ML Emails

Tomorrow the NaNoWriMo Headquarters will be wiping the boards and preparing the site for NaNo 2009. All NaNoMail older than a year will be deleted, and your word count, novel information (name, photo, synopsis, etc.) will be wiped clean, ready for the new year.

For everyone who won last year, make sure you've grabbed your winner's badges and downloaded a copy of the Winner's Certificate, as well.

HQ has promised some wonderful changes to the Regional Forums; so in the next few days we'll be sending out our official 'Welcome to NaNoWriMo 2009' message, with pointers on the changes to the website (which we haven't seen yet, either, so give us a day or two after relaunch to give us a chance to figure things out).

In the meantime, Dana and I are frantically planning the local Spokane events, but we could use your help. Like last year, we'll have several write-ins each week, scattered throughout the local area, but we need to find some new locations. The Cheney venue from last year has closed, so we're in need of a new gathering place for the western-most section of the region. Recommendations for write-in locations in other parts of the region are also welcome.

We will also be announcing the details of a contest for the most innovative Special Event Write-In in the Spokane Region. Some of the other regions are holding write-ins at museums, aquariums, the beach (brrrr), movie theaters, etc. We're challenging you to help us find some place just as exciting for the Spokane crew. We're a talented and diverse group, and I would hazard that many of us have connections to interesting locations we could use for a special event. Nevermind -- instead we replaced this tentative plan with a Midway Party -- check out the calendar for 11/15

Finally, I'm looking for some linguistic help for a surprise we're cooking up. Is there anyone in the Spokane Region who is at least sort-of fluent in Latin? I have a smattering of knowledge, just enough to embarrass myself, and I could use some semi-expert advice.

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

Anybody out there? I can't see past the lights, but I'm hoping the auditorium is packed with anxious Spokane Region Wrimos waiting for their first regional email of the 2009 season. Unfortunately, there's a rumor going around the ML forum that these emails are only being sent out to folks who have already signed back onto the website and updated their profile since October 1st.

If you received this message and you haven't yet logged back onto the NaNoWriMo website, please let me know, so I can figure out who's actually getting these messages.

Last I checked, Spokane had almost 300 folks affiliated, but only 13 show up as home region authors when I run a region search. I suspect something's gone awry in the search function, because at least 20 of you have already signed in on the introductions thread on the regional forum.

So for now, I'll just point you to the regional forum: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85 and ask you to introduce yourself to your fellow local authors. That's also where you can RSVP for the kick-off party scheduled for the Sunday, October 25th, Sponsor a Wrimo, or start your own topic for discussion.

Before you wander off to check out the Spokane forum, would you do me a favor, and check here to make sure you've set your home region: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/og/home -- even if Spokane is your only region, you must specifically choose it as your home, or you don't count as one of our own. Please double check, even if you are sure that you set it last year, because a lot of settings came unhooked when we transitioned to the NaNo 2009 season last week.

A little later, once the bugs have been worked out of the ML email system and a few more folks have wandered back to the fold, we'll send out our formal welcome email with details of all the exciting things we have planned in Spokane. Until then, I'll keep running author searches, trying to find out where everyone is hiding.

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

Welcome / welcome back to NaNoWriMo! (Yes, I know that most of you have been back for at least a couple of weeks, but new folks are signing on every day, so let's just pretend that I haven't already welcomed you to the 2009 season, OK?)

I'm Samantha (Dichotomy6958 on the NaNo site) and along with Dana (Jayce_Grae), make up the Municipal Liaison team for the Spokane region of NaNoWriMo.

You are receiving this message because at some point (maybe yesterday, maybe three years ago) you signed up for NaNoWriMo and affiliated with the Spokane region. If you no longer wish to receive these messsages, full unsubscribe instructions can be found at the bottom of this email. We hate to see you go, but we don't want fill your inbox if you're not noveling this year (or at least keeping track of your friends who are crazy enough to try to write a novel in a month).

There's a lot going on in the Spokane region this year, so I'll just hit the high points below, with links to where you can find full explanations on the Spokane Forum or elsewhere on the NaNowriMo website.

