Introductions!

HI!

I'm Ellen. I also work in publishing. I am a newly-minted Upper West Sider, and enjoying it immensely up there. This is my EIGHTH year doing NaNo, my third in New York, and I've won every time so far.

The last couple of books I've read that I really, really enjoyed were Seanan McGuire's Rosemary and Rue and Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. You can correctly guess from this that I will probably be writing fantasy or science fiction this year, but I haven't a clue what my novel will be about.

I will use the right-near-the-top positioning of my intro to encourage newbies to come out to the meet-ups and write-ins. NaNo is fun even if all you do is sit at home and write, but you're missing out if you don't do it in the company of the awesome people of NYC NaNoWriMo.

"When writing a novel that's pretty much entirely what life turns into: 'House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.'" -Neil Gaiman

Greetings, My Name is David, I am from the bottom of train station renovatin' Brooklyn. This is Year Four for Me. I am currently 3 for 3 in terms of making quota for the month of November.

This year's story is fuzzier than usual, but I do know that the genre for the story is Fantasy, first person, and involves the vagaries of life on the road and the accidents that happen because of them.

The last novel that really knocked the ball out of the park was "Dies the Fire" by S. M. Stirling. The premise was what if all the gunpowder, electricity, and gas engines were taking from Earth and how people would survive that.

2006 - Faire Gypsy, Faire Game - winner
2007 - Immortal Jeopardy - winner
2008 - Armor of Sight - winner
2009 - The Minstrel -
Gone Writing.

I'm Diana. I work for a nonprofit in midtown but I live in Brooklyn. This is my second year doing NaNo, and I won last year.

This year I'm writing a quasi-chick lit novel that's set between New York and Texas, somewhere five minutes in the future when Texas is trying to secede from the union. Our intrepid heroine is a political science Ph.D. student at NYU who originally hails from Texas.

The last really great book I read was Steve Hely's How I Became a Famous Novelist, which includes the classic line, "Writing a novel is pathetic and boring. Anyone sensible hates it. It's all you can do to not play Snood all afternoon."

I second Ellen's encouragement of everyone to come out. When I did NaNo last year, I had just moved to New York from Arizona and I knew almost no one. Now most of my friends in the city are NaNoers (WriMos?) or people I met through NaNoers! Also, I wrote more fiction last November than I had in the five years before combined. So do NaNo! It will change your life!

Twitter
LiveJournal

"Writing a novel is pathetic and boring. Anyone sensible hates it. It's all you can do to not play Snood all afternoon."--Steve H

Hi! I'm Brett. I am a technical writer telecommuting from the Bronx to an aviation telecommunications OEM in Virginia. This will be my second year participating in NaNoWriMo. I lost horribly last year but am reinvigorated this year. I am going to win.

This year I plan to write a semi-historical fantasy, I say semi-historical because we don't know very much about the Pre-Socratic Greeks. I am imagining that some of the high ranking Pythagoreans actually had magical powers. There is a lot more up in my head, but I am going to let it stew some more.

The last thing I read that got my gears turning was Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. He used the word "maladroitly" 5 too many times, but I got over it, words like that stick out like swollen thumbs. Overall the magic system he imagined and the twists he put on the genre (fantasy) were fascinating.

I am very excited about NaNo this year and am new to the city, I hope I can find time to come to some write-ins.

Hello hello!

I go by Katherine Gilraine in my writing - in the day, I'm an accounting admin! - and I'm also a Brooklynite, but willing to travel. This is my fourth year doing NaNo, I won each year I participated and finally got to publishing my very first win.

NaNo had been my saving grace for writing; without it, I don't think I would've pumped out Book 1. I work best on deadline and quota motivation :)

My genre is science fiction/fantasy fusion of sorts; it is a series that looks to be a long-term project.

