Orientation for New Nanos

Here is a quick and by no means comprehensive orientation to a few important things that you, as a brand new nano participant, might not be aware of.

If you haven't made your regional affiliation, stop reading and do so immediately. Regional affiliation tags California :: South Bay as one of the default forums to come up when you click on the 'Forums' link, adds your wordcount to this region's total, lets us know how many people are participating from this area, and enables you to receive any group email the Municipal Liaisons (Ian/idunno and Lisa/marcopolo) send out.

To make your regional association, you need to first affiliate with this region, and then designate it your Home region. Here's how to do that:

Click on 'My NaNoWriMo' in the grey menu bar near the top of the web page.
In the menu that drops down, click on 'My Regions', which will open the My Regions page.
Click on the Regions tab.
Type California :: South Bay in the search field, hit 'Submit', and when that group appears, click on the 'Join' link next to it.
A new window will load. Click on the 'Join' button in that page.
In the My Regions page, click on the 'Home Region' tab. This will bring up a list of all the regions you are affiliated with.
Make sure United States :: California :: South Bay is selected as your home region and click on the 'Set Home Region' button. Wah-la! You're done.

Each region has an ML (Municipal Liaison) or a couple of co-MLs. This year, that's me (idunno) and Lisa (marcopolo). We organize events, moderate the forums, answer any questions you may have and address any concerns that might come up.

There is a Local Events calendar listing the time, date, and location of the local write-ins, as well as other 'special' events such as the Meet 'n' Greet we'll have before November starts, the halfway party, and potentially a local Thank God It's Over party. The calendar should be visible at the top of the regional forum. Or follow this link:

http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=jfr990q58jkvdc26cr0fi1gubo%40gr...

Lots and lots of information is imparted by the MLs and other participants in the regional forums. While you don't HAVE to participate in the forums (regional or otherwise) to do NaNoWriMo, it can be lots of fun. We only ask that you be nice to everyone, watch the content (we do have kids participating), and try to keep it nano-related (though we do have an Off-Topic section for people who just have to post something non-nano related). The forums are moderated, and we will remove inappropriate or offensive posts. But the most important thing to remember about the forums is that they're fun! Things that come up in the forums are suggested plot ninjas for this year's novel, introductions, suggestions for write-in locales, coordination of carpooling for things like the Meet 'n' Greet, the Kick Off party, the Halfway party, the Thank God It's Over party, and a host of other things that come up during Nano.

If you can attend write-ins, do it! Turnout is highest at the start of November (we've had 20+ people packed into a coffee shop), but even though it drops off a bit as November progresses, there has always been a significant group of core writers who show up. Everyone's friendly, and local write-ins are a way to socialize with fellow writers while still getting significant writing done. Stumped for a name, or not sure of a fact? Throw it out to the group! Writing is, by definition, a solitary act. Write-ins allow you to be alone with others. They also provide you with encouragement, someone to commiserate with when you're behind on wordcount, and, believe it or not, a sense of community.

There's plenty more going on that isn't covered here. The above info should get you started. Happy noveling! And if you have any questions, feel free to PM me (idunno) or marcopolo.
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idunno, co-ML for California :: South Bay
2009 Novel: The Stephen Hawking Detective Agency