United States :: California :: East Bay

Welcome Writers!

Kat Fireblade — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:51:33 -0700

Its almost that time of year again! We all embark on the wild ride of sleepless nights, cranky, neglected family, the visits of relatives and hectic rush of the holidays, school tests, work crises, and in the midst of pure chaos the wonderful exhilaration of living creatively. For a month we eat, sleep, and breathe our inner muses in an attempt to prove something, to our families, to the world, and most importantly, to ourselves.

Some of us just want to prove we can be creative.
Others want to prove they can finish what they started.

And some of us, mostly old timers, do it for the rush.

Whatever the reason you are here, I hope you're as excited as I am.

Take a minute to say hello to all your fellow East Bay writers. Tell us who you are, and maybe, if you feel like sharing, just a little bit on what you intend to write. Don't be shy, there are no wrong answers here, and no one can steal your idea because no one can write it anywhere near as well as you will.

As the date draws closer, you'll see more and more helpful information posted on this section of the forum. Write-ins in your area and the latest news and bulletins will all be here, as well as, I hope, lots of friendly canoodling between local authors. So keep your eyes to the forums and get your initial research done now, because November will get here faster than you think.

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We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
—Henry James

United States :: California :: East Bay

[NaNoWriMo HQ] NaNoWriMo's Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon

Tavia Stewart — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:22:16 -0700

Hello East Bay Wrimos,

NaNoWriMo HQ is excited to invite you to our second-annual Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon. Come spend a blissful night of eating, drinking, and novel-writing with 200 Bay Area NaNoWriMo participants and staff!

The event is on Saturday, November 15. This year’s theme: NaNo-Noir. We’ll be summoning the spirits of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett with chiaroscuro lighting, mood-setting background movies, and writing feats more dangerous than falling in love with a femme fatale. Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt, this will be a night you don’t want to miss.

How it Works:

All funds from the Write-a-thon benefit NaNoWriMo's youth and adult programs. To attend, just raise $200 or more in contributions through your easy-to-set-up Write-a-thon Firstgiving page by November 10.

Everyone who comes will get dinner, drinks, caffeine, a funny dinnertime talk by NaNoWriMo Director Chris Baty on 10 Years of NaNoWriMo Craziness, and a special Night of Writing Dangerously tote bag filled with books, writing software, and edible treats. You'll also have a chance to win raffle prizes such as museum passes, yoga classes, movie tickets, spa treatments, bottles of fine wine, and a baseball signed by Judy Blume.

The top three fundraisers will get to choose from special prizes, including a Dell Inspiron laptop, a 32 GB iPod Touch courtesy of Storyist.com, and an AlphaSmart Neo courtesy of Renaissance Learning.

As soon as you raise $200, send me an RSVP. If you raise $300 or more, you can RSVP for a guest as well. The ballroom has limited seating, so please RSVP as soon as possible!

For more information about the event, including photos and video from last years event, and to see a list of all the exciting raffle prizes, visit our Write-a-thon page.

Any questions? Drop me a line.

Hope to see you all there!

Tavia Stewart
NaNoWriMo HQ
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Pleasanton Post-NaNo Write-ins

girlboxer5 — Thu, 4 Dec 2008 22:25:17 -0800

Just cuz the old thread is sort of out of date, and the other post NaNo thread is kind of hard to read...

Thursday next week doesn't seem to work for some of us, so proposals as to a new date for the continuing December weekly write-ins are definitely welcome. We've had a proposal for Monday next week, which works fine for me, and other proposals include shifting the location from Border's to the Panera in Dublin where the TGIE party took place last Sunday.

Any thoughts? For me either Borders or Panera is fine-- they're about the same driving time away from me, so it doesn't matter to me what other people prefer ;-) Mondays are also fine. In fact, I think they'd be preferable to Thursday, to be perfectly honest.

Also any thoughts as to continuing the write-ins through the year after December is over? I'm game ;-)
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Dvorak WriMos? Hello? Is anyone here?

ALLLGooD — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:42:40 -0800

My number one excuse for my slow pace this year is that I just started learning the Dvorak Keyboard Layout (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard) less than a year ago. I was bored, and needed a geeky thing to learn. After over 20 years typing in QWERTY, it's been quite a journey.

