Welcome to NaNoWriMo 2008!

*greetings!* *applause!*

I was really, really tempted to go "FIRST!" because deep down I'm twelve.

I'm really excited for NaNo this year! This will be my sixth year doing NaNoWriMo (since '03, baby) and I'm so happy it's almost that time of year again.

Anywho, I'm Eliza, I will be 24 on November 7th (hey, that's twelve twice) and as previously stated I've been doing NaNo since 2003, when I was a wee little thing of 18. Every year has brought radically different results (including one non-finish, unfortunately, and not during the "sophomore slump" that seems to be expected) and I can't wait to see where I go this year. I'll be writing the sequel to the rewrite of the NaNo I did in 2004. My working title this year is The Murmuring Mirrors. Initially I wanted to write this story as one novel, but if I do, it'll end up being something like 600,000 words long, so due to some good advice I'm writing it as a trilogy and trying to shove aside my "everyone wants to do sequels and trilogies, I should really try to do a one-shot" personal bias. The first novel in the story, The Circle of Many Faces has things like twins, evil pirates, cursed mirrors, masks, and bad words. I hope to step that up in the next installment, which I think will have less action and more intrigue, which is the combination that bores the hell out of everyone except me, I suppose.

I also have an awesome puppy named Sasha Beans.

Can't wait to see all the old faces and meet new ones this year!

2003 - The Long Road | 2004 - The Circle of Many Faces | 2006 - Searching for Sunset | 2007 - Souls in the City | 2008 - The Murmuring Mirrors

First year here and I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. Got a few ideas but nothing solid. I'm a working mom of one five year old so any opportunity to get away and do some writing sounds great. Oh, yes, I have a cat named Mo and she is loved and adored by most everyone.

hi, all--

thanks for the warm welcome, kristi! and howdy do, xander. :)

my name's laurie, and this year will be my second nanowrimo--watch out, sophomore slump!--i did win last year, so yay!
this year's novel will be set in the 19th century american southwest, and my main character is a cool, tough woman who's also a werewolf...this may sound goofy, but it's much cooler in my head. she lives a mostly solitary existence, and i have plans for a wild adventure involving mexico and cursed treasure....well, really, i have no idea what's going to happen. but that sounds fun, with the treasure, right?

cheering me on will be my hubby, my two dogs and my cat.

wish me luck, everyone! i'll need it, i'm sure. :)

nice to see y'all again, and i'm already excited about november!

“I don't know which is more discouraging, literature or chickens” -E.B. White

Hello and welcome! I was originally going to start my first post like this: "2-4-6-8 Welcome to Nano 08! 3-5-7-9 We're gonna have an awesome time!" but I decided to put the pom poms away for later! :) As Kristi said, I'm Xander and I'll be your Co-ML this year! I'm a Nano Sixth Year and haven't lost a Nano yet, thanks in big part to the Nano community! And this will be my fourth year MLing (The first three were in California, of course.)

The novel I'm writing this year is a continuation of what I've been writing since 2006. It's called The Quest for the Shiny Thing and it's an attempted spoof at fantasy. It's got the reluctant farmer pushed into the role of Hero of Light, snarky girls with cool powers, dark elves, and a poor guy from Long Island caught up in the mix. I'm hoping to poke fun at more conventional fantasy tropes, explore how Steve from Long Island wound up there, (I might even just call him Steve... oh, right... word count!), take a stab at romance, even a gay one, and work towards that ever elusive end!

I don't have any pets, but I do have an assassin group of stuffed bunnies that go out into the world and do my bidding. Bunny Lake (Whom I can never seem to find), her brother Bradley, Baklava Balaclava, and the newest addition, Billions Dead "Billy" Bunny!

I cannot wait to kick this year into gear! I, too, will be available 24/7 to answer any questions or if you need that boost of inspiration and motivation! :)

Good luck, wrimos!
___________________________

Co-ML for Tucson, AZ
This is the most fun I've had without lubricant!

___________________________________
*Co-ML for Tucson, AZ*
You see these? You see these words? These are REVLON words!

Hi all!

Can't wait for another awesome year to start. Yes, my years start in November now, mwahaha.

I'm going to write the third in a rather long and unorganized series of coyote shifter novels. This one will probably be set during World War II. I only just decided this today, but it seems like a good idea since it sets up a lot of backstory. And it also seems like a bad idea because I have to like, research and shiz. Dang.

Anyway, glad to be back and ready to go!

http://www.ameliajune.net
2005--Triple X (winner)::2006--Waking Kiara (winner)::2007--Maya's Web (winner)::2008--Seducing Seshat

Hi, everyone.

I'm Ali. This is my first Nano and I approach it with trepidation ;) I've been writing since May, 07.

Though I've got three novellas (erotic romance) with AmberQuill Press, I've never written anything novel length and I'm slooowww.

