Introduce yourself to the region!

Hey - anyone using Google+? If so, find me! I'm there as Kyra Sanders, or scrapacat. I'm kinda new to Google+ and trying to get used to using it more. I'm also on Facebook as Kyra Scrapacat Sandstone if you prefer. Do we have a FB group? I really have enjoyed reading everyone's introductions. Hoping to see some of you at the write in on Wed - if I don't space it out!

Hi,
I'm Lynne my handle is Sobookish. I signed up for Nano last year, but never wrote anything. This year I'm looking for total success. At least I have a story idea this time. The prep sessions were very informative and I enjoyed meeting other participants. Thanks to the ML's for inspiring us.

Hi, I'm Amy and I live in Oswego. This is my first time joining nanowrimo and I am excited and nervous! As a first timer, I am flying by the seat of my pants rather than plotting scenes as I am not sure how they will unfold yet.

Hopefully I will be able to attend some of the meetings and meet all of you! This sounds like an amazing group and opportunity.

C/P'ing

"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!"

Uh yeah I might be panicking HUGELY right now and now I'm stressing about how to properly spell the infinitive of panicing and whether "panicking" is an infinitive or not and these are things I really need to not be thinking of while writing my novel ASK QUESTIONS LATER right?

Anywho no one's gonna read this so I can ramble my panic out :D

Hi Everyone!
Joining the party a little late, just made the decision to try my first NaNo about an hour or so ago. I'm not sure if this is something I'll be able to do, but I feel I'm just competitive enough to push my self to finish. Finishing is the hard part for me. I love to write and always have a problem knowing when and how to end my stories. I've never attempted something so long before. Mainly shorts and some fan fic, so this is going to be interesting. For now, I'm calling my novel a romantic-suspense. It involves some undercover agents and gangs, drugs and firearms and of course the romance part. I've been kicking the idea around for a while and just decided now is the time! So I've worked out the first 3 or 4 chapters in my mind (which I never pre-plan a story) and found my first "bump" in the story line (total didn't see it coming!) and I'm thinking "Ok, now what are you going to do?" and I've realized, this is right where I want to be. Flying by the seat and just letting it flow. Wishing everyone a successful month!

Hi, all. Katherine, thanks a gazillion for your email. I have been writing--actually pulled off about 150 days straight, writing every single day, with friend, Laura, from ChicagoNano. Then, well, I petered out. But, I have been dowsing in short stories, and even joined a writer's group in St. Charles (if anyone is in the St Charles area and wants to know about it, meets twice a month, fantastic people, many published, Nanomail me). So, thanks, Katherine for the shot-in-the-arm, and my goal is to write daily and have a polished short to present to my St Charles group by Dec 1. Not exactly Sticky Note Empire, but it'll have to do. As J.D Salinger once said of himself, "I'm more a sprinter than a distance man," and I suppose I'm of a similar ilk. But, I can still sit back and enjoy watching the lean, mean distance machines, like Katherine and Tim and the other winners, bang out the marathon. I appreciate your encouragement, Katherine, and for those that don't know Katherine yet, let's just say she practices what she preaches and that word count bar flies off the end of the scale like a rocket across the Bonneville salt flats. If you watch Katherine's word count bar closely enough, like the minute hand of a grandfather clock, you can see it moving. Like, constantly. I swear! Warning: watch it too closely and you'll wet your pants. I know.

Coleen, my dear friend, I think you've got something special and could write that novel, and will write that novel, and it's all about keeping the steam after Nano, with which I will help you. Hope to see you at a write-in.

Tom and all the rest, see you at a write-in. Cheers, and (gazes at watch)...bang the keys in 120 minutes. Looks like loads and loads of swell writers in this year's bunch, based on the Intro thread. Steve

Hello fellow WriMo's!
I am so happy to be here again! This will be my second NaNoWriMo, and I am both amazed and excited that it is November again!

My name is Kim (KimOEsq is my handle) and I am from Darien. I have always been a voracious reader and a few years ago decided that I wanted to write a book. A friend of mine introduced me to NaNoWriMo last year, and I've been a writing as regularly as I can ever since.

This year I am hoping to do a horror/vampire/historical fiction piece, but I have noticed that once I start writing (or doing anything considered a creative outlet) it just starts to flow and I don't always know where my characters will actually end up. Which is a good thing, I think. So, we will start by placing my future novel in that category, and I shall update it as necessary.

Also as sort of a personal challenge, I am going to try and work on dialogue development. It is something I have struggled with as a writer and I want to use this November as a nice big canvas to see how this can improve.

I look forward to seeing you all at write-ins and good luck on your writing journey!

Hello everyone! This is my third year as a member and my first year as an actual participant. I'm from the Orland Park area.

I have no excuses this time so count me in. I'm looking forward to getting something accomplished with some people that are close to home and going through some of the same struggles.

My biggest problem so far is trying to figure out how this works (I should know by heart) and hoping I can use some of this in my word count...Kidding.

Good luck.

Hi, I'm Sarah (DaphHime) and this would be my fourth NaNo. I'm from Villa Park, IL which is somewhat close to Naperville I guess. I last did this about two years ago but never got the chance to do so due to college. Now that I'm on a short break from school due to financial reasons, I have some time to put into this.

Sadly I've never completed a novel and I only vaguely remember the ones I did do. My first one was a type of urban fantasy, second was more of a straight up fantasy with some romance thrown in, and the third was a fan fic. This year I'm doing a modern fantasy/horror novel. Well more suspense than horror and the fantasy is more of the supernatural kind. It starts off as the basic "young adults go on camping trip then something horrible happens" type plot, with a bit of a twist. Lots of nerdy references too to my nerdy life. Expect a lot of genre savvy people in this one.

