Sunday write-ins in Naperville! (read for links to pictures)

As you can see on our google calendar or on our wiki page of local events, we have write-ins in the Naperville Public Library system on Sundays in November. We thank the NPL for their continued sponsorship of NaNoWriMo (they've been our sponsor since 2006).

Tracking
Add a line to the 11/11/2012 tab of the tracking spreadsheet when you've arrived.

Schedule
We are going to be alternating between the Nichols library in downtown Naperville (tighter parking but more centrally located) and the modern 95th Street Library in south Naperville (lots of parking). All of the write-ins will be from 1:30 pm-4:30 pm on Sunday.

• November 4: Nichols Library (see the photos from the event)
  


• November 11: 95th Street Library (see the photos from the event)
  


• November 18: Nichols Library (see the photos from the event)
  


• November 25: 95th Street Library (see the photos from the event)
  

What should you bring?

• Your laptop or notebook & pen so you can write!
  


• Optional but recommended: your stuffed animal :-)


• Optional: a power strip
  


• Optional: extension cord (I will bring two extension cords and two power strips to each write-in)
  


• Optional: snacks (I hope to bring cookies)
  


• Optional: mp3 player and headphones
  


• Optional: your favorite beverage in a travel mug (otherwise both libraries have vending machines)
  


• A sense of wonder and adventure!
  

The Box of Doom
As introduced in our region last year, I'll be bringing the Box of Doom. This intriguing cylindrical box holds wooden sticks of different colors corresponding to numbers of words to write in a timed writing exercise. Everyone who meets their challenge in that timed interval will win a prize: in this case limited edition nanobot cards for your NaNoWriMo hipster PDA. I will commit to drawing and making new sets of nanobot award cards for each of the NPL write-ins.




Word war prizes
I will be giving away as word war prizes unique nanobots:


Participants can only win one nanobot per write-in, so there will be several opportunities for folks to win.


While they last...

• Dave, Katherine and I have the official NaNoWriMo Venn diagram stickers. Those of you who haven't gotten one yet, make sure to ask for one at the events we are at.
  


• 
  NaNo hipster PDAs (I have a few left over; post here if you want me to save you one)
  

I want a hipster PDA~! When we finally cross paths at a write-in somewhere. ;D

Squiddish wrote:
I want a hipster PDA~! When we finally cross paths at a write-in somewhere. ;D

I will save you one, next to this squid-bot that you will hopefully be able to win in a word war ;-):



--Tim

... You have no idea how excited I am.

I would like a hipster PDA, if you have one left. I'll be at the write-in on Sunday. And those nanobots are so awesome I can barely stand it. I'm very motivated now.

TypesetJez wrote:
I would like a hipster PDA, if you have one left. I'll be at the write-in on Sunday. And those nanobots are so awesome I can barely stand it. I'm very motivated now.

You've got it! Looking forward to seeing you Sunday, Jez!

I'm gunning to win that one little guy with the giant eye. It works so well for my novel, I have to win it first thing so it can inspire me all month~

Corrupted Flame wrote:
I'm gunning to win that one little guy with the giant eye. It works so well for my novel, I have to win it first thing so it can inspire me all month~

This one?

so I have a question... Can I just come and quietly sit there and write/observe or do I actually have to participate in the challenges taking place?

MsMarieH wrote:
so I have a question... Can I just come and quietly sit there and write/observe or do I actually have to participate in the challenges taking place?

You never have to participate in word wars. Last night I only participated once, but then I was monitoring them, and I was pretty tired (and there's no point in winning my own word war since I already have all the prizes :( I like to win TIm's. Or Carly's, or ...

If you're worried that trying to write fast is going to make your words make less sense, you can just write at your normal pace and call out your number -- which is all that participating requires. And then you might win! I have a 'niceness' rule at ones I host, which is that you can only 'win' one word war, then it's the next highest word count, then the next, then the next.

But you can sit back and write without paying attention to the crazy competitive people if you'd rather do that. It can still be fun to be at a write-in. Last night, we usually chatted for a couple of minutes after each word war, which gave us a chance to stand and stretch--which is good for long spans of writing.

As Katherine says, the main purpose for all of our local events is to help people complete their novels. We try to do some things that are also fun but it is absolutely fine to just come and write (headphones with your favorite writing music are useful for this).

--Tim

That's the one! :D

Sorry I won't be able to make these. I passed my 50k the first year at the Sunday Write-in.

Unfortunately Sundays are so full with other stuff I can't make those wonderful write-ins.

If you haven't made a write-in yet (or if you have), join Tim. His Nanobots are adorable. His Box of Doom is diabolical, and you'll probably have fun, and write a lot of words.

KatherineWriting wrote:
If you haven't made a write-in yet (or if you have), join Tim. His Nanobots are adorable. His Box of Doom is diabolical, and you'll probably have fun, and write a lot of words.

Thanks, Katherine!

Attending the write-in tonight (4 November):

• Your name NaNo handle Total written at the write-in
  


• Tim Yao NewMexicoKid 3068
  


• Becky Sapphire 2684
  


• Joe Corrupted Flame 6315
  


• Robin RobinM 3546
  


• Jez TypesetJez 5280
  


• Jade The Peddler of Dreams 5863
  


• Sarah Writingstudent 7004
  


• Patricia Iamthecreativewriter 2479
  


• Linda Qberty 5253
  


• Dean dmascarenasdiaz 2410
  


• Melissa ziplizard 4028
  


• Lisa TogetherAgain 2632
  


• Robyn llama_momma 3390
  


• Mariel scinceyouvebeengone 0
  


• 
  Katherine Squiddish 2762
  


• Nikki awake 6967
  


• Rae hecateIV 3846
  


• Sara sarastirsyou 0
  


• Christine Cassie67 4625
  


• Vivian Black-betty54 0
  


• Evelyn ethompson299 0
  


• Andrew lowkeyoh 0
  


• Nancy RoseCat 1575
  


• Jennifer
  


• Laurel Laurelkff 1599
  

Note: the ones who have 0 listed wrote something but didn't document their final wordcount, so we couldn't calculate their wordcount gains. Even without that, the average wordcount written today per wrimo is over 3100 words!
Katherine (Squiddish) wasn't there in person but participated virtually. Several nanobots were awarded.

Was there virtually until Joe forgot about me.

I actually got ready to go to yesterday's write-in, but I chickened out at last minute and stayed home. Plus, I forgot to RSVP.
I am determined to go to next Sunday's write-in, though. Hope to see you guys there :)

You don't need to RSVP to write-ins, just show up and write! You should definitely come next time; they are, in my opinion, the best way to boost your word count.

Looking forward to seeing folks today (11/11/2012, 95th Street Library, 1:30-4:30 PM)! Don't forget your stuffed animal :-)

Tim, you can feel better about me beating you in every word war tonight... I may not have actually done so. It seems I over estimated my total word count for tonight's write-in by about six hundred words. So disappointing to have only hand-written 2,479 words instead of the 3,099 I'd estimated...

...Alright, so not THAT disappointing. I'm still super proud of myself. It took me almost a full hour to type up everything I typed at the write-in, which is almost twice as long as it usually takes me to type up a day's worth of writing. Awesome! (And WAY past time to ice this poor shoulder...)