CHECK YOUR SETTINGS:

1. NaNoMail. This year, the default notification for NaNoMail has been set to off, so unless you log into your mailbox, you have no way of knowing if someone is trying to reach you. Please turn on "aggressive notification" for NaNoMail. Once aggressive notification is turned on, almost every page of the website will have a notice of private message at the top whenever your friends and MLs are trying to reach you.

Go to My NaNoWriMo, User Settings, Edit Account Settings and scroll down to Private message settings. Check both boxes: Allow private messages and Aggressive notification of new messages. Finally, don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the page and click Submit.

2. Home Region. Even if you belong to only one region, you must specifically designate it as your “home” here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/og/home. Once you have set a home region, your word count is credited to that region. If you live and/or work in the greater Spokane area, please set your home region to Spokane.

RSVP FOR THE KICK-OFF!
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3277742

Don't forget to RSVP for Kick-Off Party Potluck, which is this Sunday, October 25th from 2-5:00 pm at Associated Industries (thanks to Robinson Research for sponsoring this site for us!). We'll have a muse for each of you, along with other goodies and the chance to bid on some wonderful items from our Silent Auction. Bring a friend (or six)! You can find full details, address and even a map on the SpokaNaNo Calendar, located on the front page of the Spokane Forum: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85.

SILENT AUCTION

We are trying something new this year in an effort to help support NaNoWriMo and the folks at OLL. At the Kick-Off Party you will find a large number of items available for purchase via a Silent Auction. The money raised from the Silent Auction will be donated to OLL pursuant to our new Sponsor-a-Wrimo Program (see the details at the Sponsor-a-Wrimo thread: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3277717.)

You don't have to be present to bid (although you do need to make prior arrangements for your maximum bid and how you will pay for the item if you win the bid). You will find a list of auction items here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3310680. If you can't make the party, but are interested in any of the items, contact either Dana or me for a full description of the item and to submit your bid ahead of time. We will have the chat room open at the Kick-Off Party, so you may want to consider using the chat room to submit your bids.

CHAT ROOM

If you haven't set up your chat room account, we'll have at least one computer available at the Kick-Off Party to walk you through the process. Can't make the party but want an chat room account? Email either Dana or myself at spokanano@gmail.com and request instructions and the super-secret password. We'll use the chat room for our Tuesday Virtual Write-ins, as well as monitoring the chat room during all other write-ins and events that offer Internet access.

RECRUIT A FRIEND! It's not too late to convince a friend of yours to take up the NaNo challenge!

QUESTIONS? You have at least four methods of communicating with us. In order of preference, you may:

1. Post your question on the Spokane Forum: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85 (this is the best method, because everyone benefits from your question, and you aren't relying on only the advice Dana and I can give: everyone in the region can chime in).

2. Send an email to both MLs (Dana and me) at our shared gmail address: SpokaNaNo@gmail.com. This is the second-best option, because both Dana and I have access to this email account, so we don't have to forward it to each other to keep the ML team in the loop.

3. Send either of us a NaNoMail -- Dana is Jayce_Grae and I am Dichotomy6958. Keep in mind that NaNoMail does not allow multiple addressees, so in order to contact both MLs you will have to send 2 messages.

4. Reply to this message -- this is the easiest and fastest method for you, but it only lands in the email box of whichever ML is sending the message. Also, if you are concerned about maintaining privacy, any reply to an ML email message will reveal your email address. Keeping secrets comes naturally to me: I had an Air Force top secret, special intelligence security clearance when stationed in Berlin during the cold war, and I've worked in law offices for the past 27 years where I've had access to privileged information. I would never pass your email address on to anyone else without your permission, but some people don't want to take that chance. In that case, your best bet for communicating with the Spokane ML team would be Option 1 or 3.

Hope to see you Sunday,

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

I know I'm repeating myself, but we've picked up a bunch of new people in the Spokane region since my last message. Bear with me, please, if some of this is a repeat of what you already know; but there's also some new and important information for all of you.

