Thanks Angie! :)

BTW, the Official Thread is up under The Creative Corner.

Cosmic Sher wrote: "Question for those who've used the site before. If you have a username but not the actual url for their profile, how do you search for them? "

If you go to "search" there will be an "author" tab and you can find people pretty easily.

Oh, P.S.

I'll create an official NaNoWriMo thread that we can post work to, rant, squeal, cheer, and generally muck about while procrastinating our writing.

My daughter asked me the other day, "What is it when you high five yourself?" I said, "Um, clapping?" She just gave me a withering look.

Kevin, a dark & stormy night is a perfectly acceptable beginning... but you'd better put a good twist on it or Snoopy will come haunt you. Do you have a username/ profile url yet?

Question for those who've used the site before. If you have a username but not the actual url for their profile, how do you search for them?

Angie wrote: "You gals are hilarious. :) ETA: And guy.

Perhaps Jim has been studying under Milarepa?



Oh, new story that I'm sticking to, yeah I was studying under this Milarepa person, that's it.

Good thing too, because I was getting as frustrated as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

Hughes Mearns

You gals are hilarious. :) ETA: And guy.

Perhaps Jim has been studying under Milarepa?

"One time Milarepa was with one of his disciples, and there was a big storm coming. Milarepa disappeared, and so the disciple was in big trouble. Then he heard his master sing a song; so he was looking around in the pouring rain and storm, but he couldn’t find him. Finally he listened to where the sound came from, and he saw a horn on the ground: the horn of a dead animal. So he went there, and heard his masters voice coming from the horn. He looked inside, and Milarepa was inside the horn, but Milarepa hadn’t become smaller. Then the disciple looked outside, and the horn had not got bigger. So, I think he was a little bit puzzled, and then Milarepa said “If you are as good as me then come inside” [laughter:]. So that is another one of his miracles, but it doesn’t mean Milarepa knows only those two things."

So Jim has transcended his dualistic mind! He can bow to someone behind him! And for his next trick, he's going to clap with one hand!

Back flips, front flips, standing on my head it doesn't seem to matter I can't find her.

And Angie can't be my past Sarah, I can't find her to put behind me.

Or has discovered the Tibetan secret of time travel?

I've always heard it's best to put the past behind you. Maybe Angie is the past?

Driven to drink by the lurking Buddhist.

Sarah Pi wrote: "And yet she's always behind him. That must be frustrating. "

That's why I drink, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And yet she's always behind him. That must be frustrating.

Maybe he is doing back flips?

Jim wrote: "Sarah Pi wrote: "How can you bow to her when she's still behind you?"

Have I ever told you before that I'm a contortionist?"
I've heard of people bending over backwards to be helpful. Maybe this is like that?

Good luck Misha.

Sarah Pi wrote: "How can you bow to her when she's still behind you?"

Have I ever told you before that I'm a contortionist?

That sounds awesome! :)

Basically, the individual stories are from different points in the character's past that helped shape who she is in the present day. There will be a present day story that ties everything together, but I haven't quite worked that part out yet - figuring out what is the present day moment that all of these other moments have led to. I need to write the other individual pieces first before I truly see how they all fit together, kind of like assembling a puzzle.

Misha wrote: "Angie, my project is basically a character study with no plot. Or with lots of mini-plots, I should say."

Are you trying to follow a character through different periods of his/her life, or something else?

How can you bow to her when she's still behind you?

Angie, my project is basically a character study with no plot. Or with lots of mini-plots, I should say.

::bows to the master::

:D I'm just that good.

You move fast Angie, I keep looking behind me, but never see you. :-).

Sarah Pi: I write like Sherwood Anderson-- my finished stories don't really look all that much different from the first drafts, which can be a good thing, and is often a very terrible thing. I've also been keeping an online journal since 2003, and anyone who does that tends to have a decent out-the-shoot writing ability. I mean, I write everyday as it is, but it's usually about what is happening in my life, my emotional state, what I ate for lunch... and not fiction.

The hardest thing for me is going to be motivation, as well as getting past the depressive mental blocks I have. I have all the ideas in the world, but I tend to brood over them for years before even attempting to let them out.

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/537933 is me.

And Misha: I'm writing something similar to yours. I totally think you can do it! I don't know if I'm going to try to make an interconnected novel out of my works, or say that a short story collection = "lengthy work of fiction." I'm really quite fascinated with the short story/novel idea and have read three books that follow that principle this year alone (Winesburg, Ohio; The Martian Chronicles; Miles From Nowhere). So I'm excited to see what you come up with!

Thanks for sharing Gus.

Gus: nice synopses/profile =D

Here's my NaNoWriMo profile - Dabi71.