Now, about the books....and apologies if I sound like a saleslady... :)

The Index Series is about a band of warriors who try to take care of a postwar universe - and of course, the universe throws them one curveball after another. . Book 1: Mages throws the characters into modern NYC, where everything goes sideways - including their judgment. Book 2: Secrets crowns the cream of the crop and throws them into hell (literally!), all the while several family skeletons start surfacing from their closets. Book 3: Lineage pushes the prior secrets into the open and Earth resurfaces yet again, with a conflict that touches on several unanswered questions in the beginning.

Book 4: Revival will be the answer to how so many of the characters are connected - and why the intergalactic leader took one case in particular a little close to heart. That is my pet project for this year.

What I read is mostly crime fiction, but if something catches my eye, I end up going for it. I read all over the place, usually, but love anything historical almost by default.

I seriously look forward to this year. Of the now 4 years i'm in this, it'll be the first time I'll be attending events :)

I have a writing blog as well, that mostly follows the book, showcases random writing and is a general "Slightly Nutty New York Author" thing: http://www.katherinegilraine.com

Author Website & Blog
The Index, Book 1: Mages (2006w)
Book 2: Secrets (2007w - coming soon!)
Book 3: Lineage (2008w)
Book 4: Revival (2009w)

yay! Very happy to meet you all.

I'm Deb. I live in Sleepy Hollow. I am a professional vegetable grower and beekeeper, mostly in Westchester but did one project on a Brooklyn roof this season. My real interest is in growing food where people live so I hope to have several other projects in the city next year. I'll also be keeping several hives on a Washington Heights roof in addition to the 20+ I'll have in the 'burbs.

This is my first year. I was introduced to NaNoWriMo by my beau who lives in the DC area. This will be his second year.

Among other things, I'm drawn to post-apocalyptic fiction. It's the pioneering by a few clever people after the collapse that really intrigues me. I also loved the Little House books as a kid, which is certainly related. I guess I like the idea of making life work without all the infrastructure we take for granted. SO, my very vague idea is a post-apocalyptic story. Because of the work I do it will be a cataclysm brought on by one of the many fine agricultural lines were walking. Lots to choose from there!

I haven't read any fiction that thrilled me lately. The book that most recently rocked my world was about bees: Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and The Coming Agricultural Crisis by Rowan Jacobsen. Good stuff!

Looking forward to hearing what the rest of you are up to!

Deb

Hi! I'm Meira. I'm from Long Island, but I go to Queens College so since I spent half my time there I figured I should go to some writeins. This is my second NaNO, but hopefully will the first one I'm going to win. Last year I missed out most the activity on the forums because I had very limited internet connection. So I feel like this is really my first NaNo. Last year I got to 25,000 words. This year, I have no plot whatsoever. I don't even know what genre I want to write in. This should be fun :)
I just finished reading Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce and started Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

"Write what you like, there is no other rule." -O. Henry

"I got caught up in between my pride and my promise, between my lies and how the truth gets in the way." -In Between

Hi everyone, I'm Kate and this is my FIRST NaNo! I'm very excited. I live in Astoria, and I work in arts administration (development) in Manhattan. I write mainly fantasy, and that's what my novel is for this year! The story and society are inspired by the culture of the Incas and the civilizations they conquered. I'm kind of neck deep in plotting it at the moment, but I'll be filling in my novel info soon.

I know I'm a few years behind but I just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon - and it is incredible! I missed my stop on the train three times because of it.

http://creatively-untitled.blogspot.com/

Hey guys!!

I'm Yonah, a proud Brooklynite currently unoccupied right now but will be enrolled in a pastry arts course mid-month. This will be my second and a half year doing NaNo (half, because I really don't count the abysmal failure my first year was). I won last year, much thanks in part to the encouragement and support I received from the other Wrimos.

This year I'm writing something of a cross between military sci-fi and space opera. The novel's initial premise was based on the saying "can't go back home again" and was going to be an attempt to prove and disprove that phrase by following several crewmen of a ship back home after their mission was complete. Now, while still keeping the basic premise, it's also turned into a hunt for a galaxy wide terrorist organization with intents on wiping out Earth and reigning in her supporters. Interesting how things go like that, isn't it?

