Welcome to the Naperville region!

Hello everyone! Welcome (back) to the Naperville region! We serve all of the cities and suburbs west of Chicago.

We have a wonderful slate of local events to complement the online forums here on the NaNoWriMo site. See our recent article in the Daily Herald article about the preparatory workshops.

I am Tim, aka NewMexicoKid, one of three volunteer Municipal Liaisons of the region, along with Katherine (aka KatherineWriting) and Dave (TRRDEDEAN). I've been participating in NaNoWriMo every year since 2003 (and I've been fortunate to complete NaNo successfully each of those years); and I have been co-Municipal Liaison of the region since 2005. I mostly write fantasy and science fiction; and I have participated in each of our region's year-round writing group's short story anthologies.

Please introduce yourself in this thread.

Note: wishing you could see the forum stories from last year? They are available :-)

Hi,
My name is Zohra aka FreeSpirit37. I live in Naperville and would love to make it to the workshop's at Nichols. I am just starting out to write and I think this experience would be very helpful to me. I am not sure how much I can contribute from my side but I know that I can learn a lot. I am not exactly sure how it works, so it would be wonderful opportunity for me to come out and meet everyone and hopefully be able to participate in the November writing month. My birthday is on Nov 4th, so this could be a gift I give myself. I look forward to meeting everyone and listening to all that you have to say and use it as a guide towards writing what I hope would be my first novel.

Thank you!

I'm Katherine, one of the co-MLs. I think NaNoWriMo is a great way to get a first draft done, especially if I spend time getting an outline figured out before November 1st, although I've been known to go a bit overboard on that. (But then, I also go a bit overboard on the whole writing in November thing.)

A couple of years ago, I outlined two novels and finished the first draft of each in November. Swore I'd never do that again since I felt 'behind' in the middle of the month as I started the second novel. Then last year, my nicely outlined, "Too Close for Comfort" came in at around 90K, and I scrambled for something more to write. Why not just stop writing? Well, there's something wonderful that can happen when an author gets out of her own way and lets the words pour forth. I really, really enjoy it when that happens.

One of these days, I'll get smart and plan a two or three book sequence to write in November, but not this year.

My main effort is for 'Yes, Or?' part of my Edinburgh series about a group of Americans in Scotland performing improv. This year I'm going back to the 24 hour format I used in the first book, "Yes, And..." Oh, and I've started plotting out a sequel to French Impressions (which I wrote a few years ago). It's called French Consequences. Both novels are mainstream and with multiple point of view characters.

I'm Bob, a.k.a. WordRebel. I've moved from Naperville, stopped over in North Aurora for a bit and last November I moved to Aurora. Sadly I had to wave the white flag about halfway through last year's Nano, but I'm back and ready to pick up right where I left off! Granted, with 29 more days as of this post before November 1st, I may just pull the trigger on another idea I have. Luckily I've somehow gotten three different novels roughly outlined so I'm good so far as ideas are concerned.

Once again this year I'm a proud member of the Typewriter Brigade. I've been collecting typewriters for about 15 years and have used one every November for the last 5 years. If you want to join us, just search the forums for "Typewriter Brigade"!

See you all in November!

Hey there all! I'm Teresa, a.k.a Tree @ Home. I've been doing NaNoWriMo for the better part of EIGHT years now and I've yet to make it to the finish line. I have a tendency to get slowed down around the time that finals happen here on campus and previous to that there has been a lack of good pre-planning.

THIS YEAR (however) I AM DETERMINED TO SUCCEED! VICTORY SHALL BE MINE!

I've been planning for months but you'll just have to wait to see what it's about as November unfolds.

Happy Writing!

Hola a todos!

My name is Ana a.k.a. SheWrote. I've been doing NaNo for several years now. I certainly can't say I've won every year, but that never seems to deter me. I'm also a member of the year-round writing group Tim mentioned (HINT: click the link he posted; it's pretty great).

One of my favorite parts of NaNo is going to write-ins and sharing the experience with others. Sitting curled up in a Caribou coffee shop surrounded by the sweet smell of coffee and the soft clacking of computer keys while the chilled fall air is kept at bay by the window panes is one of my favorite things ever.

I've been writing ever since I could put pen to paper - mostly science fiction and fantasy. I'm determined to win this year, no matter how much coffee is required (within reason, perhaps)!

Until November!

Hello! I'm Melissa, and I moved to Naperville last fall from Plainfield. I tried to do NaNo last year, but I got so caught up adjusting to a new school that time passed me up before I could do anything. So as my first "real" year, I am determined to work all the way through November! I have a pretty good idea of what I want in my novel plot-wise, but I am nervous about meeting the word count.
I can't wait to see how November goes.
Happy writing everyone!

Hello everyone! I'm Evelyn and I also hail from Naperville.

I've been trying to do NaNoWriMo for a couple of years to no avail. A major reason why I don't cross the finish line is because I'm a natural editor and am constantly hacking away at inferior content instead of padding my word count. So, I'm looking forward to having a group of friendly, supportive writers threaten my life and my coffee when I reach for the red pen.

