United States :: California :: San Diego

[Sticky] Write-In and Event Thread

wingedcreature — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:00:40 -0700

This is the place to post write-in information and any non-writing information. All events will be posted in here and on the calendar.

Writer's ink will be hosting an informational workshop Sunday, October 19 from 5:30 to 7:30. Topics covered will include what NaNo is and how it works. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Writer's Ink will also be hosting write-ins every Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm. The write-ins are also open to everyone.

For more information about both, please check out: Writer's Ink Events

UPDATED Write-in List:
Ink Spot
Sundays, from 1 pm to 4 pm
For more information, check out their NaNoWriMo Page

Word San Diego
Dollshies Coffeehouse at Hwy 101 at Encinitas Blvd
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays (exception election night) from 5 pm to 7:30 pm
Saturdays from 1 pm to 3 pm
For more information, check out their website at Word SD

Monica's at the Park
1735 Adams Avenue
San Diego, CA 92116
Saturdays, 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM (at least)
Hosted by KipWilliams; look for the NaNoWriMo Table Sign

Monica’s at the Park
1735 Adams Ave.
San Diego, CA 92116
Wednesdays, 6:30 pm to 7:30ish pm
Hosted by Pomegranate; look for all the NaNoWriMo stickers on her laptop.

The Living Room SDSU
5900 El Cajon Blvd.
San Diego, CA
Fridays, 10 am to 11:30 am
Hosted by WingedCreature; look for the NaNoWriMo table sign and NaNoWriMo stickers on my laptop
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

[Sticky] Questions and Comments

wingedcreature — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:03:09 -0700

If anyone has any questions, comments, ideas, suggestions, or anything else like the above, please post them here.
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

Lessons and Resolutions for Next Year

alchemi — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 11:41:46 -0800

This is a thread for everyone to talk about what you've learned from this year's nanowrimo. This is for everyone - those who made it - those who made it to the end and those who didn't.

Maybe we can learn from everyone's mistakes, but this is also a place for everyone to get a start on next year.

My lessons:

1. I need to plan. I don't need a detailed outline, but I need to know the point-of-view and the point of every scene before I sit down and write it. At 26k I was completely stuck until I went to a write-in and Bettina gave me an idea that allowed me to put together a bare-bones outline for my next 10 or so chapters.

2. Writing from behind makes it a lot harder. I was saved by having five weekends this year. It will not always be so.

3. My natural chapter length is 1600-2000 words. If I try to force more, I get diminishing returns. I struggle starting and stopping - I am at my best when I sit down and write a chapter straight without any interruption.

4. I can write 2-4 chapters in a day if I really work at it. My max output if I'm willing to write all day is about 8000 words.

5. It is very difficult to write anything on work days unless I manage to start at lunch. If I get home having done nothing, by the time I've had dinner and relax enough to write, it's hitting ten o'clock and it's a big struggle to get a chapter out.

5. I started wanting more humor in my story. Funny writing is, at least for me, often fast writing. The more serious I get, the more my internal editor pops up.

6. In addition to a bare-bones outline, next year I'd like to begin with more of a feel for major characters. This is less essential for me because character has a way of coming out, but in some ways I feel like I was beginning with a blank slate. No more of that.
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Winner's Circle: San Diego

Hart — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:46:31 -0800

Yes I am aware that you can post that you won in another forum, but I wanted to make a post just for us San Diego wrimos where we can jump for joy and congratulate one another on a job well done! Tell us what it feels like to have another novel (or maybe your first) under your belt, or how going to the events helped boost your word count.

For me this was my first NaNoWriMo and it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, partially thanks to some great San Diegans and their support. I may have only attended two events but the welcoming atmosphere and camaraderie that I witnessed at these events was incredible and infectious. I want to thank everyone that I had the pleasure of meeting and I look forward to next year!

Also seeing that purple word count bar always puts a giddy smile on my face :)

-Jennifer
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Wordcount Shout Out!

wingedcreature — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:50:01 -0800

I know there is an official shout out thread over in the forums, but I thought we could have a shout out celebration over here!

Currently 943361 words down, 6639 to go!
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

GoodSearch

TSEdiot — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:22:47 -0700

There is a note about this on the page about donating when broke, but I wanted to let everyone here know about the partnership with goodsearch.com

When you go to the website and put in Office of Letters and Light as your charity, every search you do will donate $.01 to NaNoWriMo and ScriptFrenzy. Think about how many searches you do a day - 10? 20? I probably do about 50, which means in a month I can earn the OLL $15. You can even install goodsearch to most browsers and search from the bar. Awesome, right?

