Kick Off Party Postponed

Well, the blizzard pretty much shut down about 70% of the city, including Panera Bread, where the Kick Off party was to be held. It's been moved to next Thursday, November 2. NaNo will have started by then (obviously), but at least we'll still have our party. :o)

Wish me luck in lining up another babysitter!

A Blizzard!

Here I am to report that we are currently experiencing blizzard-like conditions here in the Rockies. Yes, folks, though last night was clear and warm, this morning, the yard looked like this:



Yesterday, there was NO snow. The grass was still green!

How will this affect the attendence at tonight's NaNoWriMo Kick Off Party? Only time will tell...

Now for a comical interlude taken from the new Beatniks' Villa Forum in the Poetry section of my teen writing group's Library at CleanPlace.net, from the Poets' Poetry Chatline:

So we did get our snow!
What a blizzard it's been!
Though we knew it was coming,
I'd said, with a grin,

"There's no snow coming now.
I tell you--absurd!
The sky is not darkened.
The clouds aren't blurred."

But my husband, that dear,
He just shook his head.
He said I was wrong,
And to watch out instead.

So what to my wondering eyes did appear?
When I looked out the window to see?

A blizzard had come,
Yes, it had and now I
Am stuck in this house.
My prediction arwy!

Special Message

I've had it on my heart for awhile to write a message to Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo, to tell him about the noveling exploits of the teens on CleanPlace. I sent him a note today. Here's what it said:

Greetings Chris,

I wanted to let you know of a strange phenomenon that's happened and is continuing to happen on my teen writing forum, CleanPlace.net.

Last July, I held a contest for the teens (ages 12-19) called SuNoWriMo (Summer Novel Writing Month), a shameless knock-off of NaNoWriMo, I admit. ;o) Their challenge was to write a 15,000-word story during the month of July. We had 19 finishers out of 27 participants. Pretty good for a bunch of teenagers, half of whom had camps, vacations, and whatnot going on in July.
The winners received black t-shirts that we had made, emblazoned with "Inkaholic" on them. They totally rock.

So when I announced this year that I was doing NaNoWriMo for the second time in a row, suddenly, the teens were inspired to reach this incredible goal of 50,000 words. (Last year, they just wished me luck and prayers that I wouldn't lose my mind.) I suppose that after seeing that they could acheive 15,000 words in July, they are ready to go even higher. I'm so proud of them.

We've had a dozen or so sign up so far, and everyone seems to be rallying together in this insanity. The more the merrier!

Anyway, I thought you might get a kick out of our little story of inspiration and the prospect of a dozen or more crazy teens going after NaNoWriMo with full-fledged creative fury.

Sincerely,
MangyCat

--------------------------------------

I guess I've been thinking about doing this because I picked up a copy of "No Plot? No Problem!", a guide to writing a novel in 30 days, by Chris Baty. Been reading through it to build up some excitement for NaNo this year. So far, it seems to be doing it's job.

I'm both thrilled and anxious about the coming Novemeber 1 starting line. I don't know exactly how I feel about it because my plot is still rather a ghost floating around in my head. We'll see what happens though. The power of a deadline surely is an amazing thing.

One & a Half Weeks to Go

Unfortunately, I am feeling completely underwhelmed by the prospect of NaNoWriMo at the moment. I haven't written anything much since I finished my sci-fi novel back in late spring. Nothing significant anyway.

I'm trying to get excited about my plot, but it's just not happening. The NaNo frenzy on my teen writing forum is beginning to gear up however, so I'm hoping that their enthusiasm will rub off on me. Looking forward to the kick-off party. Maybe I can get a jumpstart there as well.

A plot emerges + NaNo Kick Off

One of my wonderful CP teens said something that reminded me of a contemporary fiction idea that I'd shelved last year. I think it would work fabulously for NaNoWriMo because it's sort of scattered--or seemingly so.

The title of the story is "Tag," and it's about how one act of unkindness can affect many different people, then what happens when one person makes a decision to take the unkindess and turn it into goodness. It's rather an experiment because there will be so many point of view characters. We'll see if it works.