I'm hoping Nano will get me writing faster and longer. The story I have in mind is fantasy with a m/m romance. I've actually got a beginning, middle and end in mind and a couple of chapters thought out. It's going to require a lot of world building as well as character development, so I think there's plenty enough story to give me the word count I'm hoping for.

On a personal note, I have no life. I work all day and write all night LOL.

Happy to meet ya'll.

ali
http://www.a-katz.com

"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can." ~~ Ernest Hemingway

Woot! It's Nano-gear-up-time already! My name is Susan and this is my third Nano. I won in 06 and I failed miserably (By 2000 words) in '07.

This year I decided to take the pressure off myself and write (don't laugh!) A Haunted Mansion History. As in, The Haunted Mansion. I figure, I am almost completely focused on my upcoming Disney trip (2.5 months away!) so I might as well add my Disney excitement to the already roiling NaNo mix. It should be fun. :)

Kristi, can we have those awesome packets last year with the stars? It felt so awesome every time I knocked off another 500 words. :D

And Gratz to our new fearless co-leader!

2006 winner- Dancing at Midnight
2007- Blood Inheritance

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping I'll be able to get something accomplished this year. I won in my first year 2007, but this year I'll have my hands full. But my current project is due mid october, but I think that is just when the hard work begins, so we shall see how much time I will really have.

But I suspect this years novel will be less dark than last year. This year will be more children oriented,

I look forward to seeing everyone again, and showing off my little (wiggly) project!!

Hi all!

My name's Lauren. This will be my third NaNo- I won the last two- but for the first time, I'm both in school AND have a job, so I have no idea if I can win it. I wrote a mini-nano with my friend just last August, so hopefully I won't be too storied out to finish.

I've been kicking around a couple concepts for my nano, but I've decided that this year I'm going to focus on what I'm really, really bad at writing: Action. Cliffhangers. Tension. NOT just having 50,000 words of dialogue. And I really want to approach it with as little preparation as possible. Let's hope that works out. :)

Good luck to all, and I can't wait to meet everyone at the kickoff party! :D

NaNo '06- Darkness Falls In (winner!)
NaNo '07- 15th Avenue (winner!)
AugNo '08- Two Steps Back (46,059 words)

Hello!

I'm Maya, and I'm 20, and this is my first year doing this. I'm nervous but very excited...and interested to see how it will work juggling this in addition to school and two jobs!

So far I have absolutely no idea what to write about, but since my main focus since like, forever, has been poetry - I'm thinking of using of my poems a character/setting/plot/something and seeing where that takes me.

Fingers crossed :)

(if you ask me where my own home is, the only answer I can give is that it's not a place but words. I live in words and words are where I belong.)

Hi all :-)

This will be my second NaNo, I managed a successful (Technically) attempt back in 2005, but the quality of my . . . piece left me humbled. In fact, I was scared that I would die from mortal embarrassment if I ever touched a keyboard again. Luckily I am slowly getting over the fear of the keys and thinking of trying my fingers at another novel this year. I have firmly decided that if I am not embarrassed, regardless of word count it will be successful and I win. As for my story, I'm stuck between fantasy or Horror/comedy. I'll probably figure it out on Oct. 31.

I have a couple of Dust Bunnies named George. They always seem excited when I come home. I love them, they are the perfect pets, you don't have to feed them anything and they multiply and keep you company all on their own.

I hope everyone has a good time this November.
Thanks for listening to me rant and rave. :-P

I have a plethora of piniatas

Hi all,
My name is Brian- I am 42, and my day job is Creative Services Director at KMSB (Fox 11) and KTTU (My Tucson TV-18.) I also write and produce some programming for both stations (including the Very Bad Movie on KTTU- airing at midnight on Saturdays.)
This is my first attempt at NaNoWriMo-I'm looking forward to the challenge. As some of yuo probably know, November is a critical month in television, so finding the time to write is going to be challenging. But sometimes I need the motivation since I work around writing and producing all day and a lot of times it's the last thing I want to do when I get home- so this deadline is going to be a good thing for me.
My project will be centered around an idea I have had in my head for some time, involving a young reporter at a television station in Tucson (write what you know, right?) who has to balance his youthful enthusiasm and ideals with the harsh reality of broadcast news today.
I am married, with no children (by choice,) a dog and two cats.
Looking forward to working with all of you!
brian

Hello All!

I'm Erik Fesler. This is my second year at NaNoWriMo. Last year I finished on time, with more than 50,000 words, with a story about a space monkey/smuggler. It was based upon an idea my wife threw at me the night before I began, since I didn't have any clue what I was going to write about. She thought she was being humerous, I thought it was brilliant. Anyways...I am continuing the saga of my fearless black marketeering chimp in space. One of these days I might actually get around to editing last years NaNoWriMo, but not during November.