The Spokane Region's calendar is bulging with events (and we expect to be adding more with your input). You'll find the calendar at the top of our forum: www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85.
Our next big event is the midnight write at the Broadway Truckstop starting at 11:30 pm, Halloween night (costumes optional). The official start time is 11:30, to give us a chance to get set up and start writing on the stroke of midnight.

This year we've also scheduled a Midway Party, on November 15th. We'll meet at Pattison's Skating Rink North of the Y, just off Hwy 395 (Division) at 6:30 pm. We've reserved their party room, which we can keep if at least 15 SpokaNano authors, friends and family show up. Otherwise we'll just take over one end of the general seating area. Come join us, even if you don't plan on skating. In addition to skating, we'll also be playing a new literary game: A Dark and Stormy Night.

We've scheduled the date for our TGIO (Thank Goodness it's Over) Party: Sunday, Dec. 6th. Dana will be announcing the details in the next few weeks.

Finally, my obligatory (and hopefully only) message begging everyone to check your user settings to ensure you get the most from NaNoWriMo.

NEW THIS YEAR:
Please make sure you have accepted the Terms and Conditions. If you don’t, you’ll be a “user” instead of a “participant,” and your affiliating and homing will have no effect. Go to My NaNoWriMo and click Edit Info. User Settings. Scroll to the bottom on the account settings tab, read the text, and click all those boxes. Then click Submit and you’re an Official NaNoWriMo participant!

NANOMAIL
If you send either Dana or me a NaNoMail and would like us to reply to you, please make sure that your mail settings don't block our reply. Unless you've emailed us in the past, we do not have your off-site email address. If your settings don't allow us to send you NaNoMail, we have no way to reach you directly. And even if you haven't sent us a message, that doesn't mean that we haven't been trying to reach you. Have you checked your NaNoMail box lately?

Here's where you adjust your settings: *My NaNoWriMo, User Settings, Private Message Settings*. Please check the *Allow Private Messages* box. The other option, *Aggressive Notification of New Messages*, is also useful. It will display a reminder at the top of most forum pages when you have new mail in your NaNoMail folder. Don't forget to choose the *Submit button* at the bottom of the User Settings page when you've checked your box(es).

STAYING IN TOUCH (just in case)
Things have been going astonishingly well on the NaNo site this year - we've only had a few hiccups and a couple of short down times. NaNoWriMo's wondrous programmer, Dan Duvall, has been focusing on maximizing site performance so we'll be ready for the expected Pounding of the Servers, which is due to begin later this morning and is expected to last through this time next week. If the site goes down - don't panic! We'll stay in touch through the SpokaNaNo Google Group, on Facebook and on twitter (SpokaNaNo). Chris or someone from HQ will also likely be tweeting on the #nanowrimo band to update us. Plus, you can access our calendar directly here: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=0l4c3ts3nmk8m7212ershj4q00%40gr.... Please bookmark it for future reference.

Also, this year Dana and I are utilizing a Google Voice telephone number for the SpokaNaNo Group. If you need to reach either or both of us, please call 509-720-7626. If no one answers, be sure to leave a message, and Google will immediately notify us of the message via email.

YOUR NANO HOME
Even if you are only affiliated with one region (and we know that you're at least affiliated with Spokane, because you're receiving this message), you must still specifically set your home region. Of course we'd love it if everyone within our reach homed with Spokane. But for those of you who *do* live and/or work in the Greater Spokane area, please, please set Spokane as your home region.

It is easy to do: navigate to your home region tab under My NaNoWriMo - http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/og/home; click the circle beside United States::Washington::Spokane, and click the Set Home Region button. There! You're now homed with Spokane!

When you home with us, your word count and donations are included in our regional totals.
Today's front page video explains exactly how (and why) to home with Spokane. Check it out: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3330935

Finally, please check to see if your user name appears below. If you see your name listed, it means that you have not yet designated a home region. The first list consists of new NaNo participants without a home region. The second list includes the user names of lost Wrimos from previous years who have never designated a home region.