From typing at 70wpm without errors back to 30wpm with many errors. Arrrgh!

Are there any other Dvorak WriMos out there?

FYI this is how it looks like:

' , . p y f g c r l /

a o e u i d h t n s -

; q j k x b m w v z

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[--I'm the one frantically rubbing his shaved head, typing on the Alphasmant--]

United States :: California :: East Bay

Pleasant Hill/Concord/Walnut Creek write-ins

girlboxer5 — Sun, 7 Dec 2008 04:38:06 -0800

Just creating this thread for those in the more northern parts of the East Bay in case any are interested in post NaNo write-ins in that part of the Bay Area...
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United States :: California :: East Bay

What Now? Future Write-in Plans

Ixy-Pixy — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:33:19 -0800

Wohoo! We're done... except many of us aren't. Several of you have indicated an interest in continuing to meet so you can finish your novels or finish editing/revising them.

We will be meeting at Pleasanton's Borders this Thursday (Dec. 4th).

The Hayward group will continue meeting at Panera's once a month on Fridays.

Any other locations interested? What about timing?

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United States :: California :: East Bay

Another Flavour of Post-NaNo Celebration.

Seraphynne — Tue, 9 Dec 2008 15:49:52 -0800

I attended the Pan-Bay celebration last Friday, but had always intended to have a "celebration" of sorts of my own.
What better way to do it than my second favourite thing: salsa dancing!!!
I invited friends, but then this bright lightbulb popped in my head. Invite East Bay Wrimos, too!
It's not a celebration-celebration. It's more of a come-and-dance-the-night-away-with-me-to -celebrate-all-our-fabulous-writing-success at Shattuck Down Low in Berkeley.
Lessons begin at 8 PM (if you need a little practice). $10 cover includes the lesson.
Hope I'll see some of you there!
Take care!

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L'amore della belleza e Gusto. La creazione della belleza e L'arte.

United States :: California :: East Bay

East Bay TGIO?

melissima — Thu, 4 Dec 2008 13:10:33 -0800

Is anybody interested in a TGIO party on this side of the bay? Because I would *love* it.

:) Mel
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Pan-Bay TGIO Party

Lindsey Grant — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:35:30 -0800

Dear Bay Area Wrimos,

While many of you may be excited about the wafting smells of roasted bird and mashed treats in a casserole dish, there is something else to look forward to! Next Friday, December 5, is the Pan-Bay TGIO party! It will be held from 8 PM - 11 PM at Root Division (www.rootdivision.org), located at 3175 17th Street, San Francisco, CA.

There will be crowns, a raffle, and a (completely voluntary) reading of NaNoNovel excerpts, as well as some free LiveJournal T-shirts and vintage SuperNano! T-shirts from 2004. It is an all-ages event, and your cheerleaders and significant others (and friends, neighbors, and fellow writers) are welcome, too! Whether you won NaNoWriMo this year or not, we want to see you there.

Don't forget to bring two different one-page excepts from your NaNoNovel for the wall display. (You should print them out in a large font, as the venue is a bit dark!)

While drinks and snacks are available, there won't be dinner at the event. If you'd like to have dinner in the city beforehand, Root Division is located in the Mission District of San Francisco, which is overrun with fantastic restaurants.

If you or anyone you know would like to volunteer your time to set up or take down the party, you can contact Tavia at tavia_stewart@nanowrimo.org. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at lindsey_grant@nanowrimo.org

We can't wait to celebrate you and your wordy accomplishments!

Lindsey and the NaNoWriMo team
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Hayward Monthly Write-in Thread

Norsehound — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:06:30 -0700

Hello everyone.

A group of writers and I typically meet at the Panera Bread in Southland mall over the year, once per month, and basically continue writing outside of NaNo. During NaNo itself, the group meets every week on a Friday, barring serious scheduling problems.

Panera's Address is here:

24133 Southland Dr
Hayward, CA 94545

The meeting for October is on the 10th, and usually the group assembles by 6.30 in Panera, at the big table at the left side of the cafe. You can't miss it.

There are outlets for people with Laptops, and I think there's wireless internet as well.

