United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Fort Collins Vs. Greeley Word War

zomby13 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:26:21 +0000

For four years the war has been going on and LocoFoCo has come out triumphantly for three of the battles. Now we head into the 2009 battle of WWN (World War NaNo). As the history of all wars go there will be escalation. Let's get down to the nitty gritty.

The battle will be judged under two categories: 1) average number of winners per region and 2) average word count. Yes LocoFoCo, we will even out the battlefield by competing through averages. We wouldn't want anyone to say that life isn't fair.

To be an official participate you must reply to this thread in the affirmative by Friday, November 13th. Your response can be as simple as "I'm in."

Now for the gentle reminder (although I know that no one in our region needs this stated) this may be WWN but keep trash talk friendly, as we don't know who might be reading the forums, and we don't want to offend anyone.

After some discussion between our regions we are going to try something new. Everyone as always is welcome to participate in this battle, but if you are willing and able to make a small donation to the cause it will be collected and counted. I will take contributions as small as $.01. It all adds up. Then once a winner is determined in December the collection of donations will be sent to NaNo in the winning regions name. It does not matter if one region donates more than another as the money is going to a good cause,

Oh and one last item for LocoFoCo participants, in addition to finishing your 50k and having the higher avg word count you must include in your novel somewhere the phrase "Greeley Stinks" or something like it. Be creative on this one.

I look for ward to the competition this year as last year it spurred me on to greater and greater heights, since the race was as close as it has ever been. So here I am putting in my bid for the war.

LocoFoCo let's gear up and get this done.

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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Lovelanders, report in

jensenroger — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:16:25 +0000

Anyone from the Valentine capital around? I know I can't be the only one. Well, I know I'm not, I personally know four people. But anyone else?

Also, if you write in public, where do/will you do so? I'll get some done at the LHS library during lunch, and maybe some more at the public library.
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Life is better in a bathrobe.

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

And we have a WINNER

zomby13 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:50:01 +0000

Congratulations to Kittygomeowr for being the first in our region to pass the 50k mark. you are awesome. You have keep me on my toes as well. I thought last night i might make it before you, you really made me work for it this year.

You are also an inspiration to everyone in our region because if you can do it in 8 days then everyone should take note that if they are behind they can still finish by putting in some awesome days of work like you have. Congratulations again.
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

In Search of places to write

sodarcraze — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:58:46 +0000

Hey all, Sage here, (oh, it's like the Kermit the frog intro on sesame street). I know most of the write-ins are already planned, but if you end up in need of a place to hold one, or if even just one or two of you are looking for a decent place to work, check out the f/stop cafe. I'm the manager there, and i think we have a really nice writing atmosphere. We play 40's music, have really great coffee and a large tea selection, and comfy writing spots. Plus it's pretty quiet there. If anyone wants to organize a large evening event, let me know and i'll set something up, otherwise feel free to drop by.
Best Wishes for easy flowing words
Sage
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So many words!

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Word count and homing and help I need a mentor

zomby13 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:10:30 +0000

Are you sure you are homed? It seems that quite a few people that should be homed to Fort Collins are not, even those of us that were homed to Fort Collins last year are not necessarily showing up homes this year, So I am asking you to check your home region and even if it shows Fort Collins resubmit the information just in case. That way everyone's word count will count towards our region. To home go to "my nanowrimo" then on the left hand side of the web page you will see a place to edit info pick "my regions" click on the home region tab. If one is not selected choose one of the regions that you belong to, if your do not have any regions listed search under the regions tab and then join the Fort Collins Region. Once you have joined it you will be able to go under the home region tab and select Fort Collins as your home region and submit. This will help me make sure that everyone gets their stickers on the poster for each 10% they accomplish.

In addition make sure you are updating your word count frequently at least every few days that way we will be able to contact those wrimo's who appear to need help.

If you need a mentor because you are falling behind or if you are willing to be a mentor because you have done NaNo before or are just doing really well and you want to help someone post here.

Together we can all finish this fantastic adventure.
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

A Pep Talk from a Friend of a Friend.

Crash — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:30:00 +0000

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=321052615213&ref=nf

Yeah, it's a video on Facebook, but that's the only place it currently exists. She makes some nice points and hopefully this will help one of you out there in NaNoland.

Happy writing and good luck!