New Un-Homed Affiliates: (edited for 11/4/09 information, several previously un-homed folks have since set their home region, and we've acquired a lot of new folks who seem to be wandering lost in the wilderness)

adamsbff
AnnaAndersontheGreat
aprzybyla
Azombieatemyshoelace
bellavdashwood
Bonnie Lass 5
BTHamre
drdehn
Hollishilis
joys
Jsc
Lamascheradeldemonio
LaVonne
lefteyelazy
mapile
michael.crusoe
nathano235
nicole.ybarra
oldenuf2nb
Oline
Outside_Eden
saiou
skudoozie
Stine
SylviaSybil
Synova
TimesNewYorker
Valhallaorbust
Violin509
Wayland01
whymsycalwoman
williaminindio
ZagFly

Returning Un-Homed Affiliates:
AAlaric_Mungo
Athabaska
berninibird
cara.lynn.marks
codeinepink
Dickensianne
free_lily
genna
Gmarie
heavenlylace
hyoscinelullaby
johas
JosiahVictorBlack
kubilay
ottergirl3
petra stare
pillowfarmer
Red Rose
resident_muse
seanbhean
Srae
Von
weaglem2002
WhistlingSocks
wombat707

If you haven't logged back in on the NaNo website yet, it's never too late to check in and start planning this year's novel.

I hope to see you all Saturday night/Sunday morning.

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

[Something greater than the Iliad now springs to birth.]

Your novel-in-progress (it is in progress, isn't it?) could very well be the next timeless masterpiece. It's too soon to judge, and you'll never be able to tell by your first draft. My advice is to continue writing, secure in the belief that while your first draft may be a little rough, by the time you've edited and polished it for publication, the blurbs on the back cover will be comparing you to Homer (no, NOT Homer Simpson -- that other Homer, the Greek fellow.)

By the end of the day today, your word count should be at almost 6,900 words. A few of us are ahead of schedule, some are right on track, and some are lagging behind. We all have our off days when not much writing gets done. Hopefully they are balanced by even more days when the words flow off our fingertips and the ideas for the next scene stack up in a holding pattern in our brain, waiting for their chance to hit the page.

If you are feeling discouraged because you are behind, or only now contemplating starting your novel, I have a secret weapon which may help you catch up your word count and even pull ahead to give you some breathing space for the busy holiday season at the end of the month.

My secret? Word wars!

Even if you can't attend any of our write-ins, you can still participate in word wars via the Spokane chat room. Last nights virtual write-in resulted in me writing over 1,500 words during only two of the several 15-minute word wars we had.

Well have the chat room open at all of our in-person write ins where we have internet access, and once youve registered and logged in, you can go back at any time to see if anyone else is there. Even if Dana or I are not logged on, feel free to challenge each other to write as many words as you can in whatever length of time you want (10 and 15-minute word wars are popular, but if you have nothing to break your concentration and are serious about racking up a bunch of words, you might want to consider a 20-minute word war.) Do that once or twice an hour and youll soon be caught up and on your way to the winners circle long before November 30th.

=====

CALENDAR CHANGE:
Last Sundays Empyrean Write-In was changed temporarily to Coffee Social. This new place was such a hit with the 10 (or was it 11?) who attended, that weve decided to make the change permanent. The calendar on the Spokane forum has been updated, but everyone who has the printed schedule in your wallets will need to change the Sunday Write to Coffee Social. http://coffeesocial.net/hours.html

=====

Are you new to NaNoWriMo and the Spokane Region? Confused? Dont have a clue what any of this is about?

Weve been sending out regular emails to the Spokane regional affiliates, but if youve just signed on this may all be Greek (or Latin) to you. If thats the case, you can catch up on all the important news on the ML Emails thread on the Spokane forum: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3361050.

This message will be added to the thread, so you can easily find it later. Just keep in mind that some of the earlier posts refer to events that have already passed.

=====

Visit our forum:
http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85

Join the Chat Room:
Instructions here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3288649

Find out details about our 2009 events:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=0l4c3ts3nmk8m7212ershj4q00%40gr...

