LoveLikeRockets177 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:21:52 +0000

I don't know about anyone else, but it's nearing the end of the month, everything seems to be piling up, free time is a long-forgotten friend and well, frankly, jumping off a cliff, reading the entire Twilight series, and painting my grandmother's toenails, all sound much more fun than finishing my novel.

Anyone else feel like this?

I want to finish my novel. Not just hit 50k, I want to finish. But I'm going to need some words of encouragement from those who are going through/have been through this very scenario. I plan on making a small poster with supportive messages from everyone around me to put up for the last week of writing. I had been planning on doing that since day one, but now it seems quite a bit more useful.

Anyone have something they'd like me to put on the poster? Or any words of encouragement?

Anyone else want to rant about their problems and request helpful words as well? Feel free to do so here! I'd like to know I'm not the only one ripping out my own hair!
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USA :: Maine

Tales of Coming Up From Behind to Win

Aunt Silly — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:39:14 +0000

We've reached the halfway mark of the month! As encouragement for those who haven't yet made the halfway word count mark, let's hear from people who were behind at this point in the past but who were still able to catch up and reach the finish line by November 30.

Who did this? How did you manage it? What words of encouragement and inspiration can you give to those who hope to do it this year?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Municipal Liaison, Greater Portland Area
"If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[pasdlgkhasdfasdf."-- Lemony Snicket

USA :: Maine

Augusta Area Write-Ins!

silvermander — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:34:41 +0000

I know it's on the calendar, but I figured I'd post too.

Every Wednesday we (only a couple of us, but we'd love more) meet at the Augusta Barnes & Noble to write (and kvetch about writing).

Also, when NaNo starts we'll be meeting on Saturdays too!

Usually there's someone there by 9:30 and stay until at least 4, if not later.

And, if anyone's interested, any other days of the week (other than those above and Sundays), people are welcome to come over to my place in Winthrop to write. Just be forewarned that I have a lot of critters and a couple of kids. The kids are in school during the day, but there's critters (dogs, cats & rats) running around the house (well, the rats aren't free range), so if you have allergies... Also, get in touch with me ahead of time so we can work out arrangements - such as directions.

Ken
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ML - Maine: Portland to Augusta
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." Heinlein

USA :: Maine

Bangor Area Write Ins

Goldenmane — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:56:03 +0000

Hey all, a lot's gone on in the Bangor area, namely the loss of one of our Wrimo's, Rigelk. He passed away this summer from complications of his life-long disabilities. As he was my stepdad it's been hard on myself (as well as Tikimother, his soul-mate and my mother.) Also being without a vehicle has kinda altered travel plans. That and the fact my laptop has gone AWOL with most of my info on it (at least I managed to copy over my writing folder before it went AWOL on me.) But, Bangor is not without it's write-ins.

Write-ins will be held at the Bangor Public Library from 10am-4pm (weather aside) on Saturday the 21. If anyone wants to have a (not really that quiet) write-in you can come to the Airport Mall on Saturday the 7th and Saturday the 28th and Sunday the 29th as I'll be there at the craft show.

Hopefully by next year I'll have a working vehicle so we can have more write ins and at a better location. Hopefully.
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_____________________________________________________________________
ML Bangor, Maine (Central Maine) area.
AIM: rekkanotenshi2
Email - goldenmane @ myfairpoint . net (without spaces.)

USA :: Maine

Congratulations!

LoveLikeRockets177 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:39:39 +0000

Okay, so, maybe you're under your word count for the week and you're feeling a little bit down. Or maybe you're well above your word count, but want something exciting until you reach the 50,000. :]

Today a couple of us decided that we're going to start awarding people for the little achievements that make us smile.

For instance, I successfully blew my nose while driving today. (A DIFFICULT TASK!) And I was quite proud of it and this was my reward. Created by kitty_0_kat.

So, if you feel as if you've accomplished something - even the tiniest thing - let us know, and we'll make you your own little award badges. :]
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USA :: Maine

Dearly Beloved, We Are Gathered Here To Say Our Goodbyes.

LoveLikeRockets177 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:31:02 +0000

RIP: Your character.

Here we are, into week two, and everyone knows that if you've got writer's block, what's your next choice?

Answer: Kill off a character.

I've decided to make a thread where we can remember and lament over the loss of those characters whose fates have fallen to the NaNo powers that be. If you didn't like your character, then go ahead and rejoice in their loss. :]

I'll start.

Not to be a spoiler, but...

RIP: Melissa "Missy" Weaver. [1989 - 2009]

Melissa Weaver, a second year student at university in the Northeast, met with an untimely death on October 30, 2009. (Actually November 10, 2009 at roughly 12:20 AM.) Melissa and a few of her friends had been exploring a local haunted hot-spot, when a part of the barn gave way, causing the group to scatter. Melissa's body was then discovered by three of the group's members, swinging from the rafters. The circumstances surrounding her death are still a mystery, and the police were immediately notified, but the members of the group were not available for comment.