Feel free to stop by and say hello! We're always welcome for new people.
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United States :: California :: East Bay

GoodSearch

TSEdiot — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:22:47 -0700

There is a note about this on the page about donating when broke, but I wanted to let everyone here know about the partnership with goodsearch.com

When you go to the website and put in Office of Letters and Light as your charity, every search you do will donate $.01 to NaNoWriMo and ScriptFrenzy. Think about how many searches you do a day - 10? 20? I probably do about 50, which means in a month I can earn the OLL $15. You can even install goodsearch to most browsers and search from the bar. Awesome, right?

Need to do some research? Use goodsearch for all of your research queries this month. Then you're researching for your novel *and* paying for the ability to do this next year. Sweet!

Even if you just switch for November, it'll make a big difference to the event!

Happy Novelling!
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========================
TSEdiot
anaheim_ca(at)nanowrimo(dot)org
tsediot(at)gmail(dot)com
North Orange County ML
Proud H.A.C.K. since 2007

United States :: California :: San Diego

Read on the radio

idunno — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:21:43 -0800

In case some of you East Bayers are willing to drive all the way out here...

Hey, if the fabulous accomplishment of writing a 50,000 word novel in a mere 30 days isn't enough of an incentive to propel you over finish line, how about this: The opportunity to read part of your novel on the radio!

Every year for the last several years, DJ Ann Arbor over at KFJC has graciously invited winning nano participants to read on a segment of her weekly radio program called Unbedtime Stories. During most of the year, she reads material by authors she thinks people should know about. During the first few months after nano, she opens that microphone up to you, the NaNoWriMo winners.

KFJC (89.7 on your FM dial) is located on the Foothill College campus in Los Altos Hill. Their website is: http://www.kfjc.org. Ann Arbor's show is Wednesday mornings from 6am-10am. In the past, the readings started at 8am. Info about her program can be found here: http://www.kfjc.org/programming/program_info.php?houroftheweek=54&info_i....

If you're interested in doing this, you need to contact Ann Arbor at aarborkfjc@aol.com AFTER you cross 50k and then select a suitable section of your novel that takes twenty minutes to read. I also recommend practicing (lots!), so you sound polished on the air. When you email her, she will provide you with additional information.

I've done this a number of times, and it is a lot of fun. It's always a kick to arrive at work following my reading and have a couple of coworkers see me and say, "Hey, I heard you on the radio!"

Ian
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idunno, co-ML for California :: South Bay

United States :: California :: East Bay

November 30th TGIE Suggestions

Ixy-Pixy — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:23:22 -0800

Let's have a Thank Goodness It's Ending Party on Sunday, November 30th (not to be confused with the TGIO - Thank Goodness It's Over Party on 12/5 in SF).

We'll have one last write-in to try to finish up our novels and run up the word counts for our final word verifications, some last word wars for the year, and start discussing future plans (anyone interested in continuing to hold periodic writing meetings to finish up novels, ready them for publishing, editing sessions?).

The location would need to offer electricity and internet (for people to submit verifications). Does anyone have any suggestions for locations that can offer both?

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United States :: California :: East Bay

Your novel...in 5 words or less!

Reading Redhead — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 20:04:42 -0700

We did this at the Berkeley kick-off and it was so much fun to hear everyone's novel summaries that I thought we should try it out on the forums! The goal is simple: summarize your novel in five words or less. Get that conciseness out of your system before November starts!

I'll get the ball rolling:

Medieval fantasy feminist cross-dressing farce
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Candace Cunard
Office of Letters & Light // Editorial Intern & Press Liaison
Co-ML, East Bay CA // 3-time participant & winner

United States :: California :: East Bay

Happy East Bay Thanksgiving

mwalker — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:49:10 -0800

I want to wish a Happy East Bay Thanksgiving to all my fellow East Bay-ians.

"Happy East Bay Thanksgiving!"

There. I did it.

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United States :: California :: East Bay

North Berkeley / Albany / El Cerrito Write-in?

Rebeccita — Mon, 3 Nov 2008 16:12:50 -0800

Hi everyone!

I'm sitting here at 33 Revolutions trying to start my novel ( a couple of days in, and I'm already behind. Eek!). Anyway, in order to procrastinate even more, I thought I'd drop y'all a note to see if anyone is interested in doing write-ins here a day a week, or if there are other good cafes you had in mind. I love this one because its big, spacious, inexpensive yet hip, independent, and has delicious organic goodies and coffees and teas. There's plenty of big tables and outlets we can commandere. But I'm definitely open to other spots.

