It's Been a Little Crazy But...

Hey everyone who's still checking the forum, pining, like me, for NaNo (and thanks for the countdown to NaNo 09!!)

I am looking for volunteers to be on the Carousel Magazine fiction selection committee. Carousel is a literary journal, publishing short fiction and poetry that is submitted by writers across Canada and sometimes from other exotic places (this semester we have one from Ireland, one form the UAE and a translation from Poland!!). This is where the committee comes in. I am looking for interested parties to read through these mountains of submissions with me and select five or six out of the sixty or so that we read each semester to pass on to our Editor-in-Chief so that he can make the final decision on which ones to publish. We meet once a week from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on Tuesdays, this semester.

Carousel comes out once a semester, so semi-annually, and is quite a polished magazine. For submission guidelines (if you're interested in submitting) you can look at the Carousel website: http://www.carouselmagazine.ca/

We used to meet in the Carousel office on campus in the University Centre, room number 274 (we share the room with T@GSA, and their markings on the door are more prominant) but this semester our meetings clashed so we, the fiction committee, will be meeting in Mackinnon room 232 instead. Feel free to drop by during the meetings, no warning is necessary, and I'd love to see some people out there.

I hope to see some beloved WriMo's out there next semester!

Elizabeth (eshearly@uoguelph.ca -- feel free to drop me a line!)

Thank Goodness It's Over Party

It's time to wrap things up for NaNoWriMo 2008 with our "Thank Goodness It's Over" party:

Sunday, December 7th
2:00 p.m.
Rainbow Dragon's Lair
(i.e.: my house)
Come and join us as we celebrate challenges taken & victories won and make plans for next year's conquest.

Drinks and munchies will be served.

R.S.V.P. via NaNo mail so I know how many people to expect.
(And so I can send you directions!)

Hope to see you on Sunday!

Laura

The Results Are In

Congratulations to avermeer, EternalDaisy, Leanne-Rose and shantii who all crossed the finish line in the final hours of NaNoWriMo to bring the total number of finishers in Guelph to 14. That puts us at a 41.2% win rate folks - over twice the world-wide win rate for 2008 of 18.2%! Guelph Wrimos rock!

Congratulations to everyone who took part this year! We had a phenomenally strong showing here in Guelph, not only amongst the "official winners" but throughout the whole team, many of whom were first-time Wrimos and logged more words this past month than they have ever before done on a single project. Way to go!

All Guelph Wrimos are invited to our "Thank Goodness It's Over" party to celebrate our accomplishments this past month and December's return to "normalcy" (whatever that is!). See the Party Planning thread below and leave your thoughts.

Final Countdown

Congratulations to bevantor who crossed the finish line yesterday!

To those of you writing down to the wire tonight, please check to make sure that the NaNo site has you registered under the correct time zone. Their system will NOT have updated you automatically to account for our fall back to standard time, and it will not allow you to update your word count once it thinks you've passed midnight.

Also: the NaNo site will likely be busy tonight. Hopefully not server-crashingly busy, but busy enough to noticeably slow server response times. Don't wait until 11:59 to try to validate.

Good luck everyone!

More Royal Colour for the Royal City

Congratulations to bundtcake, JCScott, Lee44 and lynnreist who all topped 50K on Friday!

Party Planning

As the clock slowly but inevitably counts down to the final days of November, and Wrimo status bars the world over start to turn purple, it's time to start thinking about what we want to do for a TGIO party here in Guelph.

Some questions to consider:

1. When do we want to have the party?

Saturday afternoons have been working well for our write-ins, but not everyone is able to come out at that time. Plus, the first Saturday in December is the 6th this year, which is perhaps a day on which many of us are not in a partying mood. Week nights are out for me next week except for Wednesday (December 3rd). How about Sunday, December 7th? Afternoon or evening?