The last books I read that blew my mind in their horrificness were the Fate of the Jedi series. I have since come to learn that anything Troy Denning gets his hands on in the Star Wars world gets utterly destroyed. Idiotic plots, famous character acting OOC when they've just gotten back to being IN character the novel before... Anyway, on the flip side of the coin is Heat (I'll get you the author's name after I look it up). The novelist wants to get an interview with Mario Battali for an article he's writing, and decides that the only way he'll really be able to do so is by getting into the kitchen at one of his restaurants. It provides a fantastic view of the life of a cook.

Looking forward to seeing you all!

NaNo '07: The Devil's Advocate (fail)
NaNo '08: Dangerous Attraction (WON! 50,017)
NaNo '09: Back Again (sci-fi)

Hi! :)

I'm Beth. I teach special ed (district 75) here in NYC, specifically working with kids with autism (and on the spectrum). My school is in Brooklyn - the East New York section. I live in Brooklyn, the Bed-Stuy section...but I spend most of my free time in and around the Theatre District in Manhattan.

This will be my fourth (FOURTH?!?!?) year with NaNo. I've hit the word count the past two years. Last year's was a fanfic based off of next to normal and I'm pretty happy with that. The year before is not finished yet in terms of the story; it's basically one female central character living in the present...but her soul has lived several lifetimes and it's "home" is around Coventry in England ~ it's hard to explain really...ask if you really want to know. :) My first year was a FAIL. I attempted to write a Nanny Diaries-esque look at a first year teacher's life. The only problem was I was a first year teacher, so I got to Thanksgiving and got stuck. Oops.

But that brings me to this year's novel. I had an idea I had started snowflaking, and then I signed up for a playwriting class and realized that I really couldn't do that idea the justice I want to do it AND do my playwriting class, but I still wanted to try NaNo. So... I'm revisiting my first year's attempt but starting it over. It tentatively has the same title as first attempt, but I may change it. I'll also be writing it AS a journal/blog, so that will avoid having to go into long narrations of things like "Suzy went to the front of the classroom..." and hopefully be more fun to read and write. (I'm also planning to get a macbook, so that will make things like write-ins much easier! YAY!)

As far as reading...I'm voracious. I just finished a memoir by Wade Rouse (brand new) called At Least In The City Someone Would Hear Me Scream. Hysterical and also in places kind of poignant. As far as fiction, I just read Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant and LOVED it. Also re-read Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones in anticipation of the movie coming out (they better not butcher it!!!).

Hope to see y'all around! (Yes, I was raised in the south. So what?)

Hi, I'm Jennifer. I live in Manhattan and this is my first try at Nanowrimo. I'm a fashion design student. English is my second language, but I'm working for it not to be obvious in my writing. I like to write and read Urban fantasy, dark fantasy, horror and paranormal romance. For my novel I'm going to write a Urban fantasy about a girl in New York, she works in to maintain her soul after years ago she killed herself.
Right now I'm reading Rachel Morgan/The hollows series by Kim Harrison.
my twitter is @MssJenn add me to support eachother.

Jennifer M

Hello!

I'm Clarice, I live in Brooklyn, I'm in sales at a video game publisher, aaand this is my (wait let me count) 5th year actually participating in NaNo (took an unplanned full-on break last year). Hope it will be my fifth win as well. Very excited to get back into it! This year I'm doing a zombie-pocalypse type novel. I think. We'll see if that sticks all the way until November. I know they're very in right now and all and I promise they won't include any classic literature bits. No Crime and Punishment and Zombies. Really.

Good books I've read lately that blew me out of the water... hmmm... nothing really LATELY. Mostly have been reading fun books. The last ones that got a genuine five star rating were To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis and Church of the Old Mermaids by Kim Antieau.

Anyway, looking forward to meeting the newbies and reconnecting with old NaNo crew peeps... or at least sitting next to them in a bar/coffee shop and racing in word counts.

