The First Timer's Thread

Hmm... I rather like this thread. I'm a newbie as well. I am wondering the same things... but I can't get to any write-ins as most of them aren't in Sonoma and I'm thirteen, and my mom can't drive and nobody would be willing to take me to one.
So mostly I would like to know the typical day. I can tweak it around a bit to fit the day as a middle school student.

Does anybody else live in Sonoma? Like Sonoma the city not the valley or county?

"Food for thought requires a mind with teeth"

.....

"Food for thought requires a mind with teeth"

Hey,

I am new to this too! But don't worry Czenko, you certainly won't be an outcast!

I expect I'll be going to events in Petaluma/Marin as I don't make it up to Santa Rosa very often. But I will try to see if I can make a Santa Rosa event if you promise to come! Trust me, you'll be made to feel very welcome.
The premise of this is to inspire our creativity, not to judge the content or abilities of the participants.
When I was younger I used to be a lot more shy and nervous than I am today, and I know how you feel. But I promise, this is a very good environment to get a bit of social interaction from undoubtedly understanding writers - a lot of writers and artists suffer from social akwardness, don't worry it's very common, a lot of my favourite artists (even successful ones too, even in bands!) are very nervous/shy/awkward. It just comes with the territory sometimes, we understand.

This is a new field for me but I'm excited and I'm looking forward to meeting up!

Alyssa

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http://www.alyssathralls.com

Hello, fellow newbies. I am also shy and a bit secretive with my work (I don't even let my boyfriend read my stuff!) but I think the support and good old fashioned fellowship will be worth putting myself out there a little bit. Even if it terrifies me, which quite frankly it does.

stop....hammer time.

Hi, newbie here too. An online friend of mine talked me into this. I haven't written fiction in fifteen years, just a few poems here and there. I was excited last night when I got down 1700 words and met my first goal. It's probably crap, but it was easier than I thought.

I am incredibly shy as well, and I doubt if you'll catch me at a write in, but I'm hoping to get to know some of you through the forum and I'm glad we're all here to support each other through this!

trying out this writing thing people do

The only way I meet people now is online, so it's nice to have this thread for new Nano'ers like we are.

Since 2005, I've posted many stories in my Writing.com http://judity.Writing.Com/ portfolio.

If you haven't checked out Writing.com, which is a great site for writers of all levels of experience, I invite you to come drop by my portfolio and maybe even join WDC. The more, the merrier!

This is my first year writing a story for NaNoWriMo, and already my fingers and bum hurt from sitting at my laptop all morning. I'd love feedback on what I've written so far, so if you can pull yourself away from your own writing, here's a link to the first few chapters of my "Myth J. A. Buxton's Myths." http://tinyurl.com/yj97hgv

Judity

Thank you guys so much for the reassurance, and I'm a little relieved that I'm not alone in this. I can very much relate to the exclusive online interaction, but I attended a write-in just now. Everybody's very nice and it's not the least bit uncomfortable.

This day one, in a big sense, is causing complete anxiety for me. I went in without a thought for a plot, and so what do I think to do? I jump into a story about a girl with complete social anxiety, a perfect mirror of my own self. Her school guidance councilor quickly transformed into my old, kooky neighbor. My childhood enemy and good friend had been thrown together to be a single, menacing character. I'm mixing so many elements of my past into a pot, it makes me feel completely embarrassed, exposed, and exactly like my main character.

I don't know if I can do this. I feel embarrassed all over.

Hi and welcome newbies.

All of us were newbies once. I was so shy about it, I didn't attend a single write-in, didn't go online to the forums. In short, I stayed in my room and wrote...barely. And the negative self-talk? Yikes.

I'm glad you made it to a write-in, Czenko. They really are encouraging. And, my experience is, writing can be scary because we do expose ourselves...to ourselves. Sure if we let someone else read our stuff, that's a different way of being vulnerable. But uncovering some of our deeper feelings, thoughts, ideas and ideals can be mindboggling and unsettling...and, conversely, very, very liberating. The most wonderful result of doing this crazy contest, at least in my opinion? Knowing, proving to yourself that you CAN do it, just like that small voice inside you knew all along.

About getting feedback on your writing so far? Chris recommends not doing that during NaNoWriMo and I'm with him on this one. There is something precious and powerful about letting your creativity pour out of you unchecked, uncensored and most importantly, unjudged. The quickest way to stopper the free flow of your burgeoning imagination is to crowd your process with other people's opinions, even if they're good! Trust your own process, trust your own ability to do this, if for no other reason than that thousands have come before you and experienced exactly that. December is a great time to get feedback, after you've hit your 50,000 mark. For now, trust that you can do it. And...go do it!

Debbie aka Boo Boo
ML for Sonoma County
Winner--2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Also Ran--2003

I'm 19, a sophomore psychology major at Gonzaga University, and a newbie!

Starir a mig litill alfur
Hleypur að mér en hreyfist ekki
Ur stað - sjalfur
Starálfur

The first few days of the challenge I found myself stumbling through my story until I decided to change the title. Now the words are pouring from my brain to my fingers and finally into my laptop.

It's amazing how something that minor can affect stuck story lines, isn't it?

Judity
November 2009 NaNoWriMo author of:
"To Live Again In Paradise"
http://tinyurl.com/yj97hgv

Hi guys, I'm a little late checking in. This is my first year and I'm amazed to see how well we're all doing. This is turning out to be more fun than I expected, although I am getting more headaches than usual from spending sooo much time in front of the screen. Here's to many more words, sentences and paragraphs. Maybe chapters but who has time to stop and figure those out? I'll do that next month.

I'm impressed with how far you've come along already Jakera, this is my first year of writing with NaNo and I'm loving the obsession Of course, my challenge is I enjoy reading the NaNo posts so much I skip my own writing - that is not so good!

I'm new too! From Windsor! (south of Healdsburg, North of Santa Rosa) and yeah, my fear is not being taken seriously. People say I'm too young because I'm not writing about teenagers and teenage problems or vampire and I'm like 'Uh...sorry that isn't what I'm interested in?' But I might go to the one at Borders-cafe on a Wednesday or maybe even this Saturday! Drop me a message! We'll be nervous together haha

Coffee cups drank: at least 30
Exhaustion, on a scale of 1-10: 7
Times I've considred killing my character and having aliens come in from out of nowhere: once....ok twice

Hi guys,Yes it's scary and overwhelming going public The write ins . In fact I got a migraine the evening of my first. I refused to give up on myself so decided to suck it up, get there early and get comfortable. I did. When others got there I was comfortably writing.said hi and got back to work. I stepped over my fear and everyone was really sweet. The migraine prevented me from being social but , next time. The momentum picks up when you're writing with others. Tomorrow am stretching myself, off to San Francisco for a day long write in.I buddied up with another newbie. I figured I'd let go and have fun with it all, or come December, I may wonder what I missed. It feels scary but always ends up fun.Go for It, surprise yourself. I'm rooting for you.

I was delighted with the write-in at Copperfields and wish I had time to go to more. It felt like warming myself beside everyone else's creative fire. Their energy kept mine flowing. When I glanced up from my story and saw everyone else working so intently on theirs, I was inspired. Here's to enjoying our first voyage and making the most of this magnificant obsession.