I'm thinking Monday or Tuesday evenings, because Wednesday is spoken for by the Lake Merrit peeps (I work in Lake Merrit, so was planning to go there on that day) and Thursday is a no-go for me. Saturday mornings, post-farmer's market, could also work.

Any takers?

Blessings on your work and blissings on your process,
Rebecca
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Pinole Write-In on the 29th

JCsAngelPen — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:51:12 -0800

Hey everyone, just wanted to say that we're having a write-in at Peet's Coffee in Pinole on Saturday the 29th from 6-9pm.

2712 Pinole Valley Rd
Pinole, CA 94564

For some reason it's not on the calendar of events, so I thought I'd post here.

Questions, email me: LFwrites@yahoo.com

-Laura
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Martinez, anybody?

reyo — Thu, 6 Nov 2008 23:08:47 -0800

Just wondering who here might be from Martinez, as I dunno too many people in the area even since I've moved here over two years ago... anybody nearby up for a writing meet-up or somethin'? :-)
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United States :: California :: East Bay

San Ramon write-ins

LMD41 — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 07:01:40 -0700

While in the Pleasanton Write-Ins forum, I noticed a couple San Ramon people looking for a place to meet. Is there any interest in a separate weekly write-in somewhere in San Ramon?

They have a couple of Starbucks, a Peets, Borders, and probably other places I can't think of. As for which night...other than Pleasanton's Thursday night write-ins, I'm open to suggestions...
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The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ~Agatha Christie

United States :: California :: East Bay

Region Update

Ixy-Pixy — Wed, 5 Nov 2008 15:42:55 -0800

I decided not to send this via e-mail just yet since many of you are probably still sorting through the various e-mails you received in regards to the election on Tuesday and we should all be spending less time sorting e-mails and more time writing.

Let me just start by saying that you guys rock. Take a look at our calendar; we have write-ins scheduled on every day but Tuesday, and most days have multiple write-ins scheduled all over the Bay Area. If you have not attended a write-in yet, try it out! The inspiration and help I have received from fellow writers during write-ins is often what helps me reach my word goals. Additionally, glow-in-the dark bats, stickers, and candy are often handed out freely (more random prizes to appear as our word counts get higher!).

We are currently in the top 25 regions IN THE WORLD in terms of word count, and we're one of the top in the world for fundraising. Great job!

Let's see if we can get into the top 20 with our word counts!

20 Europe :: Finland 1,396,905 6,180 $200.00
21 Australia & New Zealand :: New Zealand 1,341,283 6,574 $225.00
22 United States :: Texas :: Austin 1,298,493 4,809 $820.00
23 United States :: California :: East Bay 1,269,093 4,532 $1,320.00
24 United States :: Texas :: Houston 1,202,717 5,620 $630.00
25 Europe :: Sweden 1,193,967 6,560 $185.00

Keep up the amazing work! Let us (Candace, Rebecca, or I) know if you need help or have arranged a write-in that is not appearing on the calendar yet.

~Ixy-Pixy
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Pleasanton write-ins

girlboxer5 — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 20:59:50 -0700

Just wondering if there was any interest in separate Pleasanton-area write-ins for the Southeast Bay... I remember we had three or four people last year.

I'd probably be up for a couple just to get my wordcounts up, but I'm not sure if I could make both weekly Pleasanton write-ins and the Hayward ones also. <-- Hayward's my personal priority.

Any thoughts on nights? Hayward will probably remain Friday nights, depending on what we agree on come October 10. And location? I remember the downtown Tully's didn't work so well. Borders, perhaps?
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United States :: California :: East Bay

Lake Merritt Write-Ins

ALLLGooD — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:47:32 -0700

Hello Folks!

I just posted these two suggestions on the more general "Oakland Write-Ins" thread but though that a neighborhood specific thread would be even more helpful.

SeaRabbit suggested some great places in the Lake Merritt area where I hope people are down to meet. My idea would be to have a weekly write-in on Wednesday evenings at Cafe Rooz on Park Blvd (a block from the Parkway Theatre)., and to have a "perhaps weekly" weekend write-in on Saturdays at Cafe DiBartolo on Grand. I'm definitely going to be there on Saturday, 1 November if anyone wants to meet up.