-Clarice

- Clarice

http://embereye.tumblr.com
http://twitter.com/embereye

Hi all - my name is Anthony and this is my fifth year doing Nano. I won twice before - in 2006 and 2007 and am incredibly excited about the prospects this time around because I finally have some real time on my hands. I just moved to Brooklyn this summer from Seattle (I'm in Bay Ridge), and am looking forward to getting out and meeting some fellow NY Nano participants.

In the past I got too carried away with my novels, so this year I'm keeping it simple and writing something straight out of Fantasy 101. It's going to have smart-ass dragons, drunken heroes and lots of side quests. I can't wait to get started. Of the two novels I finished, only one was actually 100% finished (the other got to 75,000 words in November and then got swallowed by the tides of December and the holidays) but it was a blast and I actually went back to it this year to start editing (after 3 years!)

I'm a copywriter by trade, so I know how to churn out large chunks of words on deadlines, but I am extra excited this year to work on something just for the heck of it, without trying to sell anything or inform an audience - just good, mindless fun.

As for the most recent book I really, truly enjoyed, I just read The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay. I'm a sucker for twists on the noir detective genre and it was a doozy (sounds like it couldn't work - a narcoleptic detective - but it pulls it off in a very cool way).

~Anthony

Goal this year? To not mention my job or anything related to it in my novel.
2009 - Untitled (but awesome)

Hi all,

I'm Sofia and I am a midwife by trade and I live in Yonkers.
This is my very 1st NaNo WriMo. That's right a newbie!
I'm really lookng forward to this. I've started my novel so many times but never finished. I am truly motivated.
This time I will start from scratch. I'm not exactly sure in which direction I want to go. I love thrillers, romance, and mysteries.

The last very intersting book I read was non -fiction. It was called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I loved it.
I just remembered reading Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth. I loved that too.
I've been going through romances & mysteries lately just to past the time until Nov. 1
Wish me luck! I hope that I'll be able to meet everyone.
Sofia

I'm Kate, and this'll be my fourth year of NaNo.

In 2006 i wrote about 58k words of decent SciFi. In 2007 i wrote about 50500 words of horribly, excruciatingly bad speculative fiction, but hey, it was over 50k. Last year i wrote about 50200 words of embarrassingly mediocre fantasy, eking in at about 11:45pm on November 30th. This year, i have no idea what i'm going to write. None at all. But that's par for the course.

I'm unemployed, live in the Bronx, my favorite ice cream flavor is Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and i'm the mom of the Official NYC NaNo Baby, so i rarely make it to write-ins and parties. Worse yet, i'm spending half of NaNo on the left coast this year, so despite sudden ready access to babysitters (yay family), i'll be too far away to attend anything. If the chat room's open this year, i may hang out in there.

Not the sharpest clown in the happy meal.

Hi all!

I'm Livvy, I'm one of the Manhattan MLs, and this is my fourth NaNo. I'm hoping for a 4th win and to finish my story this year as well as to hit the 50K mark.

I'm writing an urban fantasy. I've got a character, but no real clue as to a plot yet beyond a nice old-fashioned Apocalypse somewhere near the end.. I'm hoping a plot bunny appears some time before midnight, November 1st, but I'll start writing even if it doesn't.

I'm in the middle of Tana French's The Likeness which I think I've been reading for about 3 months now. I just finished Suzanne Collins' Catching Fire which I really enjoyed.

I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible!

Livvy

Livvy, but you can call me Weebles

Manhattan co-ML
NaNoWrimo Haiku: 30 days of noveling, 17 syllables at a time

Hey, I'm Amy! I'm a drama student at NYU (focusing in directing and design) and I live in Chinatown. This is my fifth year doing nanowrimo... and I am still looking for my first win.

My novel this year is vaguely fantasy - I'd like the explore the form of an urban fantasy set in a small, secluded town. If I get stuck on that, I'm planning a series of short stories based on songs. The important thing is to keep writing, right?

As for reading, I just finished Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I enjoyed reading it, but I think it worked better first as a miniseries. Next up is Libba Bray's Going Bovine.