2. Where do we want to have the party?

Back at our old standby, Williams, or someplace that serves alcohol and/or a full menu? Or do we want to party in a private venue? (That would give us a little more space and perhaps be more conducive to mingling.) I am happy to host, assuming the party is at a time when I'm available to do so.

3. Do we want to have a theme for the party?

(Other than generally being thankful that November is over, that is.)
Do we want to read excerpts from our stories? Play group-writing games? Do something totally non-writing related? Dress like Vikings? Wear purple? Anything else?

Weigh in here with your thoughts.

Guelph's Going Purple

Congratulations to DeeSarrachi, litchick89, Ruth Cooke and Terry (tdm) who all crossed the finish line yesterday!

We're getting close to the wire, with a good number of Guelph Wrimos getting close enough to taste that sweet victory. Write on folks!

Thursday Evening Write-In is a Go

We have an extra write-in this week to help everyone speed along to the finish line:

Thursday, November 27th
8:30 p.m. @ Williams Coffee Pub
Edinburgh Marketplace
I will be late as I have a night class at UofG.

Please look for the rest of the group at the tables along the long wall with windows.
(There are two large tables immediately to the left of the dish cart -- we'll try to get those.)

If you plan on coming (and haven't already said so) please let me know so I can give Williams an idea of how many people to expect.

Hope to see you Thursday night.

Possible Write-In Thursday Evening

Hi folks,

I've had a couple of requests for a write-in Thursday evening.
I have class that night until 9:30, so would obviously be late, but some others are available for an 8 - 8:30 start. Please let me know if you want in, and I'll try to sort out a way for everyone to meet up and get started without me.

Williams is open until 11 p.m. -- so our usual haunt is one possibility.
Alternately, we have a number of Wrimos at UofG who may be able to suggest a good on-campus venue for Thursday evening. (Parking on campus is free in the evenings, for those of you who'd be driving in.)

Let me know what you want to do.

Laura

Update for the Mercury

Hi Folks,

As some of you know, I'm writing my NaNo novel as part of a feature I wrote for the Guelph Mercury (it appeared Nov. 1). I'm also blogging about it at Writer's Blog. As I did in the first two weeks, I'd like to provide an update on how Guelphites are handling the process. Most of you are far ahead of me, but this last week is going to be a struggle for most of us, I'm guessing.

Drop me a line at khopwood@guelphmercury.com and I'll post some of your comments.

See you Saturday!

Write-In Saturday, November 29

Once again we will be meeting at Williams next weekend. Come on out and join your fellow Guelph Wrimos in that frenzied final push to the finish line:

Saturday, November 29th
2:00 p.m. @ Williams Coffee Pub
Edinburgh Marketplace
If you plan on joining us, please give a shout out with a comment to this post, so I'll know how many seats to reserve.

P.S.: If you haven't made it out to a meeting yet and aren't sure what we look like, look for a red head scarf with a white dragon print on it. I'll be there wearing such a scarf.

Stay the Course

Okay folks, we're heading into the final frenzied week of NaNoWriMo 2008. We've got a good chunk of Guelph Wrimos sitting right on the cusp of where they need to be for a steady finish, a few who are ahead of the game, and some who are a bit behind standard pace, but still within sight of the goal if they push through this week. Some of you may have modified the goal to one that's more attainable for you this year -- and that's great too. What matters now is staying strong and staying the course. To that end:

1. I've linked everyone's mini-graphs on the sidebar of our blog to your NaNo Progress Reports. If you're working towards a 50,000 word goal by November 30th, the progress report will let you know how many words you need to write each day between now and then to get there. (FYI: The data in the progress report is not "live". It does not update immediately when you update your wordcount, but does grab new word count data regularly. Therefore, if you've just updated your word count, you may need to wait 15 minutes or so for the graphs and progress reports to reflect that.)

2. We'll be meeting at Williams again next Saturday. Come on out and get a final push towards that finish line with your fellow Guelph Wrimos. Please watch our blog for the official meeting post and leave a comment if you intend to join us, so I'll know how many seats to reserve.