- Crash
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- Crash
Fort Collins, CO.
"Why do I have this imagination? It's the only one I've got." - Neil Gaiman

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Sneakers for horses?

kittygomeowr — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:54:04 +0000

So I know practically nothing about horses except that I'm vaguely terrified of them in real life. Since it seems as if there are a couple of people in here who know something about them, I figured I'd post this here.
I have a point in my plot that has horses wearing "sneakers" basically to keep their hooves quiet on cobblestones. Now, normally, these horses have shoes and all that, but I'm wondering if any of you have any suggestions on giving them sneakers. The quasi-era for my novel setting is post apocalyptic proto-victorian, so no plastics, but any other materials would probably work.
Any ideas on how I can make my horses sneaky? Also, this would probably have to be something that could be taken off easily as well as not have a detrimental effect on the horses themselves. Even if this is fiction, I don't think we need to go around injuring animals in the name of science. :)
Thanks!
-Kitty
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Welcome or Welcome back/ Introduce Yourself

zomby13 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:05:13 +0000

Hello 2009 LocoFoCo WriMos! November is fast approaching, and I am very excited about it starting. Let me introduce myself. I'm Jewels, one of your local MLs, that means I'm here to help you get through November without going too crazy. This will be my second year as an official participant and first year as a ML.

I have to say that participating in NaNo last year was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. A lot of that had to do with the excellent guidance of last years MLs: Traevoli and Shmoo. I hope that all of you will have an amazing time participating this year.

As one of your MLs I will be organizing events for you to come to, sending out pep talks, keeping you motivated, and answering your questions throughout the next couple of months. I'm open to all your comments and suggestions. In fact if there is something you would like to do to help out our region let me know. Help will always be appreciated.

I can't wait to meet everyone. Happy Noveling!
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Any other CSUers? [Rams? Aggies? I don't know...]

antieuclid — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:20:24 +0000

I'm not actually affiliated with CSU but my sister's a freshman and it looks like I'm going to be staying with her on campus for most of NaNo. The good news is that she's thinking of trying it too! Who else here is a CSU WriMo? I'll be doing most of my writing in the library and I thought it might be neat for campus WriMos to agree on a particular group study room/area in the library and hold a more-or-less ongoing write-in. I'll be in the library during the day most days while my sister's in class, so I can make sure no one else takes our room ^_^ My favorite spot that I've found so far is the set of somewhat older study carrols in the Government Documents section near Y3.21, but I don't know the library that well so if someone has a different spot to suggest go right ahead.
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General Writing: http://therantinggeek.com
Economics Writing: http://technosocialism.com
Handmade goods for sale: http://antieuclid.1000markets.com

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

books

lematthews — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:57:12 +0000

Today is National Bookstore Day. Enjoy your contribution to books!
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

20,000 word weekend

molly573 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:54:02 +0000

Hi Nanoers,

zomby13 and myself are going to try for a 20,000 word weekend Nov 6-8. We will be starting after work on Friday and then going to Monday before work. Anyone else want to try this craziness with us? See you all at the write INS.

Sincerely,
molly573
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Encouragement

swellbow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:41:01 +0000

Crash wrote "If you're, for example, at 6,000 words today, you're not 4,000 words behind. You're 6,000 words ahead of zero. Your goal is no longer 50,000 words in 30 days, it's 44,000 in 24 days. That's only 1,834 words a day! Not bad!"

Way to put it. Thanks Crash. Love it!

Keep on hitting it, everyone! Good luck! Hope to meet some of you at one of the writedowns one of these days (when I get myself there).

Kurt
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

I Hate My Narrative Choice

thesquarerootof — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:17:16 +0000

Years and years of perfecting the omniscient third person narrative and I try to write my novel in FIRST PERSON? I'm so confused by tense. I mean, I'm writing in past tense because non past tense sounds odd but I'm too far in to go back and change the narrator to an omniscient power that is all-seeing and knowing. I'm down for a challenge and all, but I thought the challenge was the novel itself.

TERRIBLE choice I've made...
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"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others."
— Albert Camus

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Ten Songs For Writing A Novel In Thirty Days

thesquarerootof — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:28:30 +0000

So, I have a blog located at http://theexclamationpoint.blogspot.com and one of my regular features is something I call "Ten Songs On A Thought" in which I write down the first ten songs that come to mind on a particular theme without worrying about editing for placement or spending ten hours agonizing about the perfect answer. And in addition to blogging about Nanowrimo this week to get the word out, this week's theme was "Ten Songs For Writing A Novel In Thirty Days."