Hello Everyone!

Name: Robin/Robbidarobot
Location: West South Bronx
Years Done NaNo: 2007 & 2008
Years Won NaNo: 2007 & 2008

Novel: Atunda. I'm working on a speculative fiction about a twelve year old girl who travels back into time to find what she's lost before she was born. It has ancient mythology in it and a bit of Twilight Zone weirdness.

Hobbies/Interests/Work: Hi everyone. I wish I could find more Bronxites. Most NaNoWriMoer's are from Brooklyn and Queens. Right now, most of my hobbies and interests revolve around writing, playing guitar, working on my animations and screenplays and getting things ready for NaNoWriMo this year.

I just recently finished a novel and sent it out to some websites for feedback which, considering all the typos and misspellings I missed, were quite favorable. This past spring I finished a screenplay, entitled Re numeration. It was a dark humorous piece I enjoyed writing. I love sci fi. My fav author of all time is Octavia Butler (RIP). As for work, I come from the future and am researching this time.

arm me with harmony

Hey, I'm Jill. I live in Staten Island. This is my 3rd year participating - I won once, last year, and have every intention of winning again. I am currently unemployed, though I do have occaisonal pet sitting gigs that give me some money, which I'm working hard on saving so I can help myself get back to school and finish my BS in theater.

I don't know much about the story I'm going to write right now - though I think I'm leaning towards a fantasy story I've had bouncing about in my head this past year - a failry typical high fantasy, reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons, but with the kind of dialouge and thinking I always have about these kind of things (eg: when the group chases monsters into a forest, and find out they've been ambushed, the general response is "whose fault is this" or "I have an idea - let's run" as opposed to fighting). It's rough still, but I'm amused by it at least.

I don't think I've ready anything where I was like "Wow this is amazing!" lately, but I also haven't read anything new in a while. I did really enjoy "My Life in France" - Julia Child's biography/autobiography thing about her time in France. I'm re-reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which I've always loved.

~End Transmission~

Hi, all

Katherine here. This will be my third Nano and I hope my third win.

I'm actually editing my novel from last year. I want to finish it soon, so I can start plotting and scheming the next one!

I have a couple of ideas for this year. An erotic thriller. (Never tried thriller before, not sure how that will work) Or a young adult novel, about two kids who get stuck with their grandparents for the summer. Not sure which I'll go with. But, perhaps, I'll come up with something else before 11/1 rolls around.

I'm a East Village-based freelance writer/editor and things are looking slow this year. Good for my Nano book, but not my bank account. Reading... let's see... mostly the New Yorker... Jill Ciment's Heroic Measures was fun and local. Can't think what else...

Hope to meet you all at a write in. I love the sprints--even if I am the word's worst typist--and slow!!!

Hey! I'm Colleen. I'm on my 8th year of NaNo. ...wow, that's a lot. Of those years I've won twice (the last two), though I once did a NaNo-type challenge with my friends (write a 50k novel in May), and I won that one, so I've three novels under my belt. I'm a student at NYU, and am therefore enormously busy and often scarce. I've attended a handful of meet-ups for the past two years (I'm the girl in the bowler hat), and always want to attend more, but my schedule is crazy. This November, four shows I'm working on are going up. FOUR. I'M AN IDIOT. Oh, well.

My novel this year is the second in a fantasy trilogy about the discovery of magic... and largely focuses on the main character's intense training to fight the kickass evil woman who lives on a mountain in book three.

As far as good books... I recently read the autobiography of Alice Cooper. It's about golf. DELIGHTFUL. Alice Cooper: Golf Monster. Check it out.

"You have a story to tell,
Pull your novel outta that sock drawer!"
-- "Die, Vampire, Die" from [title of show]

Hi All!

I'm Olga, and I am your ML for Williamsburg and environs.

This is my 8th Nano, and 4th (??!!) as an ML. I've won three times, including last year's effort, which I think was my best yet.