Until November everyone!

Hello, again, peeps! I'm Lana and I'm from Aurora.

I made an attempt at writing my novel in 2010 and failed miserably due to a lack of preparation. I then lost my laptop and everything on it, last year, and decided to give NaNoWriMo a pass. But this year I am back and kicking myself into gear early--I hope! I may have to borrow my husband's laptop to be able to make any of the meetups, but we'll see! :)

Anthony from Glendale Heights. This will be my sixth consecutive attempt and hopefully first victory. Typically write mostly fantasy with the occasional foray into mystery, crime drama, and science fiction.

ethompson299 wrote:
Hello everyone! I'm Evelyn and I also hail from Naperville.

I've been trying to do NaNoWriMo for a couple of years to no avail. A major reason why I don't cross the finish line is because I'm a natural editor and am constantly hacking away at inferior content instead of padding my word count. So, I'm looking forward to having a group of friendly, supportive writers threaten my life and my coffee when I reach for the red pen.

Until November everyone!

You know, one of my best NaNo results ever was my first one in 2003 when I barely won; but I essentially made an editing pass each day (and posted what I had written on a special website for my godson and friends to read). I think that if you can't stifle your inner editor, you should promise yourself not to edit until after you've made your daily word count goal.

But the traditional advice is to not think editing at all until after November.

Always so happy to see all the familiar faces (or names, in this case). My name's Joe, and this is my tenth--count 'em, tenth!--NaNo. Unfortunately I'm currently at less than 50% for successes, but once more unto the breach and whatnot. I mostly write fantasy with a smattering of sci-fi. This year I'm going to try my hand at urban fantasy. Hopefully the novel won't be too much a trashy vampire story, but... who knows?

Hi everyone I am Kat Stepp AKA Kat's Meow. I live in Woodridge and this will be my first NaNoWriMo. I am very excited, and can't wait to dive in and meet some people as well. I am a long time writer but this is my first time doing NaNoWriMo. I have written one novel before so this will be my second. I am obsessed with the occult and fantasy. I usually am not real big on outlines but I am thinking that will not help me be productive for NaNoWriMo, so doing an outline will be a new venture for me. I am also hoping that we can do some write ins at my local Starbucks in Woodridge. If someone wants to talk with me about setting those up I would love it :) Can't wait to hear from everyone!

Hi, I'm one of the many Catherines (or Katherines or other spellings) in this group. My NaNoWriMo handle is Cee-Bee. This will be my third NaNo, and (one hopes) my third victory. I'm also a member of The Journey, our year-round local writers group.

I live in Woodridge, and we've set up a couple of write-ins at the Woodridge Public Library, on November 3 and November 17 from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. Join us for fun and prizes! Well, at least there will be prizes if Tim is there.

Woo-hoo! November is less than a month away!

Hi, Kat's Meow! Which Starbucks? The one near Edward Health and Fitness? That's like, a block from my house, and I'd enjoy writing there some time with you.

I will certainly do my best and honestly, I was thinking I would force myself not to edit until I hit my daily word total. I'm just hoping the temptation won't be too great! :)

Outlines are highly overrated! ;u) Most people I know just open a Word doc and go to town with little more than a protagonist and a starting point. I usually work from an outline that consists of VERY general scenes, sometimes just titles, sometimes just one sentence overview. Point is that anything works! And you know I'm down for a write in at your Bux - so long as my wife doesn't mind me leaving her's!

Hello! I am Dannie, and I'm from Elgin, but I have spent pleeeeeeeenty of time in Naperville.
I'm fourteen years old, a proud vegetarian and a bit of a theater geek.

My three major Naperville memories are going to VeggieFest this year, meeting Cassandra Clare at Anderson's Bookshop two years ago, and meeting Tamora Pierce there four years ago, also at Anderson's. :3

Anyway, it is lovely to meet all of you!

Hey you guys! I'm Sarah, age sixteen, writing and martial arts FREAK. I have successfully completed nanowrimo one time as of last year. I wrote about 225,000 words! :D As of right now I doubt that I will write even close to how I'm in APUSH and AP English 3. I also teach taekwondo 5 days a week or so! I hope to get about 100,000 words done this year at the minimum. :)

Hi, this is my third NaNoWriMo. This time I'm trying my hand at a fantasy. I would like to tell the Naperville group that you may contact me about my area of professional expertise. I am a medical laboratory scientist. (thats the new designation, we used to be called medical technologists.) I can provide information on blood banking and blood types. Nothing bugs me more in a novel or TV show when they get info about blood types wrong. I have experience in hematology (red and white blood cells) and coagulation of blood. I have experience in urinalysis. I am currently working in clinical microbiolgy including bacterial and fungal cultures and parasitology. Given a couple of days I could find out information concerning other areas of clinical laboratory science that I haven't practiced.

Sometimes I have trouble geting much time online as I cannot access the internet when at work. That is why I am only offering my help to the Naperville group.