1. Pass This On - The Knife
2. Cast A Hook - Laura Veirs
3. Heartless - Kanye West
4. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie
5. How Low - Jose Gonzalez
6. The Wrote & The Writ - Johnny Flynn
7. Horse & I - Bat For Lashes
8. There There - Radiohead
9. Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain
10. Swansea - Joanna Newsom

Note: I can't contextually explain the Kanye either, but according to iTunes, I've listened to it four times since beginning this process. And iTunes never lies.

Anyway, the link to the actual post is here if you wanted to add your voice to the discussion, which I would really, really love: http://theexclamationpoint.blogspot.com/2009/11/ten-songs-on-thought-nan...

But I also thought it would be really cool if we discussed some music here. So what are you guys listening to during this process? Remember, first ten that come to mind, no editing...just like with your novel!
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"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others."
— Albert Camus

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Write-ins

zomby13 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 04:53:15 +0000

I would like to explain what write-ins are for the newer members to NaNo and give some gentle reminders to those who are veterans.

Write-ins are an opportunity to write with others in a public setting. They are a great place to get encouragement, brainstorm, and blow off steam. I want to strongly encourage everyone to come to write-ins as there is a great correlation to those who make it to the 50k line and those who attend these events.

In addition to the posted events on the calendar if you are planning your own write-ins or are stopping to write for an hour sometime and you would like to have company, please post it in this forum for others to see. If it is more than a day in advance and you give me enough details like time and address I will add it to the google calendar.
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Day 1

Tonymaczzz — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:58:35 +0000

So, now that day one is in the books, how are you doing so far?

I made a personal best on my first day, doing just over 3,000 and its going pretty well so far. I then fell into procrastination because of a slight funk the Broncos left me in.
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Veteran's Day Write In

Gene_o — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:23:21 +0000

I hosted a write in all day during Veteran's Day last year. It was successful enough (well, I wrote a lot) that I want to host another one this year.

The Veteran's Day write in will be held on Wednesday, November 11th at 2701 Sutton Ct. (the same location as the Thursday night write ins). This will run from 10:00 am until 10:00 pm. I'll make some soup or stew to share and will have some warm or cold drinks available.

I hope to see some of you there.

Gene_O
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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Teeny Super Victory Thread

zomby13 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:38:55 +0000

Congratulations LocoFoCo on our first day we wrote 217,631 words which was an average of 2,901 words per wrimo that reported a word count. Awesome job everybody. Let's keep it up. Plus we had two people who wrote over 10k yesterday. We are an awesome group. We are ranked number 87 in total word count and 94th in average word count.
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Hints for staying healthy and hand injury free during NaNo

zomby13 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:50:47 +0000

This is an intense month and there is the possibility of over doing it and even the strong possibility of getting sick, so please take care of yourself. Even though there is not a lot of free time try to eat balanced meals, perhaps even take a daily vitamin. Perhaps a possible fate worse than getting sick is the possibility of a hand or wrist injury. Doing this amount of writing all of the sudden can lead to stress on your hands and wrists so take frequent breaks while writing. I encourage you to stretch out your hands, shake them out. When I write at home I do a ten minute session then get up and do some moving for five to ten minutes. It givess my eyes a break my hands a break , and my body a chance to move. I find my numbers actually move up faster this way because I stay fresher longer.

If anyone else has advice or you start to have problems that relate ask or comment here. Lets keep healthy and safe this November.
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

My NaNoWriMo Opinion article in the Coloradoan

Tonymaczzz — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:26:03 +0000

I thought I would try this out. I am not sure how effective it will be, but it got published.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091027/OPINION03/910270316/1014/OPIN...

Ugh, I can feel my mechanics and general writing ability scraping along. I should have practiced more before this.

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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Writing Rituals

Tonymaczzz — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:46:23 +0000

As I was thinking of further ways to procrastinate coming up with a plot or outline, I started to wonder if I was the only one that had a ritual of sorts before writing.

It's pretty boring but it goes as follows:

Obtain Mountain Dew - Keep three within reach at all times.
Browse the NaNo forums.
Bother dog, make sure he can't sleep. If I can't then that fugly lump sure as hell isn't going to.
Begin bargaining over how many words must be typed before playing flash games.
Play flash games anyway.
Feverishly write for a few minutes, generally ignoring general writing mechanics.
Repeat.