You can start a TC-spinoff NaNoWriMo group if you want, Kevin. I'll join. I probably won't spend a lot of time on here in November though, and I definitely won't be submitting excerpts...but I'm happy to cheer others on.

we should have a way to submit small excepts so we can check out what each other is doing along the way WITHOUT bothering those on TC who don't give a rip about this

I was getting a bunch of error messages and sent it along and they sent me back a response saying that every time they send a reminder e-mail they get a corresponding surge of people signing up and crashing the site.

tadpole, the site generally slows down a lot in the last week of October and first week of November as people flock to the site to sign up, chatter excitedly and get started.

I think computers create a tendency to revise and revise without moving forward -- a continual first draft.

The nice thing about NaNoWriMo (for me at least) is it creates a real first draft, with a clear vision of what goes where, even if there are still things to fill in.

Angie, my hat's off to ya if your chapters are shiny enough to show to people as you go along. I could never ever ever do that.

Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants was a NaNoWriMo book. I find that pretty inspiring, since I loved that book.

ive only been on it a little bit this morning but so far so good but theres times where it does act up some..

PS as were talking about advice and mottos for writing a nano ive been reading a few books about writing and of course reading the boards, my favorite saying so far to put me in a good frame of mind is "the first draft is shit" - Hemingway .. it takes away the fear of being perfect the first time for me, which has always been a big thing for me when writing, i'd always edit every sentence a billion times before writing the next.. its just about getting it out there, then you could work with it after you have something to work with.. i hope i could stop editing enough to just get it out there..

OK, i'm in now. I think it was an id10t error...

tadpole wrote: "Wasn't it Raymond Chandler who said something to the effect of whenever you get stuck have a guy with a gun come into the room?

Is the NaNo site acting goofy for anyone else this morning?"

I didn't notice any goofiness but it's definitely slower than usual.

Wasn't it Raymond Chandler who said something to the effect of whenever you get stuck have a guy with a gun come into the room?

Is the NaNo site acting goofy for anyone else this morning?

all i have is a first line:

It was a dark and stormy night....

Sarah Pi wrote: "Yeah,at least some planning is good. An idea, for example. I have a friend who did a full plot outline, but I just went in knowing my idea and my main characters.
"

I'm going in a lot more prepared this year. Last year, all I had at the beginning was a setting and a couple characters.

Yeah,at least some planning is good. An idea, for example. I have a friend who did a full plot outline, but I just went in knowing my idea and my main characters.

From the website:
Outlines and plot notes are very much encouraged, and can be started months ahead of the actual novel-writing adventure. Previously written prose, though, is punishable by death.

ok, i am in. just checked out the web site. so do we not try to think of a plot or characters or anything prior to Nov. 1 ???

Cosmic Sher wrote: "It's my first time and I'm completely freaked about it. (In good and bad ways) What the heck do I write about? Can I write every day without serious brain crampage? What if I don't finish? What if ..."

I forgot to mention that last year everyone who finished got a code that would get them a free copy of their book printed by Createspace. The prospect of having a book with your name on the spine on your bookshelf is good motivation.

I'm doing it again. I did it last year - finished and everything! It was a thrilling experience. I've always had confidence in my writing, but I'd never had the stamina to finish a long piece. That particular finished product will never see the light of day, though I'm revising it slowly. Most of it will be scrap, but now I know I can do it.
It was fun. I liked the camaraderie and the progress bar and the daily goals. As you've already said, it's worth it just for creating/forcing the habit of writing every day.
I'm going to have a rough month of it this time, since I'll have family visiting the first weekend (last year the 10000 I wrote in the first weekend went a long way to helping me finish), two 10 hour drives, a pony to take care of, and a trip on December 1st that I'll probably want to pack for ahead of time. I'm giving it a go anyway.

Angie wrote: "Are any of you going to be posting your novel-in-progress online or posting exerpts?

I think I might do it. I'm just wondering if I should publish the novel-in-progress and allow people to comment..."

I posted each chapter as I finished on my Goodreads profile last year. It motivated me to keep going since I had some co-workers pushing me. "Hurry up! I need something to read during lunch!"

My NaNo id is akaGunslinger, btw.

I'm feeling a bit Borg-like in this. You will be assimilated!

Kay, I'm done with my geeky Trek references now.

One of us! One of us!

Ooh Laaaaaarrryyy.... come join the fun with us!
Or at least come join us in tearing our hair, breaking pencils with our teeth, and generally cursing the very air we breathe when we can't think of what to write about. :)

Yeah... I'm aware of the publishing game. Some publishers take it to mean even things posted under a friends-lock, which is probably what I would do: post it somewhere and only allow certain people to request to read it. (I can't imagine my mother reading it!) I would probably also disable comments OR just not have them sent to my e-mail and force myself not to read them until I finish, letting people know they can tell me what they like/dislike in each thing and I'll read them only after I finish it.

I've had to request friends to take down some of my work when I've gone to submit them for publication. It kinda sucks but I understand the need-- I only wish the publishing places who are really strict would lighten up a little, as I wouldn't mind deleting the original publication online and providing a link to the publication (if it were online-based, of course).