NaNoWriMo :: NaNoWriMo Blog

Great point of view. It got me to think about optimization. It happens all the time… When you have plenty of time ahead, you miss a lot doing nothing; it also happens when studying, for instance. If the exam is mear, you´ll make the greatrest effort, if it´s weeks ahead, you may even fail!!!!!

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Submited by : Caballos

Hey Andranel!

Wow. What an amazing story. It gave me chills reading it.

I'm so glad you came that night in Portland! And yeah, the believing-in-yourself-thing is a nice by-product of writing a novel in thirty days. I know that after the first NaNoWriMo in 1999, the whole world became a much more potential-filled place for me. It's funny---when you write an unhorrible book in a month, you start wondering what else you can do. It's like a little light bulbs goes on over your head, and stays on for the rest of your life.

It'd be neat to set up a Wiki where everyone who came away from NaNoWriMo with a changed perspective on themselves could chart what they got up to afterwards. That makes my day to know that NaNo helped get you closer to the career you wanted!

Chris

I have an idea for fixing the forums/slowness problem. I don't know if it's a "good" idea but I wanted to pass it along just in case it was.

I don't know if you are contracted or something similiar to use the program/website you are using for the forums but...what if you used a different program/website instead? Like http://www.phpbb.com/ or something similiar. They've used that website for janowrimo and nanofimo at times.
Anyhoo, it could be an awful idea since I'm not website saavy but if it's not awful, I hope it helps. :)

Dear Chris,

You arrived in Portland, Oregon, in October, probably in the rain, and set up shop in Powell's on Hawthorne to hawk your Write a Novel in 30 Days silliness. I went because it was so silly. You were funny. I scoffed while secretly wishing I had children I could leave to inventing their own way home for a month, just to see if you knew what you were talking about. I laughed at the idea of dishes piling up underneath the couch as you assured me they would still be there in need of washing in December. I decided to buy the book because you were funny. I lucidly remember thinking, "Fine, I'll give this a try, I'm sure it will be another started and not finished project." I then remember thinking, "You know what, you're probably right, with that attitude!" And then, I caught wind of something else coming from the podium. No, it wasn't sulphuric smelling gases. Toward the end of the hilarious presentation, I saw behind the veil. I saw that this wasn't about getting people to write novels. Well, it was, but that was the excuse. This was about building a community of doers, and even beyond that, this was about getting people to start believing in themselves. At that point, I was hooked. I went home, read the entire book in one sitting, then re-read it. I started recruiting people to join me. I disciplined myself to wait for November 1. I didn't think about a plot. I had my opening sentence, and that was it!
Blah blah blah...the dishes WERE still there, and I DID get 50,000 words down in November. I let other people read parts of it. I applied to graduate school and am about one third of the way through my program to become a the high school teacher I have always wanted to be, but perhaps didn't have the belief in myself to become.
Thank you, Chris and all the NaNoWriMo gurus who made this happen. The whole world is winning!

Warmly,
Andranel

Take a seat, this might take a while. Background - I've had a go a wrimo only once so far and failed miserably (I was emigrating the following month so there was kinda lots to do - good excuse eh?) but I'm determined to try again this year.

With this in mind, I kinda thought it would be a nice idea if there was an easy way of getting my hands on a printed copy of my (successful?) efforts at the end of it all. Then I realised I could because I came across a site last year (called lulu.com) where you can order a single professionally printed copy of any manuscript for the same as you'd pay for a paperback in a bookstore. So that's what I'm going to do. [Insert flashing lightbulb here]

Then I thought wouldn't it be great if there was some automatic link from Nanowrimo to Lulu that I could just press a button and hey presto, I get my book. Then I thought, why not? What if Nanowrimo got in touch with Lulu.com about the possibility of linking up so that all the wrimo participants could quickly and easily get a copy of their masterpieces(or several to circulate to friends, or even sell from their blogs whatever) - and maybe Nanowrimo could earn some commission on the deal to help towards their funding?????

Is that a cool idea or what????? BTW I don't have any connection with lulu whatsoever apart from wanting to get my masterpiece printed there - but if do go ahead with it, I will expect an introductory fee of say a coffee and donut? Maybe even a t-shirt!