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United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Halloween/Kick-off Party

zomby13 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:29:00 +0000

Hi LocoFoCo Wrimos,

We know this is a little late in the season but a place has finally been determined for the official midnight halloween/kick-off party. Crash tried really hard to get us a coffee house for the party but they were horrible about returning phone calls. Oh well its their lost business.

Therefore we will be having the traditional Halloween/Kick-off party at Scimoria (2701 Sutton Ct., Fort Collins, CO 80526) a fellow wrimo's house. It will start at 9pm and go till we drop.

This is a potluck so bring something to share, post what you plan to bring so that we get a variety of foods. Also provide an index card with the ingredients so people with allergies can eat safely. And I will make one last request if you can bring a bag of halloween candy they will be collected so there is always a pot of candy for energy at write-ins.

Please help spread the word about the kick-off party to help us compensate for the late notice. Also if you are new to NaNo don't be shy about coming you will be welcomed. If you want send me a private nanomail for more information. Parents are welcome to come with their writer's as we understand you will want to meet the group your teenager will be writing with.

It is a halloween party so we look forward to seeing the wonderful costumes.

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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Greeley

Blogging for Nano?

megfuzzle — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:40:35 +0000

I thought I'd post my blog for any local people that want to buddy up on LJ! Post here to let everyone know where they can follow yours too!!

http://megfuzzle.livejournal.com

Not strictly writing. Includes horses, randomness, work, married life, and recipes along with my NaNo stuff =)
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"the only page you cannot edit is a

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

LocoFoCo Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon

zomby13 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:31:59 +0000

I am excited to announce the first annual LocoFoCo Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon. Although all people in the surrounding areas which includes Greeley are welcome to join us. College America has graciously donated their space to us for free which means that all the money we raise will go to the Office of Letters and Light (OLL) in the name of the Fort Collins region. I am hoping we will raise $1000. I know ambitious but I believe we can do it.

The Fundraiser will be Saturday, November 14th from 8pm to 2am, at College America 4601 S Mason St, Fort Collins, CO 80525. There will be 6 hours of crazy writing. I have created a Fundraiser letter for you and as soon as I can I will link a copy to this forum posting. The letter explains the purpose of our fundraiser and how a sponsor can donate. They can either make a flat donation or a donation that will be multiplied by the hours you write that night. We cannot give receipts for this for tax purposes.

Download the fundraiser letter/form at SendSpace.com.

I would ask that if they give a flat donation and can give the donation up front that would be great, bring it to the fundraiser and we will all be able to see the Fundraiser Thermometer fill up on the night of the write-a-thon. For those that are donating by time the money will be collected after the fundraiser night when you have logged your writing hours, rounded off to the closest quarter hour.

I would like to give prizes away to those who are at the fundraiser, so if you have leads for gift certificates or other ideas please give me a heads up. Prizes will be raffled off.

For food and drinks to keep us going it will be a potluck. If we don't cater it means more money for the OLL.

This is an event to RSVP to. Just post to this forum when you have raised your first $5 in sponsorships. Also let us know what dish you are going to bring to the potluck so that we don't have 30 versions of the same dish.

If you are unable to attend but want to help out consider sponsoring someone else that is attending.

Since the National version of this fundraiser is as a costume party I would like to follow in their footsteps, I was going to decide on the theme myself but decided I would rather let you vote as a region the option with the most votes by the 7th of November will win. Option A) Come as a character from your novel, Option B) come as your favorite character from a book, or Option C) which is follow the national theme and come as a noir character. Let the voting begin. Even after a choice is made costumes will be optional.

And for the last item, as we get closer to the time of the Fundraiser I will be looking for volunteers to help set-up and clean-up.

I hope this turns out to be a fun tradition for all involved.

If people want to write a check have it made out to the OLL (office of letters and light.)
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Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia. ~E.L. Doctorow

United States :: Colorado :: Fort Collins

Adobe Buzzword

Tonymaczzz — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:05:04 +0000

While cloud computing is still fairly new, and some do not trust it, I thought you all might be interested in seeing this.

http://www.adobe.com/acom/buzzword/

Essentially, it is just a very comprehensive and free word processor. It allows you to store documents online in a personalized account, and you do not even need to have software installed on your system. Any computer with updated flash can access it so long as you have an internet connection.

It also has some group features that I am wanting to try. Just general chat, as well as allowing peer review (the notes system is excellent and easily color coded), and a few other nifty things. I haven't entirely tested it yet, but from what I have seen it will be my software of choice this year. Along with a hardcopy backup just to settle my paranoia.

Anyone else interested?
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