I'm also more of an artist than a writer (my major is graphic design) but writing helps and inspires me in my artwork. Plus I've always wanted to write a comic, or at least make up characters and a plot for one.

Hello all! I'm from 25 from St. Charles, IL with several pubbed books under my belt and was with the Korean Wrimos for a bit until I moved here last year. This is my 7th Nanowrimo, although to be honestly, I feel like every month is Nanowrimo for me ;;;

I don't know what I'm going to write. I never know what I'm going to write, so there's no point in asking me until halfway through the month. I usually write at the Arcedium Coffeehouse in St. Charles, and the Panera Bread on Randall, as well as Graham's in Geneva, so if you're around, give me a ring and I might be able to join!

Looking forward to getting to know all you great people.

Good luck!

Live long and prosper!

Hi everyone!
Back again this year. The last two years I failed to validate in time due to work. This year I promise to make every word count!
Good luck!

Hello!
My name is Vivian but my nano-hook is Black-Betty54.
I am a 28 year old Wife and new mommy from Naperville.
I joined Nano in 2007 but I tripped at the finish line, so this time I'm going to take preventative measure to make sure that doesnt happen again.

I usually write horror or supernatural books and short stories but this year my husband challenged me to think out of my element. So i decided I would try an indie-style romantic comedy. That is FAAAR out of my element but I can't lie and say that the idea of it doesnt have me excited.

I write at home most of the time. But thats only because I had NO IDEA Naperville had so many nano participants and activities. Expect to see me at a few of these write ins!

Good Luck Everyone!

I'm Cee-Bee, and this is my second year doing NaNoWriMo. Last year I got all kinds of help and support from the Naperville region, so I'll be hanging around these boards hoping to recapture the magic. Good luck to everyone!

Hi I'm Britin and this is my third year, I'm located all the way out in Lockport but I work in Naperville (or Woodridge if your looking for me in the morning) as a early childhood teacher. I finished last year and didn't finish the year before that, I'm doubting I'll finish this year either and I swear that's not a case of being pessimistic either! The day after I finished I severely burned my writing hand with two tablespoons of hot oil, nearly third degree burns. I'm still struggling and I'm an old fashioned writer, everything gets written out by hand then typed up. So that put my book on the back burner and all that junk...

But enough grumbling. I'm an incredibly stubborn Irish woman who figured hey my friends are doing why not me. And no I wouldn't jump over a cliff. Though I might jump into a ball pit at Chuckie Cheese if you gave me enough pixie sticks. Regardless I need to finish this novel and I plan to write in memory of my Mom and my Aunt because they are the two most important women to me.

Thanks, nice meeting you all, I'm off to bother someone else.

Brit

Hi!

My name's Becky (Sapphire/Sapphy). I'm 27, and this year will mark my (hopefully triumphant) return to NaNo after a significant break of a couple of years. I've won twice so far, with my best year so far being at just around 75,000 words. It was also the year I decided to up and marry my husband (Joe/Corrupted Flame here on the boards) in the middle of NaNoWriMo. November's going to be a busy month for me with a trip to Vegas next week, so we'll see how things go from here!

My novel this year a fantasy story titled "The Watchtower Lies". I tried an iteration of it one year for NaNo and didn't get past the first thousand words, so I scrapped that and reworked the plot and idea.

Hello!

My Name is Sarah! I'm 18 and this is my first time out on NaNo! I'm pretty excited. I'm trying to write a fantasy I'm not 100% sure on my title right now it's called Phoenix. I'm from Aurora. :) Pretty busy month ahead of me this year. I'm a senior in high school and very dedicated to the theater program. I have tech week, performances, and then I have to start rehearsal for our winter show.

I'm Barry, a.k.a Finbarr McG. This is my fifth nano.

I write mainstream novels, usually skidding to a halt just past the 50K mark.
It's always an adventure, and fun to see everyone jumping with both hands on the keyboard once again.

I live in the shadow of the overdog (isn't that a cool word? I found it on WordFeud this afternoon) KatherineWriting, who inspires and urges and nudges me to participate.
And it's enough fun that I do seem to keep coming back.

Write on!

Hello everyone,

I am Matt from Bolingbrook. Just signed up for Naowrimo as a last minute thing this evening. I have never written a novel before so I am sort of diving head first into this sort of thing. Excited, terrified and everything in between. WE will see how this goes.

My story is a techno thriller where a Wkipedia type organization has become the destination for information and human history for the world. There are dedicated individuals who curate it, some so dedicated that they are willing to manipulate the real world (murder, corruption etc) to make it match what should be in the "story" on Wikipedia.

Hi all, I'm Robin (and I see I'm not the only Robin this year). I live in Naperville.

This will be my fourth year. I won last year, but not the previous two. I have no idea how this year will turn out. I'm basically using NaNoWriMo as a way to get myself writing again, so I have nothing (yes, you read that right) nothing plotted out. plan is to work on a story already in progress and churn out some short stories as well.

I'm looking forward to attending some write ins... And with any luck, I'll get a plot bunny or two :-)

Hello all. My name is Jennifer (J. Leigh Bailey around here) and this is my 2nd year doing Nano. I started last year but a death in the family derailed the project. My goal in this is to actually FINISH a draft of a novel. I tend to get a few chapters in and lose steam, usually because I've re-read and edited the previous chapters to death. My other goal is to meet area writers and get out of my cave periodically. You'll probably see me at a couple of the write-ins this month.

Good luck to everyone!