Melissa is survived by her parents, who currently live on the West Coast, with her many aunts, uncles and cousins, as well as her author, LoveLikeRockets177.
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USA :: Maine

Lewiston / Auburn Write - Ins

EllieSPAWN — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:34:06 +0000

So I'm sort of an unofficial ML for the area, I suppose. I was thinking of having write-ins at the auburn Starbucks on Saturday afternoons. There are a few downsides to Starbucks (nothing really in the way of food, you have to get a Starbucks card to get free wifi, cost) but I'm sort of at a loss for ideas of other places we could have them.

I would love to hear some feedback! See how many people are interested and if you have a better idea for a place to meet. I know that Willy Bean place closes rediculously early, which is why I've never been to check it out. Most of the other coffee shops in town have closed. Where could we go?

I was also interested in doing at least one all night write in! We wanted to do one at Denny's last year but the staff didn't really seem to understand our needs and were a bit on the rude side when they told us they would rather we not go there. If they don't want people with laptops and wont give a straight answer about outlets, why advertise wifi on the front door? Anyway, the only other all night place in the area is Tim Horton's. The one on Lisbon street has the Coldstone Creamery inside too. Anybody want to hang out writing, drinking coffee and chowing on ice cream until the wee hours of the morning with me?
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http://www.squirrel-girl.com/
http://squirrellylist.blogspot.com/

USA :: Maine

Favored typos

Nikko88 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:12:32 +0000

It must be Friday and it must be getting towards the end of the work day. I'm the queen of typos but the one I almost committed really struck me as funny. I almost wrote "... it's a viscous circle." A classic of mine is to replace 'severe' with 'sever.'

What are your favored typos?

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USA :: Maine

I can see 50k - it's just around the next corner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EelKat — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:09:28 +0000

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I don't have anything remotely like a finished novel, not even close. It desperately needs editing for spelling and grammar and punctuation and logic and boy does it need hacking to about a third of its current length . . . and . . . I don't know where half my scenes are coming from, because they have nothing to do with the plot! I've got characters that don't belong in my book, doing things that don't belong in my plot! December will be one heck of an editing fest, but I just hit 40,542 (at 11:57PM of Day 11 for me) so I don't care!

Barely into week 2 and I just hit 40K and all I'm thinking of is hitting 50K . . . And 100K . . . and . . . and 200K. . . . and . . . I'm secretly hoping I can reach 500k by the 30th, but as long as I reach 100k, I don't care what my final count it. =P

***ARGH***

I can see 50K! OMG! It's there, I'll run through it either tomorrow or the next day!!!

*Runs back and forth screaming and scaring the cats!*

So, any other Mainers way ahead and bearing done on 50k already? (We got to stay ahead of Vermont remember?)
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Incubus: Fear the Night

http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot

USA :: Maine

The Maine - "I Just Completed a NaNoDare!" ShoutOut Thread

EelKat — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:35:19 +0000

It's the attack of the NaNoDare thread - I'm doing a NaNovel heavy on the Dares this year, and I know lots of you guys are doing the same, so here's a thread to crash on and shout out each time you completed one of your dares!

I'll go first -

I'm 4 hours and 2,964 words into my novel and already I've got dare shout outs coming left and right. Here's what I've done so far:

- my MC is wearing yellow socks with pink bunnies on them

- his mom is making garlic bread out of rancid yak butter

- his best friend keeps saying "Oh my strawberry Pop-Tart of joy and spectacularly worn T-shirt of sexiness" at the end or beginning of every sentence

- a famous celebrity has made a cameo appearance - my celebrity of choice was Bela Lugosi

- the villain (Bela Lugosi) just sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at an unexpected moment

yep - the dares are coming along fine, and surprisingly, so far they have all made perfectly logical sense for my story! YAY!
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Incubus: Fear the Night

http://twitter.com/EelKat
http://www.facebook.com/EelKat
http://eknano.blogspot

USA :: Maine

Digression!

EllieSPAWN — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:43:46 +0000

Do you ever just take a break from your characters, or often your story all together, and just write about something else? For instance, when I get stuck, I sometimes write passages about how stuck I am. Such as:

Ellen still had no idea what to write. She liked her characters and her plot just fine but she seemed to have hit a wall. And so she decided that the best thing to do was to type a few things not related to the rest of the story and hope that somehow or other it would inspire her.

It wasn’t working; she did not know what to do to unstick her stuck story.

“I know what I will do!” she shouted aloud, sending her cat fleeing the room in terror. “I will consult the Unstucker section of my fantastic and magical National Novel Writing Month Hand out!”

And so Ellen dashed off into the other room to find a six sided die and see what the Unstucker recommended that she do.
She returned a few moments later with a lovely dark glittering die that reminded her of obsidian. She had stolen it from her boyfriend’s cherished Dungeons and Dragons tool kit. Ellen slowly flipped her hand out open to page sixteen and quietly, as not to alert her boyfriend of her treachery, cast the die.