Need to do some research? Use goodsearch for all of your research queries this month. Then you're researching for your novel *and* paying for the ability to do this next year. Sweet!

Even if you just switch for November, it'll make a big difference to the event!

Happy Novelling!
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========================
TSEdiot
anaheim_ca(at)nanowrimo(dot)org
tsediot(at)gmail(dot)com
North Orange County ML
Proud H.A.C.K. since 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

Prompts and idea's to (hopefully help) from Shelli

softweargirl — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:07:20 -0800

Hi there,

For most of you who are still trudging, you'll find days where it's difficult to kick start yourself, anyone had that yet?

I wanted to add some help if I can, I use a book that has all these first sentences from books when I get stuck for the day, so I thought well maybe someone else could get something from this too. I'll do one from the book and then a simplified one each day until Nov 30th if it's helpful. Here's one from the book 2521 in the section Desire:

"I no longer have the desire, on this immense and silent winter's night. to dissemble, to fabricate tales." --Crossroads, James McConkey 1968

The Book is called:

Novel Openers
First Sentences of 11,000
Fictional Works, Topically
Arranged with Subject, Keyword,
Author and Title Indexing
(Bruce L. Weaver)

Another more Generic one:

You cannot turn around

****************************
Advice from Todd A. Stone in Novelist's Boot Camp (101 ways to take you book from boring to bestseller)
Drill 32
Discharge the wimps

"Neither drill sergeants in boot camp nor today's readers will tolerate a passive character. Those drill sergeants will kick ass, and readers will quickly dismiss--or loathe--a character that suffers in passive, silent self-sacrifice."

Ok, hope that helped, tally ho good soldiers see you tomorrow!

Shelli (AKA Softweargirl)

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The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.
Hunter S. Thompson

United States :: California :: San Diego

What's a Chapter?

Pioneer — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 20:44:40 -0800

The novel is coming along well, and I'm fortunate in having a publisher in the genre. However, on the phone late last night (past the 3am hours) publisher asked me a question for my input.

"How many words makes a chapter?"

Hmm. For this NaNoWriMo I looked at my longest chapter, a little over 2500 words long, as it involves an extended background and "travelogue" as protagonist establishes his world, for those that didn't read the first in the series. Later, I have a chapter, a slight over 500 words, where protagonist wakes briefly from an inflicted injury.

Publisher referred me to a Keith Bolo book where a chapter is little more than ten words in a sentence.

Thus I pose the question, what's the shortest and longest chapter you have written for this NaNoWriMom?
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Introduce Yourself!

wingedcreature — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:12:35 -0700

I'd like to welcome everyone back to NaNo. The events calendar will be up shortly, and once it is, I'll start adding write-ins and other events as they come in.

With that, feel free to officially introduce yourself with whatever you'd like to share about yourself.

I'm Nicole, your ML this year. I'm a student at SDSU, and I'm majoring in sociology, with a minor in social work. This is my 3rd year doing NaNo and I've won both years I've done it. This is also my second year as ML.

Good luck and happy noveling.
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

"Pump-up-your-word-count " ideas

powayslugger — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:18:33 -0800

It's getting into that time in the month where plot ideas begin to run thin and characters look to you to give them stuff to do. If you're drawing a blank and your word count begins to run dry, what do you do? Let's tap the collective mind of the group and find some ideas to pump up that word count for the last third of NaNoWri Mo.

Hello San Diego---- what do you do to keep the words and creative juices flowing?

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“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” --- Dorothy Parker

United States :: California :: San Diego

Plaza Bonita Borders

tothedawn — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 12:42:32 -0800

Hey guys.

On Friday I checked out the outlet situation at the Borders in Plaza Bonita and was happily surprised to notice they actually have way more than the Otay Ranch Barnes & Noble. I think. So I think write-ins are totally possible there :D

The only catch is the tables by most of the outlets seat two people and the one area that had the most outlets (over by the cafe's counter, against the wall) seemed like it'd work best but I think someone'd have to get there early to snag it. We can totally make it work though.

So, anyone up for write-ins there starting this next weekend? (I say that cos I have a fever of 100F so no way am I going out today, ugh)

Comment with whether Saturdays or Sundays are better and what time. I'm up for either day at any time :D (Just not today.)
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Friendly reminder: Back up your work!

LowFuel — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:18:40 -0800

My friend, who was 17k words into his first Nano, just let me know that his laptop was stolen. He had been saving backup copies on a USB stick, but that USB stick was in the laptop bag when it was stolen.

