Tavia Stewart's blog

Electrical Advice Needed!

Tavia Stewart — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:59:24 +0000

Hello Wrimos,

In order to avoid electrical fires and spontaneous electrocutions at NaNoWriMo’s Night of Writing Dangerously Write-a-thon, we need some advice from an electrician! We would like to provide power to 200 laptops, two projectors, and a small sound system for six hours.

I calculated that we will need 25 surge protectors. Does this mean we need 25 extension cords? How many power outlets will we need? How much power can we get out of one outlet? Will we catch on fire if we try to connect more than one surge protector to a single extension cord, or more than one extension cord to a wall socket? What kind of surge protectors and extension cords should we use? Do you have any safety tips for our set-up crew?

If you, or any one you know might be of help in the electricity department, please email me at tavia@nanowrimo.org.

Thank you!

Warm regards,
Tavia Stewart

It’s Plotastic!

Tavia Stewart — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 22:18:27 +0000

Hi there,

I wanted to let you know that there is a brave man by the name of Mark Putnam who is currently writing a semi-collaborative 100,000-word novel based on a plot/character poll he posted up on his blog. Because it was difficult for him---as it is for many of us--to decide what his novel was going to be about, he asked other people to decide for him. Two-hundred and six people completed this poll in April, and he is already 25% finished with his novel.

Due to the fact that this is a collaborative project, Mark felt that it would be unfair if he kept the profits if the novel were to be eventually sold, so he has constructed a new poll on his Plotastic blog where the general public can vote once again, but this time it is not on whether his protagonist will be a house detective, a physics professor, a priest, or a Salvation Army bell ringer. This time you can vote on which lucky charity will receive all of the profits from the sale of this novel.

And guess what charity is in the lead? National Novel Writing Month! The other three nonprofits that are in the race are the Wikimedia Foundation, JustGive.org, and Charity Navigator.

It is not too late to put your bid in, so head on over to Mark’s blog to check out his noveling progress and to vote for your favorite charity!

http://www.plotastic.com/

Best,
Tavia Stewart

The Best Kind of Wallpaper!

Tavia Stewart — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 23:35:41 +0000

It’s Tavia. If you were lucky/unlucky enough (that’s for you to decide, and for me to never find out) to listen to my first attempt at WrimoRadio, you might remember my Big Fun Scary Adventure to submit work to 20 magazines and contests by the end of 2007. Well, I am a bit behind, but I am ready to start submitting. My plan is to wallpaper my entire bathroom with rejection letters by the end of the year, so I figure I better start sending my work out pronto.

The first place I plan on submitting to is called SmokeLong Quarterly. It is a flash-fiction magazine, meaning nothing over 1000 words will be accepted, which makes me giddy! Flash fiction is a great way to get you writing again, and it is not as easy as you think it might be---the challenge being to tell an entire story in about 500 words, instead of 50,000 words. I find it just as challenging as NaNoWriMo, but without the hand cramps.

I encourage all of you to submit too!

I will post pictures of my bathroom as the wallpaper goes up.

Warm regards,
Tavia Stewart
Managing Editor

The "American Idol" of Writing Contests

Tavia Stewart — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:48:43 +0000

Hello Writers!

Wouldn't it be cool if a Wrimo won this contest:

http://firstchapters.gather.com/

You can win 5000 big ones and a book contract. You already have the book written, so all you have to do is send it on in!

They will post part of your novel on their site, and an editorial board will judge them, just like on American Idol.

I am totally going to do it!

Tavia

Chicken Suit!

Tavia Stewart — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 23:31:27 +0000

Hello Wrimos!

I just wanted to point out some awesome press we just discovered we’ve been receiving on npr.org!

To help all of us crank out our 50,000 words, Marc Silver and Melody Joy Kramer at National Public Radio are asking one author each day for any advice that might help us on our journey:

"To help you along, we've asked fiction writers from all genres for the essence of noveling: how they write, how they overcome writer's block and their best written sentence. Each weekday this month, we'll publish another novelist’s thoughts. Check back for novelists as varied as Neal Pollack, Rita Mae Brown and Joyce Carol Oates."
npr.org

Check it out at www.npr.org

I did, and it is insanely inspiring.

In regards to the amazing woman in the chicken suit you see above. (If you do not know who she is already, you should check out the second NaNoWriMo Daily Q&A.) In short, this is Christee Atwood, and she is writing her NaNoWriMo story in the window of the Baton Rouge Waldenbooks store wearing a full chicken suit.

She will be interviewed this Friday, November 17 at 12:30 PM central time on the Satellite Sisters show, which is available for all to hear at http://www.SatelliteSisters.com.

I am sure it will be an entertaining show where much NaNo-hilarity with ensue, so if you need a break from noveling on Friday . . .

Write on,
Tavia Stewart
Managing Editor
National Novel Writing Month

Pizza! Fun! Two More People! Next Week!

Tavia Stewart — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:28:46 +0000

Attention Bay Area NaNoWriMo participants!

We need two more cosmically awesome people to come in and help us pack next Wednesday evening (October 4) from 6-9! The site launches in less than three days and that means an avalanche of orders and work. We need help shipping ML packages, Young Writers Program gifts, merchandise orders, and donor goodies.

So sign up and come in. We will eat crazy hot pizza and enjoy each other's good company in our new magnificent office, all while preparing packages for our brilliant novelists and loving supporters all over the world.

Our other Packing Days will be on the following dates from 6PM - 9PM:
Packing Day II: October 18
Packing Day III: November 8
Packing Day IV: November 22

If you live in the Bay Area, and you would like to come in on any or all of these days, please email me at tavia@nanowrimo.org and I will sign you up.

I can't wait to meet you all in person!

Write on,
Tavia

Emo-Sci-Fi Assistance Needed!!

Tavia Stewart — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 22:34:15 +0000

Greetings from our new and glorious office! My name is Tavia Stewart and I am the luckiest person alive in that I get to introduce myself to you as the first full-time employee at the Office of Letters and Light. This first week as Managing Editor has been the best first week at an office job ever! I mean it. I hate to even call it an office job, so from now on I will call it a creative-think-tank-of-wonder job.

I do have one confession to make: This will be my first NaNoWriMo. I know, it is shameful. The only time I have ever attempted to write a novel, I got one chapter in, and like many people, kept re-writing that one chapter over and over again. A matter a fact, three years later, I am still re-writing that same chapter. My Inner Editor is a beastly creature; he is a relentless and cruel tyrant of the mind and I need your help keeping him chained in the basement of my psyche until December 1st.

I also need your help in preparing for this event. So far, I have decided that I am going to attempt to create a new fiction genre and that I am going to call it Emotional Science Fiction. I want to create a world where planets have feelings too. I want to personify rocket ships, add romance to time-travel, and find the true heart of the modern man. And what better way to start this new genre than by writing a novel about Pluto, the sad and dejected newly non-planet? All the other planets will be involved in the plot, and I may throw in the Sun, a guy named James, a girl named Christine, and the Moon.

Is this the lamest idea you ever heard? Does Emo-Sci-Fi already exist? If so, who is my competition or what books should I be reading in preparation? Are any of you out there astronomy experts? Do any of you have any ideas about my plot? If you have any answers to any of these questions or if you would just like to welcome the new kid, post a comment or email me at tavia@nanowrimo.org!

Tavia