Yes, we're going to lose this thread and all the others when the forums are wiped October 10th; but I will archive the forum off site and we will have access to the data, so I'm going to go ahead and kick off 2011 with a heigh-di-ho and a call to folks to say hello!
I'm Tim aka NewMexicoKid. With Katherine (KatherineWriting) and Dave (TRRDEDEAN), I am one of your volunteer co-Municipal Liaisons. We're here to answer questions, set up local events and cheer you on to victory. I first NaNo'd in 2003 after hearing about NaNoWriMo just three days before November 1st that year. I've successfully completed the 50,000+ goal each year; and I hope to continue this streak. My first year as co-ML was 2005.
I typically write fantasy (I tried SF one year, but found it too much work to try to do research and writing in November). My this year's novel is a story about an orphaned Faerie princess who was brought up as a rat in our world and who must discover her true identity in time to save her extended family and her people in Faerie (still working out the full plot). I like to use XMind in my plot preparation; and I strongly recommend Writing for Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias (also see the list of book recommendations on our wiki).
I helped design the original wcapi (word count API) for NaNoWriMo (working closely with Russ/firebus) and I designed and maintain wordcount graphs for our region that have been pretty popular/helpful motivators.
I am part of the Journey, our year-round writing group that is currently working to wrap up two short story anthologies (nanomail me for details if you're interested in joining us for next year); and I enjoy drawing, reading SF and Fantasy, tennis (in the good weather) and volleyball.
We have four preparatory events coming up in October--watch for the RSVP posts to come; and there will also be a fun kick-off party and pot-luck lunch at the end of October.
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0 / 50,000
Oct 7, 2011 - 21 55
Hi, my name is Kate, and I am from the Lombard area. This is my first NaNoWriMo and I am really looking forward to it as well as the other events this month. I might also be interested in Journey, but I'd like to hear more about it. I like to write fantasy or urban paranormal - which is what I mostly like to read too. I often start writing, then get another idea and start writing that one. I joined to really push myself to stick to one idea to the end. Here's hoping we all are winners! :)
50,600 / 50,000
Oct 6, 2011 - 05 46
Hi.
This is my third year at Nano. And it will also be my first year attempting it with a job. I don't have high expectations actually. And I still have no plot. I do however have lots of names :P Which is a change from last year when I started writing with none of my characters names picked out!
Here's to us all making it!
0 / 50,000
Oct 5, 2011 - 15 16
Hello! I'm Kalen from the Naperville area. I found out about NaNo half way through November, last year! I was so disappointment. I could've joined in, but I decided I'd rather like having a better shot at it this year. I'm in the 8th grade, and am very very interested to see if I can complete NaNo. I wrote an novel already, but I finished it about a year ago, and now I know it needs work LOL I've started its reconstruction, but now I'll have to start thinking of plot ideas. Won't be too hard, I hope.
I found out about NaNo through the Nichols Library, after sending an e-mail. I don't believe I'll be participating in any of the workshops, but I do appreciate the enthusiasm of you Liaisons. I wish you three luck as we delve ever closer to our precious month.
----------~ Kalen Bloodstone, http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2643432/
50,047 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2011 - 20 45
Hallo, I was around last year. I'm Cameron, done NaNo for a couple years. I technically live in Plainfield, but currently I'm in Aurora because my high school is residential, so I live here on campus most of the time. I hope to be able to make it to some of the events, but who knows? I'm also hoping I actually get to do NaNo this year, I'll have to get my workload under control first.
----------The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation!
0 / 50,000
Oct 4, 2011 - 19 08
Hi, i'm new here... actually a lot of my friends decided to make me do nano... :-| I have no experience writing, although I do help some friends with ideas and critiquing work.
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0 / 50,000
Oct 2, 2011 - 17 05
Hi! I'm Susan and have been kind of a lurker in the Naperville group for a few years. I'm hoping to change that this year and come to some of the write-ins (especially since I now have a laptop to bring!!).
I generally write mystery and romance (a combination of both), but I also really have a strong interest in Chicago history (specifically the Columbian Exposition) and I've been toying with the idea for years to write some sort of time travel story that involves the Columbian Exposition.
Not sure why I'm fixated on time travel, especially since my mind cannot work around the time travel paradoxes. *grin* But I like fish out of water type of stories and think it'd be fun.
The Journey sounds really interesting, Tim! Maybe if I can get out of my introverted writer's shell to come to the NaNoWriMo stuff this year, I can try to come to that as well. :)
I can't come to the first preparatory event, but I'm looking forward to the others! :)
Other than writing (which I love to do--even in non-NaNoWriMo time), I keep two chiropractors organized, am going to school part-time taking computer classes and try to keep up with daily life (which can be a challenge!). :)
Looking forward to a great NaNoWriMo month! :)
Susan
161,514 / 50,000
Oct 1, 2011 - 07 37
I'm Katherine, one of the co-MLs. I have found that NaNoWriMo is a great way to get a first draft done, especially if I spend time getting an outline figured out before November 1st. My biggest challenge in recent years has been figuring out how to avoid writing thousands of words that I'm just going to have to chop away in December because the story is too long. So, I'm still fine-tuning that whole outline thing.
A few days into last year's novel, I realized that my outline-to-wordcount progression was going to make the novel around 200,000 words, which meant I wouldn't finish in November and it would be too long anyway. I had to do some drastic cutting. Tossed away two weeks of my fictional world and moved things around so it all still came out. Did think about breaking it into two books or more, but since I was writing about sticky notes, I really didn't think it deserved to be a series. (I wrote 161,514 words in the first draft and the novel is now at 130,000 after a few revisions.)
I'd like to have the first draft be around 100,000 this year. We'll see.
I prefer not to talk about the novel I'm currently working on, since I find that I have more energy for it if I can only write my thoughts about it instead of talking about it, although I do mention small details. It is mainsteam, probably one Point-of-View character and occurs mainly in Door County, Wisconsin and I still don't have a working title. (Last year's novel was Sticky Note Empire.)
I like to host write-ins at coffee shops, although I don't write much late at night. I'm a morning person.
I have a full-time job, but have saved some vacation days and plan on taking mornings off Nov 1 - 4th, and more if needed.