This years novel? I have no idea because all i've been thinking about for the past 5 months has been the LSAT I took last Saturday. Which is now over.

I just finished reading Practical Magic (like the movie). I really enjoy it, except now I want to be desperately in love with someone who I met at a pizza parlor after the biggest fight my family and I have ever had. So maybe it was a bad idea to read it.

Hope to meet you all soon!

Olga. Famous. Tyranny.
NYC - Brooklyn Co-ML (Williamsburg/Greenpoint)

Hi, all. I'm Tamara. This is my fourth NaNo, kind of. 2002 and 2004 (or -3?) were utter failures, one by week one with a dead computer. Last year, I finally did it for real and won. I live on the Upper West Side, I teach 4th grade, and I have absolutely zero idea what I'm writing this year. I'm currently refusing to let this stress me out, though I don't expect that to last.

Reading-wise, I'm very very slowly finally coming to the end of Infinite Jest, which kind of ate up my summer and now apparently fall, but I'm also midway through The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong and recently loved the Dexter novels, various Tom Perrotta, and the Percy Jackson books. This might explain why I don't even know what genre I'm writing. (Also the history of Sesame Street - Street Gang - was a good read, though nonfiction is not so much my thing as a general rule.)

I'm going to follow up what people said about to going to write-ins - without live, in-person word wars, I probably would've continued to go nowhere. (Can I blame my two failure years on not living in New York? I'm going to go with yes.)

Hi, everybody! I'm Sally, living in Brooklyn, but working in downtown Manhattan. In real life, I'm a lawyer working for a NYC agency, so as a civil servant, I'm not in the league of those other kinds of lawyers (salary-wise, anyway). But, at least there's a great tradition of lawyers who write fiction!

Btw, Olga - congratulations on getting over with the LSATs! (so glad that I never have to take that again).

Anyway, it'll be my third NaNo (my God, time flies; seems like yesterday that I was the newbie); I've somehow managed to win both times previously, getting beyond 50K and actually finishing the stories (and last year's was quite the feat, in writing a historical mystery novel in a period that I wasn't very good at - making things up during a rush of a month can be quite fun - or torture, or both!). For this year, I'm wavering on what kind of story. I've managed to avoid writing a legal thriller for quite awhile, then tried on and off, and now thinking, heck, why not try to finish one in a month? So, the idea is to have a legal thriller/murder mystery, with a touch of a chick lit/romance. Or, if that idea isn't working, maybe do a spy thriller parody. Like I said, still puttering with the ideas and characters to play with. I still have a couple of weeks to decide!

Lately, I've been reading non-fiction (or cheesy paperback romance novels to relax, none of which I'd recommend). This summer's reading for me was Jeffrey Toobin's "The Nine" (okay, a title that sounds creepy, and ends up being about current the Supreme Court and their inside stories - very well written - a read I'd recommend). Lately, haphazardly reading Annette Gordon-Reed's "The Hemmingses of Monticello" (very well written; I do recommend it, if you're really curious about the inside - and serious - story of the Jefferson-Hemmings family) and something about the Buddha by Karen Armstrong (for a short book, it's a slog of a read).

Hoping to make it to write ins - it's good to be among those who are also writing.

Sally

2007: "Bread and Circuses"
2008: "The Mystery of the Venerable Chalice"
Blogging at www.triscribe.com

Colleen - Hey dude!

- Amy

Hey everyone!

I'm Kate and this is my fourth year doing NaNo. So far, I have barely made it halfway before giving up somewhere around Thanksgiving, BUT THIS YEAR! This year it will all be different. I swear :) Let's see, in addition, I'm an editor, and I just relocated to the East Village, a glittering upgrade from the dregs of society that were the Theater District. Sorry, if anyone's particularly fond of that area.

This year, I'm working on a novel, still untitled, about a guy who wakes up the day after the Apocalypse was supposed to happen and realizes he's completely screwed. He's spent his entire life trying to accomplish everything before The End, and now finds himself with no aspirations, goals, or money. Enter a reluctant trip to visit the family after a five year hiatus (complete with a colorful cast of lovable yet nutty members), a lost love, and the discovery that the one thing he's been missing his entire life is in the least likely place. All together now, "Awww!"