It landed on the number three. They say that three is a magic number, and she hoped it would magically fix her novel’s many problems. The third heading in the Unstucker told her to “Take the Easy Way Out” and asked her to roll again.
Clitter clack went the die on the table, and spun to land on the number five. Ellen’s eyes widened as she ran her finger down the page to the fifth item on the list. It read: “Write down everything that happened to you today as if it happened to one of you characters.”

Ellen frowned. Apparently her characters were about to embark on an epic grocery shopping journey. She thought about this for a moment and decided that it was just crazy and lame enough to be interesting. It couldn’t happen for at least another few scenes, but it would definitely happen. Now she just had to get her characters to run out of ice cream.

Ellen whispered in a sort of thankful reverent prayer to the makers of her blessed hand out, and then returned to her storyline.

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http://www.squirrel-girl.com/
http://squirrellylist.blogspot.com/

USA :: Maine

Knox County and Friends, Hello?

Ginue1953 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:48:12 +0000

Is anyone out there? I know you're there and may just not have made it in here. Today was the first time I've looked in here and the only thing I found relating to our area was about the kick off meeting, but it was written before it occurred.

If you are in Knox County or nearby, please peek in and say howdy!

I'm a bit behind in my word count, but not stuck, just busy. I'm confident I'll finish. How are you doing??

Take care any and all who read this!
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USA :: Maine

Half-way!

LoveLikeRockets177 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:19:34 +0000

Hey everyone, it is now the 16th of November, therefore making it the first day of the second half of the month. How's everyone holding up? :] I've seen quite a few people already over the 50,000 mark, which is awesome. I'm getting there, I'm getting there, but slowly losing steam. Any suggestions from those who've been there before? Anyone else feeling the same way?

Anyone else so stressed out they're about to go bald from pulling their hair? (I swear the people who live above me must think I have seriously problems, because I've gone on terrible tangents to myself on many occasions that involving yelling very uncouth words to thin air. Haha.)

Just thought I'd make sure everyone's alive and caffeinated enough to make it through part 2!

Oh, and has anyone else put something into their story they said they wouldn't? Like, I know that before NaNo started, I refused to have any romance whatsoever in my story - because I typically write romantic stories - but yesterday I failed epically and caved, letting a romantic scene flourish amidst the death and destruction of my horror novel. Tell me I'm not the only one!
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USA :: Maine

Moose Group Sign Up!

silvermander — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:06:55 +0000

Yup, we're back at it this year!

For those who are new, here's the deal... Last year we had a word count feud within Maine. There's two groups - Moose and Lobsters! All you have to do is join on of the group by posting in that list that you want in. At the end of the month I'll add up everybody's word counts (make sure you validate) and see who won!

Jensoda will be posting the Lobster Group thread soon! So if you want to be a Lobster, make sure you check in with her!

Make sure you only post once and in only one thread - that way we won't have any double counting. I'll try to make sure I don't, but it's easier if I can just add up numbers and not worry about double postings!

I'll be posting a thread for talking smack about those smell red crustaceans! Have to have a place to talk smack, but this isn't it!

So sign up for the group you want to belong to!

Ken
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ML - Maine: Portland to Augusta
"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards." Heinlein

USA :: Maine

NaNo Video

Aunt Silly — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:12:53 +0000

If you haven't seen the video on the Home Page yet, you should check it out. It's really cool!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Municipal Liaison, Greater Portland Area
"If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[pasdlgkhasdfasdf."-- Lemony Snicket

USA :: Maine

Hey I'm new!

became.a.spear — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:38:45 +0000

Hey, everyone! Just signed up! Had a friend who did this. I love to read and write, but didn't think to sign up until now! Got a question that I couldn't find an answer to in FAQ's. My teachers have told me that I can write really well, but I can't get out a novel. I can do lengthy short stories. Can my novel on here be compilation of short stories or does it have to be just one long story? Thanks!
Some about me! I'm 19 and married to the most wonderful man ever! I'm from Lincoln County. And drop me a line! haha
Oh and you can call me May!
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USA :: Maine

Teens?

E.J. Tyne — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:19:51 +0000

Any other teens in Maine doing NaNo this year?
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Won '08 with "The Piano Ghost"--Gothic fantasy/romance
Coming 2009....

USA :: Maine

MSAD 54?

sapphire_sprite — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:53:01 +0000

Hey, any NaNoers in MSAD 54 (schools in the Skowhegan Area)? I feel like I'm the only person in my school doing NaNo, which makes me feel a little lonely and weird...:( So...anyone here?
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USA :: Maine

Portland Area Write-in at Panera

K8smom — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:47:59 +0000

Good morning! Is anyone at Panera yet?
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USA :: Maine