WriMo Ireland

This post replaces one I wrote the other day which was almost immediately made obsolete by me picking an entirely different chat setup after all.

I’ve done some general tidying up around the site in preparation for November – specifically, we have a new chat room. Unlike the old one, this one doesn’t run on IRC; it also requires registration which is done through the provider Parachat – unfortunately, I wasn’t able to link it into our own users database so you’d only need to log in once (there is a way to do it, I just don’t have the coding skills – anyone want to help?).

The purpose of our chat room is to provide some instant interaction during NaNoWriMo (and outside), particularly for those people who don’t go to face-to-face meetings for whatever reason. One thing I’ve found we do a lot of in the chat room is have word-wars – one person sets the popup word sprint timer (to 10 minutes, for example), announces the start of the sprint, and everyone writes like mad until those 10 minutes are up. I personally find that a few of those will help me reach my daily target of 1,667 words without too much pain!
(I’ve added a link to the timer to the left-hand sidebar.)

I’ll be in the chat room most evenings when I’m not otherwise occupied – hope to see you there!

This was put as a comment on a couple of posts, but it seems legit, so I’m posting it properly.

——-

The Dream Quest One Poetry & Writing Contest is open to all and anyone who loves to arrange words into the beautiful art of poetry or to write a short story that is worth telling everyone! And to all who have the ability to dream. Write your best short story or poem for an opportunity to win cash prizes. All entries must be original. http://www.dreamquestone.com

Guidelines:
(1) Write a poem, thirty lines or fewer on any subject or style, single or double line spacing, neatly hand printed or typed.
And/or
(2) Write a short story five pages maximum, single or double line spacing, on any subject or theme, creative writing, fiction or non-fiction (including essay compositions, screenwriting, diary and journal entries), neatly hand printed or typed.
Multiple entries into both contests are accepted.
Deadline: December 31, 2008
Winners will be announced on January 31, 2009
Prizes:
Writing Contest First Prize is $500. Second Prize is $250. Third Prize $100.
Poetry Contest First Prize is $250. Second Prize is $125. Third Prize is $50.
Entry fees:
Writing Contest entry fee is: $10 per short story.
Poetry Contest entry fee is: $5 per poem.
To send entries by mail: Include title, name, address, phone, email, and brief biographical info. (Tell us a little about yourself) on the coversheet, add a self-addressed stamped envelope for entry confirmation. Fees payable to: DREAMQUESTONE.COM

Mail to: Dream Quest One
Poetry & Writing Contest
P.O. Box 3141
Chicago, IL 60654

Visit
http://www.dreamquestone.com for further details, to print out an entry form or to enter online.

”And remember, in whatever you do. It’s okay to dream, for dreams do come true.” – Dream Quest One

Historically, there have been two NaNoWriMo regions for Ireland: Dublin and Elsewhere.

But this year, HQ has decided that any geographical area with a municipal liaison should be a region in its own right, so Ireland:Northwest (covering Leitrim, Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon and West Cavan) and Northern Ireland have been added to the list.

If you think you belong in one of those regions, then please subscribe to it (or even both) and set your home region as appropriate. You can stay subscribed to Elsewhere still, of course!

Anyway, this change leaves the Elsewhere region without an ML to look after it (though its ex-MLs, Onyva/Cavantucky and me (Farfalla) will still be keeping an eye out) – but it also leaves plenty of scope for other bits of Ireland to become regions in their own right. So if anyone wants to volunteer to be an ML, please do! It’s a lot of fun and doesn’t have to be hard work. And it can definitely help your own word count.

……….

November is getting closer though – anyone got their plot already decided?

Which means it’s one month to go till the official start of National Novel Writing Month, and also means that the NaNoWriMo website has crashed under the numbers of people getting registered (and reregistered)!

Of course, we lucky Irish WriMos have this blog to hang out on (don’t forget our chat room!) so we can discuss things here. Not that there’s all that much to discuss at the moment… Does anyone have a plot figured out? I’m proud (and relieved) to say that I do, although I’m hoping it will be enough to write 50,000 words around – possibly not, though that’s where the arcane art of word-padding comes in to play!

Anyone else ready? Not ready? Looking forward to November, or looking at it with trepidation? Anyone not doing NaNoWriMo this year for whatever reason?