Illinois::Naperville is a storied region when it comes to inter-regional word wars. Starting in 2005, we have challenged different regions to inter-regional word wars and have won every time:
- 2005: defeated Toronto (total word count!)
- 2006: defeated Montreal (average wordcount from here on out)
- 2007: defeated Ottawa (song not recorded, but they sang it to me in a coffeeshop in Ottawa)
- 2008: defeated France
- 2009: defeated Birmingham-West Midlands and Belgium/Holland
As you can see, there has been an interesting side bet every year since 2006 to have the losing region sing the winning region's song (our's is a parody of Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet).
This year as in past years, we expect to challenge a region based on the regional wordcount standings. It's good to choose a region that is ahead of us (a little) at this point; and it is good to choose a region that is around our size in terms of members.
Updated 11/7/2010
Who should we challenge? How much of an acceleration/boost can we achieve in the coming weeks? How high should we aim? Note that Birmingham-West Midlands (currently below us 6534 (184th) to 7114 (88th) wants a rematch ;-). Are we too far ahead?
Other possibilities:
- British Columbia::Vancouver, 81st in the world, 7167 words as of 11/7
- Holland and Belgium, 85th in the world, 7139 words as of 11/7
What are your thoughts?
--Tim
P.S. Kansas City is now 168th in the world with 6618 words as of 11/7
----------
50,164 / 50,000
Nov 12, 2010 - 21 00
And USA :: Texas :: Longview is only about four hundred ahead...
----------NaNo '10 - WON!
51,134 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2010 - 20 08
WE MUST CHALLENGE TEXAS--THEY ARE [strong]SPYING[/strong] ON US! -points to 'Rea's link in the Awesome Thread!-
----------Well, no backing out now. First NaNo, here I come!
67,456 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2010 - 05 58
I sent nanomail queries to Vancouver and Calgary. Vancouver's ML said they would get back to me (but that was on the 8th), but noted they were already in five inter-regional wordwars. Calgary's ML's never replied. :-(
Birmingham-West Midlands had expressed interest, but they're way below us on the average wordcount chart...
Albuquerque has 9296 to our 9701 (also below us) and aren't in a regional word war... but maybe that gap will be too great. Let's see if any other regions slide into view (it's still early).
--Tim
----------35,129 / 50,000
Nov 10, 2010 - 00 05
My favorite TV show is filmed there. So I vote for Vancouver :)
50,271 / 50,000
Nov 9, 2010 - 18 22
Vancouver sounds fun! :)
51,345 / 50,000
Nov 8, 2010 - 23 32
I vote Vancouver also. We've already beat France and Belgium/Holland. Let's go for a new region.
I love/fear the regional challenge. It really lights a fire underneath me to keep writing.
67,456 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2010 - 10 08
I find it difficult to get enthused about average word count when it includes people who signed up for NaNo, homed to our region, but are not participating. Or others are allowed to join after the challenge has been issued.
I realize that the other region has the same situation, but it still makes me feel like winning involves recruiting people to join us who have already written a lot, not so much encouraging our people to write more. I'd rather focus on encouraging people to finish their first drafts instead of just worrying about word count.
The point of the challenge, in my mind, is to encourage all writing members (only those with nonzero wordcounts count) of both regions to continue to write on their novels. I like the whole-region approach because it is more inclusive--everyone plays a part--and because it is easier to manage administratively. Note that utoxin has a word war tool to do challenges with fixed numbers of writers from each region; this is fine, I think, but it only applies to those who are signed up (usually 25-50 people in a region) rather than to everyone in a region.
We could put in the 1000 word cut off, but the tool to do that doesn't yet exist; and I'm not sure whether it would really make a big difference to the final average (those with less than 1000 words by the end of the contest probably average out between the two regions anyway).
Re: recruiting writers--I don't think this plays a big role; and the focus should be (in my mind) on letting everyone who is homed to a region and actively writing (non-zero wordcount) to participate. My $0.02 (though I am interested to hear other opinions).
----------161,514 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2010 - 08 55
Is there any way to have only writers who are actually writing and already homed count? Say people who have at least a thousand words and are homed to our region when we issue the challenge?
I find it difficult to get enthused about average word count when it includes people who signed up for NaNo, homed to our region, but are not participating. Or others are allowed to join after the challenge has been issued.
I realize that the other region has the same situation, but it still makes me feel like winning involves recruiting people to join us who have already written a lot, not so much encouraging our people to write more. I'd rather focus on encouraging people to finish their first drafts instead of just worrying about word count.
67,456 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2010 - 08 34
I am now leaning towards Vancouver (see 11/7 update above)...
--Tim
----------13,918 / 50,000
Nov 6, 2010 - 07 47
I vote Vancouver. I have friends in Vancouver! =D
----------NaNo '06: The Outside (Urban Fantasy/Sci-Fi | 51,228/50,000)
NaNo '07: Coffee Breaks (Mystery/Suspense | 52,376/50,000)
Nano '08: Prequel to '06 (Urban Fantasy/Sci-Fi | 10,023/50,000)
Nano '09: Boundaries (Fantasy | 50,248/50,000)
67,456 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2010 - 21 59
Oh my, Friday's update just came through and it looks like we've jumped up to #75 in the world standings...
New possible opponents:
----------#60: British Columbia::Vancouver, 699 people, 6227 vs. our 6059...
#58: Belgium/Holland, 1246 people, 6250 vs. our 6059
#83: Calgary, 379 people, 6002 (behind us currently)
#81: France, 457 people, 6008 (also behind us)
50,271 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2010 - 20 49
I think Missouri would be fine. I don't know anybody in KC, but St. Louis is where my cousins are and even though they're not writers, it'd be fun to challenge some Cardinal fans. lol. :)
76,543 / 50,000
Nov 5, 2010 - 17 08
I have a friend in the Missouri::Kansas City region, so I vote we challenge them. >:D
----------"We're number 17!"
NaNo 2004- WON! 56k | NaNo 2005- WON! 54k | NaNo 2006- WON! 93k | NaNo 2007- WON! 51k | NaNo 2008- WON! 50k | NaNo 2010- WON! 76k