Our next big event will be the Mid-Way Party at Pattisons North, Sunday the 15th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Bring your friends and family and join us in the party room. The brave among us can skate our tensions away while the less adventuresome watch from the sidelines. Well swap dares for our novels and plan out our next plot twists.

Come introduce yourself!
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3266678

====

From our Regional Info tab (http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85/info):

At this moment, there are 174 active and homed Wrimos in this region;

36% of the Spokane folks are new to NaNoWriMo;

13.79% of Spokane Wrimos (24) have donated $390 so far; and

We have written 515,185 words, averaging 4,441 words per Spokane Wrimo!

Totidem verbis ,

Samantha Warden
Spokane, WA Co-Municipal Liaison

PS There will be a special prize at the Mid-Way Party for whoever can properly identify the number of mixed metaphors in this message (it wasnt intentional, believe me this is how my brain works in November!) -- S.

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

[By endurance we conquer]

If you're new to NaNoWriMo, you're only now starting to discover the dreaed Week Two. Those of us who have experienced it before know we can get through the week, but even the veterans are starting to wonder if it's worth the effort.

Everything you've heard about Week Two is true. It is so much harder than Week One. The words just don't come as easily. It feels like so much more of an uphill struggle. Here's why:

Week One is easy. At the beginning of Week One you have all the excitement of the Kick-Off giving you energy. All the thought and preparation you put into your plot before you began gives you extra momentum. You're like the troops going over the top in the trenches. The sudden charge ahead, the anticipation, the excitement, perhaps even the terror of the unknown. It pumps you full of adrenalin and leaves you raring to go and panting for more.

Then it wears off. The adrenalin, the excitement, they all fade away, and you're left in the middle of no-man's land with a plot that has veered off into a completely different storyline, and characters with minds of their own. Or worse, you've followed your plot to the letter and realise that it doesn't make sense or doesn't excite you any more. And you look at your word count and realise that you're still not even half way yet. That 25k looks like an unattainable pinnacle, glinting in the sunlight, its ice-capped summit mocking you with it's slick surfaces and complete lack of hand-holds. This is where you find out if you've got what it takes to be a Nano-Noveller.

Do you give up at this point? Go and watch some TV and ignore the notes and character sketches sitting on your desk? No! And I say again, NO! This is where you get out the crampons and the ice axes, because this is where you realise that yes, writing a novel is hard work, damned hard work, but you're going to do it anyway, because then you'll always be able to say those magical words 'I wrote a novel.'

Repeat after me: "By endurance we conquer."

Keep going, even if it's only 100 words here and there. Keep going, and you'll soon experience the next miracle of NaNoWriMo: push past the blocks that Week Two present, the urge to procrastinate and give up entirely, and when you reach that magic place somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 words, your novel will seem to start writing itself. This is simply because you know you can do it, because you've already done it. If you can write 25K words, then you know for a fact that you can do that many more by the end of the month (even if you only have 10 days left). Knowing you can do it is half the battle. Once you've got to 25K, the novel is basically 9/10th written regardless of how many actual words are left to write. The pace will pick up, and you'll find yourself nearing the finish line much sooner than you had ever anticipated.

Just persevere through this most difficult of weeks and when you come out the other end still writing, you can raise a glass to yourself and know that success is just around the corner.

Totidem verbis ,

Samantha Warden
Spokane, WA Co-Municipal Liaison

=====

Are you new to NaNoWriMo and the Spokane Region? Confused? Dont have a clue what any of this is about?

Weve been sending out regular emails to the Spokane regional affiliates, but if you've just signed on this may all be Greek (or Latin) to you. If thats the case, you can catch up on all the important news on the ML Emails thread on the Spokane forum: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3361050.

This message will be added to the thread, so you can easily find it later. Just keep in mind that some of the earlier posts refer to events that have already passed.

=====

Visit our forum:
http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85

Join the Chat Room:
Instructions here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3288649

Find out details about our 2009 events:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=0l4c3ts3nmk8m7212ershj4q00%40gr...

Our next big event will be the Mid-Way Party at Pattisons North, Sunday the 15th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Bring your friends and family and join us in the party room. The brave among us can skate our tensions away while the less adventuresome watch from the sidelines. Well swap dares for our novels and plan out our next plot twists.