Can't stress enough how important it is to avoid this kind of heartbreak.

Some suggested ways to backup:

1. Sign up for Yahoo Mail or Gmail, and then email your novel to yourself as an attachment. Free!
2. Also from your gmail account, you can get to Google docs, where you can create a document and paste in the text of your novel.
3. Sign up for Mozy.com - it will backup your Documents folder automatically. Free for a certain amount of data (enough for most).
4. If you're happy with a USB stick, keep it in your purse or European man-bag, not your laptop bag. If you see me at a write-in, ask me for a USB stick if you need one.
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Jason

United States :: California :: San Diego

Twilight fans

Jillian — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:34:03 -0800

Are there any San Diego fans of Stephenie Meyer's novel Twilight?

For those of you thinking, "huh?" visit her website:
1. Home page: www.stepheniemeyer.com
2. Synopses of Twilight: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

Anyone going to the midnight premiere of the movie? Thoughts about Midnight Sun? Personally, I thought her partially completed draft - which I read off her official website - was amazing.
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Word Count - AAUGH!

marthamaher — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:49:14 -0800

So, it's Monday morning and I'm sooo far behind on word count and feeling like my novel REALLY sucks (which of course it does). Anyone else out there feeling like an impostor and wondering "what the heck do I think I'm doing?" Any good ideas on how to get past it?
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United States :: California :: San Diego

ALERT Shout Out San Diego ALERT

powayslugger — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 16:47:40 -0800

Got your attention, didn't I?

How's everyone doing? Take the time to answer six fun and easy questions to post your progress:

1- What's your word count?

2- How's your story going? good, fair or poor.

3- Are you staying on plot line or venturing into uncharted story with your characters?

4- What are your distractions-- what's kept you from writing more today?

5- Are you attending any write-ins? where and when.

6- Are you planning to attend the mid point party at Balboa Park ?

P.S. The Chargers just won (20-19 win over KC)
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“This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” --- Dorothy Parker

United States :: California :: San Diego

The Ocean Beach Library

avantpop — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:43:09 -0800

One of the libraries proposed for budget cut closures is the OB Library. Many protesters were outside the library today, and plan to attend the City Council meeting Wed. on the issue (as will I). As a journalist for The Reader, I will make my dismay known, and I urge people to protest either in person or on their blogs with plenty of tags so that they will come up in searches and make the politicians nervous (anything negative online and searchable makes them think twice).

Closing libraries only promotes illiteracy and has repercussions for the future.

As writers, this should be of concern.
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Donations

wingedcreature — Thu, 9 Oct 2008 14:29:05 -0700

Hi everyone!
I'm posting this here because everyone's a bona fide participant of NaNoWriMo. Kudos to you for having a dream and doing something about it! We hope it is worthwhile enough to merit a small donation to the Office of Letters and Light for your enjoyment of the event. NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit, and—like all nonprofits—ever in need of funding.
This year the estimated cost of National Novel Writing Month and the Young Writers Program is $330,000. To cover those costs, we’re hoping to achieve “10 for 10”—ten percent of participants donating towards NaNoWriMo’s tenth year in existence.
There are many ways to help out! Visit NaNoWriMo’s Donation Station, or, if you’re short on change, check out the Donating When You're Broke page. Every little bit helps the Office of Letters and Light continue to make noveling dreams come true!
Thanks for contributing!
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

Impromptu write-in right now!

ThreeMuses — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:21:26 -0800

Anybody want to hit a Denny's and get some writing done? I could totally be down, but need external motivation. I'm in OB and would be willing to do Mission Valley or Point Loma, or anywhere within 15 minutes or so of me. I want pancakes, coffee, and word count! I'll check every few minutes 'til 9 or so.
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(I'm training for a marathon, and in doing so, raising money for cancer research & support programs. If you have a few extra dollars after donating to NaNoWriMo and want to do something amazing with it, please consider:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sd

United States :: California :: San Diego

MidMonth Party

wingedcreature — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 20:30:26 -0800

In honor of the halfway point, I thought I'd bring up the idea of a midmonth party. I know last year we had a "boozy" write-in midmonth, and I'm curious about what we want to do. Or even if we want to do anything.