Just saw the notification on the Springs NaNo Forum about our Kick Off party this year. Thank goodness it's on the last Thursday of the month instead of Friday like they did in 2005. I missed it because we were at the Harvest Party at church, but looks like that won't happen this year. Hooray! Can't wait to connect with the other "30-day wonders" as Laurie, our Springs ML, called us.

p.s. You like my spiffy, new NaNo participant's icon?

More Wrimos!

A couple more of my beloved CleanPlacers have come on to do do NaNoWriMo this year. I'm just thrilled. :0D I can hardly wait for the madness to begin. I'm absolutely psyched to start.

Of course, I'm keeping my mind off my plot lest I start composing in my head. *whistles* I was seriously chomping at the bit last year in those final days--absolutely dying to get going.

I've been reading the Welcome thread on the NaNoWriMo Colorado Springs forum. We have a teen writer (age 15) here in town who is going to attempt the challenge this year for the first time. Can't wait to meet her at one of the regional events. I'll have to keep a registration spot open for her on CleanPlace if she's interested. Seems like a nice gal.

CleanPlacers Join NaNo

I'm unendingly excited that several of the teens from my online writing group (A Clean, Well-Lighted Place) are going to become official Wrimos this year. Woot! These girls are tough. They have school and activities going on too, but I'm confident in their drive to succeed.

Check out their blogs in my "Fellow Wrimos" link list. You go, girls!

Didn't take long

So I mentioned to my husband that NaNoWriMo starts in less than a month, and he replies, "Oh. Well, you're not going to do it."

When I don't say anything, he looks at me and asks, "Are you?"

"I was thinking about it," says little me.

My husband rolls his eyes. "I won't see you all month!"

"Sure you will," I say, trying to sound confident. Unfortunately, at this juncture, all that comes to mind is the fact that I cooked dinner maybe three times last November and if I was at home, I was usually sitting in bed with a laptop warming the blankets. *whistles innocently*

"Do what you have to do," my wonderful husband replies, throwing his hands up in the air. "Just don't go crazy."

Ha.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Haaaa!

Starting to get excited

Okay, I know it's only the beginning of October, but that's about the time I started thinking about National Novel Writing Month in 2005. I'd signed up to get the reminder when I'd come across the NaNo site earlier in the year, then dove in to the adventure at midnight on November 1. What a rush!

I've got the urge to take on this challenge again. Last year, I faced a lot of hardships trying to get through the month, but this year, I'm as determined as ever--and I'll be about eight months pregnant. *gasp!*

Never fear! I still plan to push on and see what I can accomplish. Of course, knowing me, I'll be driving myself into the ground trying to make that 1,667 words a day goal. Here's hoping that sanity stays with me...

TGIO Party: Dec. 2, 2005

We had our Thank Goodness It's Over party for all the Springs Wrimos at a private home last Friday. I carpooled with a friend of mine who was also doing NaNo--I found out a week or so in that she was doing it and that was very cool. There were about eight or nine of us there all told. A nice sized group for a gathering of people who mostly don't know each other except from the NaNo forums. It was really funny, we were introducing each other by our user names. I can't tell you how fun it was to say, "Hi, I'm MangyCat."

Laurie, the hosting ML, served a delicious spiral ham and the rest of us brought sides and desserts. I made some outragous brownies that, if I may say so, totally rocked. ;o)

We shared stories of our NaNo journeys and read excerpts. It was really cool to hear what everyone else had been struggling through during the last 30 days. We were all in it together, but we each had our own muses we tried to wrangle.

My friend Sara read my Chapter 1 from Imaginary and at the end, everyone's mouths were hanging open, like..."Is that IT? Where's the rest?!" In fact, someone actually said that. I had them so pinned, they forgot to clap. Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

Anyway, that party was very good for me. I've been feeling this sort of letdown all week. You know, the letdown that happens after some major events or holidays have passed. That's what I've been feeling. Sort of draggy and depressed. But it was good to connect with other Wrimos and feel like all that time spent sweating words in November actually meant something.