Come introduce yourself!
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3266678

====

From our Regional Info tab (http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85/info):

At this moment, there are 189 active and homed Wrimos in this region;

39% of the Spokane folks are new to NaNoWriMo;

14.29% of Spokane Wrimos (27) have donated $420 so far; and

We have written 1,434,590 words; averaging 10,741 words per (writing) Spokane Wrimo!

As I write this message, the Spokane Region is in 124th place out of a total of 424 regions competing this year for total word count. That puts us (barely) in the top 30% of the standings for total word count. We're just a few places ahead of Bellingham and Tacoma is ahead of us by six places. I know we can do better than that! Let's write 2 million Spokane words by the time Week 2 ends, and push ahead of Tacoma.

The bad news is that by average word count, we're down to almost the bottom third of the rankings, at 269th place out of 424 regions. Our average word count is only 10,471 words per author. Bellingham is 70 places ahead of us, with almost 600 more words per author.

At the very least, we should be able to beat Seattle's average word count -- they are now in 218th place for average word count, with 10,781 words per author.

Finally, don't forget that while NaNoWriMo is a free event for participants, the Office of Letters and Light still has expenses to meet in order to keep November as National Novel Writing Month.

If you can spare as little as $10 to donate, please do: https://store.lettersandlight.org/donations. If you are short of funds, but still want to help out financially, check out this thread: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3285347 for links to other ideas for how to raise money on behalf of NaNoWriMo.

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

[Our books are short but are made longer by misfortunes]

Week three is almost behind us. Word count progress bars are filling, and more and more frequently the blue of progress is being replaced by the green of sucess. (Note to early greenies -- you MUST remember to validate your word count after the 25th -- until your green progress bar turns purple, you're not considered a NaNo Winner).

If you're like me, you've found that you work better under pressure. (Don't be misled by my seemingly on-track word count -- due to travel restrictions and other long, convoluted explanations, the number of days I have available for writing this November are only 22.)

In the event you find youself behind in your word count, don't despair -- there's still plenty of opportunity to catch up and reach 50,000 words by month's end (yes, even you, who have less than 100 words can write another 49,900+ in the next ten days).

My first piece of advice is to torture your characters. While they probably don't deserve waterboarding or hot needles under their fingernails *shudders uncontrollably*, your novel will benefit by a bit of calculated cruelty being subjected upon your characters: If you find your characters stuck in an endless loop of dialogue -- shake them up with an earthquake. If you are writing an epic fantasy, the let your evil overlord prevail in a test of strength, and win the coveted talisman. A murder mystery? Then your killer kidnaps your protagonist, who must escape, otherwise risking falling victim to the very murderer he is pursuing.

Don't worry about whether your torture makes logical sense to your plot -- think about how *real* life works -- just when we think everything is under control, something comes along to sweep our feet from under us. All I suggest is you, as the author, wield the broom briskly, to make sure your characters don't become complacent and boring. Ultimately, every novel is about how your characters deal with conflict -- you won't do your plot any favors by being nice to your characters.

Now for some technical advice -- how do you manage to find the time to write the words you need to tell your story? Simon Haynes, a fellow NaNo participant, published author and software developer (yes, the Simon Haynes of yWriter fame) has a catch-up method that will add 7,500 words to your novel in one day. You'll find the deails here: http://www.spacejock.com.au/NaNoWriMo.html Scroll down to the "one day catch-up form", download the form and follow his instructions to write 7,500 between 8 am and 10 pm in a single day. Obviously you need a full day to devote to this method, but even in shorter chunks, following Simon's advice will keep your word count climbing.

Finally, we've blocked out ten hours to assist you -- join us tomorrow night (Saturday) through Sunday morning at Spokane's 5th Annual All-Night Write. This year we will be downstairs in the board room & cafeteria at Associated Industries, 1206 N. Lincoln St., Spokane, WA 99201. Need directions? http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Associated+Industries,+1206+N.+Linco...
This is the same location as our Kick-Off Party, but this time we'll meet downstairs.