Also, I sold my motorcycle, so this year I won't be getting in any motorcycle accidents halfway through. It made it really hard to type last year.

Erik
A.K.A. Monkeyman

Hello

My name is Julie. I'm 18 and this is my first year at Nanowrimo. I was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ but I now reside in Tucson working on my Creative Writing degree at the University of Arizona.

My novel will probably consist of a 19th century playwright that travels long distances in search for a new leading star after his favorite and most perfect actress of his troupe dies. Discoverys ensue.

I have the cutest puppy known to man named Maxi, but he is all the way back in Phoenix :-(

If I'm not in Tucson I'll probably either be in Phoenix or Wisconsin, but I'll always be in front of a laptop (at least in November) so I won't be too hard to spot.

Merry hi!

I'm Ashleen O'Gaea (pronounced oh-gee-uh, as in, "Oh, gee ... uh, I don't know how to pronounce that!"), and this will be my second year with NaNo. When I was at the Society of Southwestern Authors' Wrangling with Writing conference this year, an editor asked to see a synopsis and the first three chapters of the novel I wrote during NaNo last year, so fingers crossed on that front! (Last year I drafted The Green Boy, about a Wiccan priestess who meets a young man who was brought up to believe that her mother killed his mother ....)

This year I'll be working on The Decanter, a mystery that involves twins separated at birth and reunited in mistrust of one another, on the trail of a potentially history-changing discovery, and in peril from their parents' murderer. Yes, it's cheesy and ambitious, and should be loads of fun even if it's not coherent. :-)

This year, too, I hope to make some write-ins; last year, the schedule just wouldn't permit. I'm on the NW side, around Ina and La Cholla -- do I have any neighbors?

Good luck to us all!
Ashleen

meet me at www.AshleenOGaea.com

I'm Aubree. I'm 15 and this will also be my second year with NaNoWriMo. I participated last year and won and I'm currently planning this year's project.

I'm on the NW side. Far, Far away at Thornydale and Tangerine.

Hi! My name is Nia and I am excited that people are posting about NaNoWriMo already. I have attempted NaNo a few times, but must admit that I have never finished. Truthfully, I have difficulty finishing stories that I start, but I'm hoping that will change this year! Even when I didn't finish NaNo I still felt a sense of accomplishment for the pages I did write.

I don't have a novel idea right now but generally write for a YA audience, I guess because despite my real age (28), I am a teen at heart. Perhaps it's also because I enjoy reading coming-of-age novels (and what isn't a coming-of-age novel, really?).

My husband and I just moved here in August to start new jobs. We are from Seattle so the weather is quite a drastic change. I think the rain and the abundance of coffee shops in the Northwest is conducive to writing, so I wonder how I will do here in the desert! Anyway, I hope joining this group will allow me to learn more about Tucson and meet new people, in person or virtually. Good luck!

I'm also on the NW side of town...near Ina and Thornydale.

I can't believe I'm thinking about this *again*... 2003... I have a friend who was thinking of starting her novel on the 20th of November, and I went, "HEY! You should do nanowrimo!"

So that puts me on the hook... LOL

Just checking in to say "hi".
Must find time this month to come up with a basic outline. Getting nervous and excited about doing this again !!
Might not have an idea, but I got my official T-shirt ! Gotta get those priorities straight.

Hi I am doing this I think for the fourth time, the first time I wrote 2 novels in the challenge both over 50,000 words, the second time I finished with well over 50,000, last year I was out of town fighting Social Services who still have my granddaughter and the new baby boy my daughter had in August...It is so corrupt and disgusting...but won't bore you with the gory details. Also my hand totally went out last year so couldn't type anything without screaming so I didn't finish. I took it as a sign to focus on my fight for my grandchildren so I did.

This year I am extremely busy with so many things but have planned around November. I will stop everything else and just focus on the challenge. I am glad to be home this year for it and am very excited to start. I am finishing the rough draft on a book I am currently writing for publishing and should have it finished in complete rough draft by Oct.31 st. Then will polish it after I complete NaNo.

The novel I am writing for the challenge this year is set in the near future when the world faces coming changes and disasters. Two things happening the old world or ways dying away and a new dawn emerging. In the center of this transition I have placed my main female character, who has a one night stand with a stranger at an event, who is of Native American decent, she ends up with child and now has to face the coming events being pregnant and then having her baby in the midst of the chaos. She is not alone however for as fate would have it her and baby's father have found one another again and he spends most of the story trying to win her heart and all of it trying to protect her and the baby as everything falls around them and they move to the New Dawn, which I might use as the title. I choose this subject matter because much of my other work in life deals with world events and prophecy. There is the supernatural as the veil thins and the universe comes together to help our world. I am not promising to finish the book but I am promising at least 50,000 words at least in Nov. and this one I will attempt to complete after the challenge and publish.