The last book I read and truly loved was Lucinda Rosenfeld's I'm So Happy For You. It was a true guilty pleasure, but now I can't stop drawing comparisons between the book, and my own completely dishonest and backwards friendships with girls. Very funny. I recommend reading it if you need a laugh (and an uncomfortably authentic and honest look at why women are truly friends with one another).

Soo that's it. I'm really exicted for NaNo! Let's see what happens.

When Jordan was younger, much younger, he would have protested like this when they punished him. Only then, of course, his stubbornness would have been endearing, and he would have been wearing pants.

I'm John, father of the Official NYC NaNo Baby. This will be my third NaNo: I won in '07 (writing sci-fi adventure), but not in '08 (writing suspense/conspiracy). This year I will try to write fantasy; I have no plot thoughts yet, so we'll see how this adventure goes. This may not be the first year I write half the story in the last 3 days.

Other than that? I live in the Bronx. I'm a medical student by day...and, honestly, that takes up most of my nights, too. The best of the books I've read recently would have to be Johannes Cabal the Necromancer. An easy read, lots of fun.

hi all, i'm cornbread, i am currently a full-time grad student, and i live in pocatello, idaho. however, even though i'm no longer living in nyc, it's just not that easy to get rid of me. let's see, this year, if i decide to do anything more than participate on the forums, will mark my eighth nano and my seventh win (i have the entire week of thanksgiving off, and it's november, it's not like i *need* sleep, right).

on the off chance i write a novel, it will have something to do with the north and south pole switching places, the entire planet demagnetizing while this happens, and people losing their memories due to the loss of the electromagnetic field. the day will be saved by people who've been sucked into the bermuda triangle and get kicked back out. (before you decide i've lost whatever was left of my mind, with the exception of the bermuda triangle bit, all the rest of this plot came straight from an interview a friend of mine listened to recently. i may be crazy, but i am not alone out here on the fringe).

as for what i've been reading lately, when i'm not reading textbooks on economics, marketing, statistics, or information assurance, i am reading articles about topics related to those subjects for the papers that i've not yet written. but the econ paper will get drafted today, and the audio steganalysis paper will either get started or scrapped. i have this vague memory of fun. life before grad school, yeah that was it.

while i shan't be attending any meet-ups, i'm hoping to pop into the forums and harass

"drench yourself in words unspoken
live your life with arms wide open
today is where your book begins
the rest is still unwritten"
-"unwritten" by natasha bedingfield

write hard!

Thanks Sally! I hope I can meet everyone's expectations as well as my own.

Cornbread is our honorary NYer this year. Pocatella, eh? That sounds so incredibly podunk. We miss you!

Olga. Famous. Tyranny.
NYC - Brooklyn Co-ML (Williamsburg/Greenpoint)

Hey all! I'm Leah (aka Spitoon, Spitty, Spork, and many, many more for those of you who did the chatroom last year).

I'm currently a sophomore in high school, so you won't be seeing me at most of the write-ins. I live in Brooklyn, but go to school in Manhattan. This is my second (I think) year participating in NaNoWriMo. Last year (with a lot of encouragement from everyone) I hit 52,000 words after starting halfway through the month. Props to everyone who battled me in word wars.

This year I'm writing a historical fiction/fantasy about a boring girl who finds a window that doesn't look out onto her lawn and decides to jump through it to be interesting. And she finds herself in another time and place. And sometimes she's a man. Last year I wrote about a woman and a man who are having marital issues, so this one is going to be quite different.

The last truly amazing book I read (and am still reading) is The Odyssey. Before that I read Before I Die, which is about a girl with terminal cancer and a list of things she must do before she dies. I cried at the end (silly, yes I know). I'm also in the middle of The Lost Symbol, which is a great deal of fun to read.

When in doubt, pick your friends and use them for plot devices.