There is a full kitchen on site, complete with refrigerator, microwave, range and oven. Bring comestibles to keep yourself nourished through the night (sorry, no alcoholic beverages allowed).

The All-Night Write (or perhaps the regular Sunday Coffee Social Write if I can remain awake long enough) will be my last appearance at a writing event for this NaNoWriMo. I'll be travelling during the remainder of the month; but don't despair, Dana will still be in town and available for support and encouragement. And I haven't abandoned you entirely -- as often as yet-unknown internet connections allow, I'll be online, in the chat room and updating our statistics. If all goes well and barring any blizzards that keep me stranded in Southern Idaho, I'll be back a full 18 hours before the TGIO party.

Insquequo December,

Samantha Warden
Spokane, WA Co-Municipal Liaison

=====

Visit our forum:
http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85 This message will be archived there at The ML Emails thread: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3361050 in the event you need to refer back to it.

=====

Join the Chat Room:
Instructions here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3288649

The Spokane Chat room is open to all participants. In addition to our scheduled Tuesday evening Virtual Write-In, either Dana or I will be in the chat during every write-in, so that those of you who can't make it to the writing location can still participate. Be patient if you log in at the very beginning of a scheduled event. It can take a while to get set up, logged in and ready on the chat room. But once we're online, there's lots of opportunity for some friendly competition.

But you don't need a Municial Liaison in order to use the chat. Feel free to drop into the chat room at any time. Once you enter the room, be sure to "join the chat" (a link at the bottom of the page) and make your presence known. You'll never know who's hanging out, waiting fling the word war gauntlet.

=====

Find out details about our 2009 events:
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=0l4c3ts3nmk8m7212ershj4q00%40gr...

====

From our Regional Info tab (http://nanowrimo.org/eng/node/85/info):

At this moment, there are 197 active and homed Wrimos in this region;

41% of the Spokane folks are new to NaNoWriMo;

16.24% of Spokane Wrimos (32) have donated $470 so far; and

We have written 2,793,250 words; averaging 18,873 words per (writing) Spokane Wrimo!

After a brief flirting with 119th place, Spokane has now dropped back to 121st position out of a total of 424 regions competing this year for total word count. Bellingham is moving up fast on our heels, only two places and 93,000 words behind us. And we're falling farther and farther behind Tacoma which has pulled ahead to 113th place.

We've moved up slightly in our average word count standings from 269th to our current 234th place out of 424 regions. Our average word count is now 18,873 words per author, but we've dropped behind Seattle, Bellingham, Hawaii and Boise in average word count.

Must. Write. More. Words.

====

Finally, don't forget that while NaNoWriMo is a free event for participants, the Office of Letters and Light still has expenses to meet in order to keep November as National Novel Writing Month.

If you can spare as little as $10 to donate, please do: https://store.lettersandlight.org/donations. If you are short of funds, but still want to help out financially, check out this thread: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3285347 for links to other ideas for how to raise money on behalf of NaNoWriMo.

If you are already planning on donating, might I recommend you plan on doing so on Tuesday, November 24th? Why, you ask? Because Chris Baty has promised to write and perform a song on NaNoVideo if we can raise $100,000 on Tuesday, 11/24/09. Details here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3456461

_________________________
Samantha
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison (2003-2009)
Age Group: 50-Plus - Moderator

==We interrupt this daily writing for some important news!==

Ok, so not really. But I discovered a wonderfully written pep talk that I thought I should share with you. It illustrates what Samantha and I have been trying to tell you from day one - your novel doesn't have to make sense, it just has to be written.

(Quoted with permission)

Note the misspelled words, the lack of continuity, and the abundance of word war nonsense! It's lovely and I'm sure your novel is lovely too! Yes, even you who have under 100 words! We love it! (Have I said love(ly) enough yet?)

Keep those fingers moving until the end - we'll be cheering you on and waiting at the finish line. =)

Dana/Jayce_Grae - ML for Washington::Spokane

Dana
"This is a lot more fun when they're not shooting back!"
Spokane, WA - Municipal Liaison