3. If you'd like any additional meetings this week, please let us know your preferred times so we can try to set something up. I've received one vote so far for a daytime meetup or a Monday or Thursday evening.

4. If there's anything different you'd like to do for this week -- or anything I can do -- to help you reach your goal, please let me know.

Good writing everyone!

Laura

I'm Out

Well, I haven't written a word in several days, I'm way behind, and nothing that I've written is any good at all. I've gotten bogged down in the stupid stuff and have nowhere to go.

So once again I am throwing in the towel. Good luck to those of you with staying power and good ideas!

Write-In Saturday, November 22

We had another successful write-in at Williams this past Saturday. It was good to see some now familiar as well as some new faces out. It was also good to see the jump in word count each of the participants registered for the day.

Next weekend we'll be at Williams again:

Saturday, November 22nd
2:00 p.m. @ Williams Coffee Pub
Edinburgh Marketplace
If you plan on joining us, please give a shout out with a comment to this post, so I'll know how many seats to reserve.

Write Or Die

If you're finding your mind wandering when you sit down to write and feel the need for some added pressure to keep your mind focussed and your fingers flying, check out Dr. Wicked's "Write Or Die" web app. It's hilarious. (And effective too. I'd write something -- anything -- to spare myself from having to listen to the banana phone song!)

Write-In Next Saturday

Judging by the comments at yesterday's write-in and the soaring word count meters in the side bar of our blog, I have to conclude that yesterday's write-in at Williams was highly productive for everyone who attended. Add to that the fact that the Williams staff were uber helpful in reserving seats for us and assisting with getting our tech set up, and we have a recipe for success. So...

We're planning on meeting there again next weekend:

Saturday, November 15th
2:00 p.m. @ Williams Coffee Pub
Edinburgh Marketplace

If you plan on joining us, please give a shout out with a comment to this post, so I'll know how many seats to reserve.

Keep up the great work everyone!

30 Members Strong

The Author Search feature is back online at the NaNo web site, so I was able to update our membership with the newest additions to the Guelph team. The Guelph Wrimos are now thirty members strong!

Oops.

Once again, the weekend is here and I seem to have forgotten to bring the laptop home from work. For the write-in tomorrow-- Laura, is that extra laptop of yours still available? If you'd rather not carry that much extra baggage around, no worries, I've got a perfectly good notebook and pen as well. ;)

On-Campus Writing

Hi!

I'm a uoguelph student with a five hour break in the middle of my schedule on mondays, wednesdays and fridays, so I thought I'd just invite anyone who's around campus to come up to Pages (the Tim Hortons sitting area in the McNaughton Building, above the university bookstore) and join me, since I plan to spend most of that up there writing (if I can find a place to sit, that is). I'll most likely bring my bright orange "caution: novelists at work" sign that I printed out, and have it somehow stuck to my laptop. I may not be talkative about my own work in progress, but I'd love to discuss yours, help you get unstuck and whatnot.

Hope to see some of you there,

litchick89

(rough description of me: jeans and red glasses, green water bottle, black backpack, toshiba laptop....you'll be better off going with the sign :P)

Impromptu Write-in

I will be at the Red Brick cafe today for the afternoon and sometime into the evening. Your presence is welcome at any time! If you're on your way, feel free to send me an email at me@matthewdryden.ca -- hope to see you there!

EDIT: I forgot to say that I am a very tall redhead sitting at the window with his laptop. If you're around, don't be afraid to say hello!

Early Leaders

The word count stats in the sidebar of our blog -- when they're able to load at all -- show that a number of Guelph Wrimos got off to a great start this weekend. litchick89 is leading the way at this point with a whopping 14,068 words (I wonder if she'll share her secret) but everyone who's managed to get their word count stats to update looks to be doing well -- right on target or ahead of the game through the first weekend.