Here are our options:
1- midmonth "boozy" write-in (all-ages, of course)
2-non-writing get together
3- both
4-nothing

Anyone willing to share their thoughts?
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San Diego NaNoWriMo ML: 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

Old Farts and Young Tarts: What's in an Age for a Novelist?

avantpop — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 08:34:52 -0800

I am both shocked and delighted that a number of teenagers are working on novels. Shocked is normal, delighted is that literacy is not dead among today's iPod and Facebook tarts, tots, and twinks. ;)

I know I made many a folk feel "old" when I was writing as a teen. I wrote my "first" novel-length work, a 300 page Star Wars adventure in pencil, at age 10. I had St. Martin's Press come "this close" to buying a SF novel when I was 12 (they had no idea), which blew the mind of my junior high English teacher (she was a would-be writer at 30) and Doubleday at 19 -- they did know my age and the newby assist. ed., age 22, who wanted my book tried to use the age as a marketing tool but did not get the go-ahead. (They irony here is that a number of years later, her boss would become my agent, who has sold a number of projects for me.) Why does NY welcome young writers, aside from marketing reasons? Because most of the biz is run by people under 30. It's a low-paying job, status for those from money families -- most idealistic editors under 25 soon figure out they can make better money elsewhere, and leave.

At age 16-17, I ran my own small press with two zines and chapbooks -- the Winter 07/08 issue of ZYZZYVA has an essay I wrote, "Smells Like Fresh Ink," about being a teenage publisher.

I stopped writing in favor of being in a band and doing a lot of great drugs from age 20-24, so I didn't sell my first novel until I was 27, which is "old" in some circles. (A "good" age to sell one's first novel is 23-25.) By 24 I was also a war correspondent so didn't have time to focus on novels.

NY still had a fascination with publishing first novelists under 30...or maybe under 25, since Esquire recently had the 25 under 25 fiction writers to watch, and there is this Norton antho:

http://www.wwnorton.com/catalog/spring97/25.htm

It used to be 30 under 30.

I hope all the "younger" writers here will finish their novels, and better yet, sell them.

Onwards!

MH
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Ocean Beach?

avantpop — Sat, 1 Nov 2008 04:55:18 -0700

Any NaNos in OB?
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United States :: California :: San Diego

So, what are you writing about?

Pomegranate — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 08:56:27 -0700

Last year I had a blast writing about a traveling circus on a futuristic colonized Mars. I hit 50k but couldn't end the story because I still hadn't figured out who was the villain. This year I started with the villain. I'll be writing about two somewhat magical grandmothers wrestling over control of a family. Bad grandma is going to be a pip! It's turning out to be my first crack at writing YA so I can't resort to my usual page-fillers of sex and violence when I get stuck. I'll probably be pestering you all at write-ins for wacky grandma stories. Be prepared.

I've learned over the years that I have to know what I'm writing about in early October, so I can have at least a vague roadmap ready for November. This year I'll be ready.

What's your novel about?
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Actual Words, or Old School Words?

avantpop — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 08:21:04 -0800

Does anyone know if Nano's validator considers mss. as actual real words of 50K, or does it calculate Old School, that is,
250 words per page no matter what? My work tends to have a lot of dialogue, so instead of 250 actual words per page average, I may have only 75-100 if the dialogue is choppy; yet, most publishers of books still consider your average 220-240 page ms. to be "60,000 words."

I doubt my NaNo novel will make actuial 50,000 words. It may wind up being 250-300 ms. pages but probably 40,000 actual words. I am up to 13,600 words but with all the dialogue and many mini-chapters within long chapters, I have 90 pages. If it were non-fiction, 13KL words would come out to 50-60 ms. pages.
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United States :: California :: San Diego

Saturday write-in this evening anyone?

Melissa437 — Sat, 8 Nov 2008 10:07:20 -0800

Hello all. Anyone needing to write tonight? A hot date with....your novel? I need to keep up
the count and will also be doing the Sunday write in at Writer's Ink. Starbucks MV is pretty
cool. They have one sizeable table, game for a write-in takeover, I fancy. Would seat 6, maybe
more.

Most little coffeehouses will have entertainment tonight, so other ideas anyone?

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United States :: California :: San Diego

Mission Valley Write Ins

digaida — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:19:27 -0700

Hey everyone,

I live in the Mission Valley area and figured I would see if there was any interest in a write-in in this part of town. I will be willing to host every Saturday for most of the day. (It doesn't make much sense to me to participate in write-ins that only last an hour)

There are two places that would serve as ideal locations. Milano's in the Promenade complex at Qualcomm Way and Rio San Diego Dr. OR Lion's Coffee right across the street next door to Pat and Oscar's

If interested, respond with your vote for which location (both have coffee and food) and I'll be happy to set it up. I know the owners of both locations fairly well and I'm sure they will be supportive.

Thanks,
Zach