Excited to meet you all and see those I have met before in years gone by...

Hi all,

My name is Martha and this is my third year doing nano. I won in 2006 and 2007 and I plan on winning again this year. This nano thing is pretty awesome, it gets in your blood and you find yourself getting nervous every October because you know that November is right around the corner. I'm looking forward to it this year, as always.

I live on the Southwest side of town near Cardinal and Valencia. I don't know if I will make it to many of the write-ins this year unless I get something started on the Southwest side of town. I do hope to make it to some of the write-ins though, it's nice to gather with others who are in the same writing boat.

Good luck everyone!

Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.

Salman Rushdie

Hey, Martha! I'm over on Irvington and Mission. Maybe we could have a write-in at McDonald's or something... Probably not at Olive Garden, I don't know how they'd feel about that. :) I'm sure there are other places on this side of town. Denny's Diner over by Walgreens and Wendy's at Midvale and Valencia?

Margaret

~not all who wander are lost~
2008: Don't Blink

Hi Ashleen - I am right around the corner from you: NW side, off Overton and La Cholla.

You are way ahead of me. Have to get busy with and idea and an outline of sorts, and fast.

Hey Margaret, that's cool. I think Denny's or McDonald's would be just fine. I'm trying to think of any other places that might work around there.

Martha

Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.

Salman Rushdie

There's Mission Library, too. I've used it for my craft meeting on a Sunday. I reserved the meeting room, and as long as it's public, and no charge, etc... anyone can use them. Well, as long as the reservations don't clash! :)

Well, we have time to look around and see. And we can always shift around, and try the different spots.

Margaret

~not all who wander are lost~
2008: Don't Blink

Hello! This will be my first attempt at this. I've been thinking about writing a novel for years. I have a few ideas. My mother has been nudging me more often lately to write. I write for work, which isn't very fun stuff. I love to write for fun. Now, to put a story idea from my head onto paper and try to be disciplined about it. I think my novel will be based upon the life of a Southern Arizona ranching family around the early 1900s.

My significant other and I have no pets, but we love dogs, so whenever we see a dog walking its owner, I ask permission to visit with the dog. We live out in the desert southwest of Tucson, so it's pretty quiet here (except when he turns up the volume on the football games).

Denny

Hi, guys!

I'm Julie, and I'm back for my third NaNo.

I'll be working on a YA novel this time, and I'm really excited.

I have no dust bunnies named George like our funny friend down below, although I do have some moldy-looking fuzz in my refrigerator that will probably need a name soon....

2006 - Winner - Ducky! Just Ducky.
2007 - Winner - The Adventures of InvisiBoy
2008 - Killing Fate

Bunny Lake Is Missing!!!! LOL

I'm Linda, a 4th grade teacher and always grateful to be in the company of adults. I have two cats plus I seem to be caring for two homeless kittens as well. I don't know how it is they managed to end up sleeping and eating in my house. I think the cats whispered suggestions in my ears while I slept. I'll be turning 51 this year, but only on paper. The world needs immature people like me to set a baseline for everyone else!

My first NaNo was in 2004 (under a different name) and I was successful that year and last year. The intervening years ... well ... we won't go there.

I don't expect to finish this year but I do hope to at least get started!

2007 -- Cafe & Chalk
2006 -- unnamed (IIRC) and unfinished
2005 -- unnamed (IIRC) and unfinished
2004 -- REACHED 50K ON THE FIRST TRY!!

Hi Everyone. I'm Samantha (aka falwyn) and I live in the San Pedro valley, in Cochise County. I've NaNo'ed for three years now, and though I've learned a lot each time, I've yet to win. I'd really, really love to get together with other NaNoers for some let's write together sessions, preferably without driving all the way to Tucson or Sierra Vista.

If you live in Benson, Saint David, Pomerene or thereabouts, I'd love to hear from you and set up a time and place to meet.

Hello everyone. I'm Michelle, and this will be my third year here at NaNo. The first year was a breeze, I finished in seventeen days, I think. Last year was a little scary, and I didn't finish until the very last day, with something like six words over 50k. I'm hoping that this year will be a bit more like the first.

This years novel is a bit sketchy at the moment, but I hope to have something of an outline by November 1st. It's the first in what will be a series about people with special powers. In this one, the main character will be a necromancer, a good guy, who just prefers to spend his time with spirits. And his dead dog, who he brought back to life accidentally when he was a child. At some point, he'll find out that he's the son of a god, and that he has these powers to help fight some "really bad guy", but I have no idea who that is yet. The fact that this doesn't make a lot of sense is actually a good thing, as it gives me an excuse to babble on for pages and pages while trying to explain things.

I have several pets, including seven cats (eek!), a fish, and a husband. :)