Roll Call, Lake Merrittians!
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[--I'm the one frantically rubbing his shaved head, typing on the Alphasmant--]

United States :: California :: East Bay

A Soldier's Story...

pbmaxca — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:44:28 -0800

I wanted to post the following to spread the word about Jon Stiles...

From this post.... http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3129303

dadgecko Challenge - Help me honor a true hero

Bear with me ... as I write this, my brother's body is being shipped back home from Afghanistan. Specialist Jonnie (Jon) Lee Stiles died from wounds he received from an IED yesterday morning, (or yesterday evening local Afghani time). Jon was a true hero.

Less than a month ago, Jon and another soldier from his unit risked their lives by entering a burning vehicle to pull out two of their fellow soldiers. Both men are alive stateside now. Jon suffered smoke inhalation, damagin his vocal chords. He was given the opportunity to recover in Germany. I've been told that that situation almost always returns the soldier stateside. Instead, Jon declined. He stayed with his unit, preferring to serve with them. He died doing exactly what he wanted to do in life. Jon loved the military and his fellow soldiers - he was incredibly proud to serve. This country lost a warrior.

I'm sorry, that was long - off my soap box now. It has been a difficult day and a half, hard on me, my parents, and my family.

But I'm not looking for sympathy ... I want your help to keep my brother's name alive. Here's my challenge: Write Jon into your story.

Before NaNo began this year, I read of a challenge a guy named Tim made to his friends whenever they hit a road block. His solution, insert him into the story. It could be substantial, or it could be something as simple as "and then Tim walked by."

I'm asking you to do the same thing, only this time with my brother's name. Would you help me to honor a true hero - a man who has literally saved the lives of others and served this country proudly - by just mentioning him in your NaNovel this year?

I'm not asking for you to make him your main character, or even a bit player. If you could just mention him, that would help keep his memory alive.

Thank you,
Charles Stiles

Specialist Jon Stiles, 7/6/1970 - 11/13/2008.
He leaves behind his loving wife, Launa (yes, Launa with an n), married November of 2000; his mother and stepfather (Linda and Larry); his father and step-mother (Charles and Cecilia); a younger sister and brother (Natalie Michele and Kenneth Joseph); an older brother and his family, Charles and Laura, (yes, Laura) with two kids: Nathan and Jessica; a step-brother, Larry; a step-sister, Julie ... and numerous extended family and friends - all blessed to know and love him.

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In memory - Jon Stiles - I'll always love you bro.

Don't forget to post a message to dadgecko here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3129303 if you add Jon to your story!

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NaNo 2008 - Sugarland {working title}
Fanfiction: http://fanfiction.zoewatsonnovels.com
Fiction: http://zoewatsonnovels.com

United States :: California :: East Bay

Reporter looking to interview North Oakland writers

Reading Redhead — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 21:14:42 -0800

Hello all -- thought I'd pass this information on to you.

Hi there,
I write for a local website www.oaklandnorth.net and am looking to interview a few participants from the North Oakland area (that would be Temescal, Rockridge, MacArthur, Piedmont) for a feature story on this. I'd like to be able to check in with them a few times throughout the novel-writing process as well. I am available to meet them at writing sessions at local cafes.

If you're from north Oakland, drop Kristine a line at kristinewong@yahoo.com and chat with her about life during NaNo. Go and make your press liaison proud! :)
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Candace Cunard
Office of Letters & Light // Editorial Intern & Press Liaison
Co-ML, East Bay CA // 3-time participant & winner

United States :: California :: East Bay

Oakland Write-Ins

Kat Fireblade — Sat, 4 Oct 2008 18:10:17 -0700

Since there have been splinter conversations for different areas of the East Bay, I figured I'd start one especially for Oakland residents.

I am expecting that, like in previous years, Berkeley locations will be the default for most NaNoers. However, I'm going to try to to find Oakland locations convenient for Oakland residents as well. If you are an Oakland resident, let me know where/when you can meet and we'll see what we can throw together.
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We work in the dark—we do what we can—we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of art.
—Henry James

United States :: California :: East Bay