Others of you out there, I know, are writing furiously away but have not updated your word count score yet. If you've been having trouble accessing the NaNo site in order to do so, rest assured that things will get better. The site is traditionally slow as molasses in January during the first few days of NaNo, but then traffic calms down and performance improves.

There are also fluctuations in traffic volume throughout the day. Late evenings for us, when the whole of North America is accessing the site, tend to be the worst times. If you can, try to update your word count first thing in the morning, when the west coasters are still in bed and the Europeans all at work. You'll probably find things flow a little better at that hour.

Guelph Mercury

For those of you interested, I found the story that the Guelph Mercury ran on Saturday. Here is the link:

http://news.guelphmercury.com/article/398956

And here is the link to a blog that Kate Hopwood (the author of the article) has setup specifically for November's marathon. It's interesting reading. Link here:

http://guelphmercury.blogs.com/writersblog/

Saturday Write-In

It was great to meet some local Wrimos at our Meet & Greet last Wednesday evening and at the write-ins on the weekend. I actually managed to get some writing done at both write-ins, although, as Sandra mentioned, the Red Brick was uber crowded and Starbucks no less so. The lineup was out the door at Starbucks at one point, and the Red Brick was standing room only. It was difficult to carve out and defend space for us all to sit together. In light of that:

We're moving the write-in for this coming weekend to Williams Coffee Pub in the Edinburgh Marketplace (that's the plaza immediately east of Stone Road Mall). The advantage to Williams (apart from it hopefully being a little less crowded than the venues we tried this past weekend) is that I can reserve seats for us there. Of course, in order for me to be able to do that, I need to have a fairly good idea of who's coming. So, if you plan to join us

Saturday, November 8th
2:00 p.m. @ Williams
Edinburgh Marketplace

please give a shout out with a comment to this post.

Thursday Write-In

Laura and I met at the Red Brick on Sunday. There may have been more of you there; it was so crowded we almost missed each other. I'm going to try again Thursday evening, after 6 pm (after I'm home from work). Its usually not quite so shoulder-to-shoulder busy. However, its still a small space. A good space, but small.

I'll be the one with the Nanowrimo stickers on my laptop and a pot of tea.

And We're Off!

Happy Writing Everyone!

Meetings this Weekend

The Guelph Wrimos are raring to go, and we're jumping right into the fray with two write-ins this weekend!

Saturday, November 1st
2:00 p.m.
@ Starbucks in Stone Road Mall

and

Sunday, November 2nd
2:00 p.m.
@ the Red Brick Café, downtown Guelph

I'll be at the Saturday write-in for sure, wearing my red head scarf with the dragon print, so look for me there.

Sandraregina is organizing the Sunday write-in, so please contact her for meeting details.

Welcome!

Welcome to the web home of the Guelph Wrimos!

We are participants in the international craziness known as National Novel Writing Month who work/play/live in and about Guelph, Ontario.

We don't have an "official" region over in NaNo land -- and the NaNo web servers tend to get rather overloaded and shaky this time of year in any case -- so I've set up this blog to enable Guelph Wrimos to stay in touch with one another and keep up to date with local happenings, even on those days when the main NaNo web site is inaccessible.

I will continue to try to post all Guelph events in our forum thread over in NaNo land, but I will be posting them here as well. So, if you're having trouble getting into the NaNo site, or just want a faster experience, or would like to subscribe to get updates (thread subscriptions haven't been working for me over at NaNo for a few weeks now, but the Blogger site feed should be fine), then this is the place to be.

If you're a Guelph Wrimo and would like the ability to add your own posts to this blog, please drop me a line with your email address and I will send you an invite. Email to laura at rainbowdragon dot ca is the fastest way to reach me. (I try to check my NaNo mail regularly too, but I'm having trouble accessing the site at present.)

If you're a Guelph Wrimo and don't see your name in our roll call on the right, please let me know your NaNo username and number (email to the above address, or simply submit as a comment to this post) and I'll add you ASAP.

Good luck on NaNoWriMo 2008 everyone!