I thought I’d post here some of the tips I put in a Northern Ireland-wide mail sent yesterday.

Visit the NaNoWriMo website frequently:

• to read the FAQs (remember to read the rules thoroughly) and to get hints and tips from the people in the know
• to donate to NaNoWriMo if you can afford it; it’s a non-profit organisation and needs money to keep going, plus some funds are given to charity, and all donors get a virtual halo plus some real life goodies; if you can’t afford to donate, consider using GoodSearch as your search engine for the month, full details on the site
• to keep in touch with others in your region, or writing in the same genre; there are over a hundred thousand of us WriMos and we can all help each other out
• and most importantly, to update your word count and validate it when you’re done!

Also hang out here to take part in real-time chat and word sprints with your fellow writers in Ireland.

Write every day! Even if you don’t manage 1,667 words one day, you can always make it up the next. Keep track of your progress, so you know how much more you have to do. But pace yourself: although it’s good to get a lot done quickly so you can take it easy later, be careful not to burn yourself out too soon.

Keep your momentum going while writing. If you get stuck for a name, fill in XXX and go back later if you need to. Don’t sweat the small stuff too much; NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality, and it’s not going to matter at this point if you haven’t researched something thoroughly, or you think a sentence reads badly. Editing is what the other eleven months of the year are for.

Go to meet-ups as much as you can! They may seem like a waste of valuable writing time, but face-to-face contact with people in the same situation is quite good therapy, and many meet-ups will involve some writing time.

Above all, don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t write 50,000 words in a month… because you can and you will!

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!

——-

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

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?

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?

And since we both have unfinished projects that we want to get out of the way, we’re going to get back into the writing habit right now. Well, next week anyway…

We’re setting ourselves a goal of 10,000 words a week (for as long as it takes, I’d imagine) and you’re invited to join us with whatever size goals you want to set yourself.

You could join in one week and not the next if you have other things in life to contend with. Or you could try and keep up with us (OK, keep up with Cavantucky) for as long as you like.

So: what’s your goal for summer (what’s left of it) and autumn this year?

Since I’m not doing Script Frenzy and I’ve been on a poetry-writing kick lately, I’m just going to have to join in with this. Dammit!  Anyone else care to join me?

The challenge is to write 100 pages of script in 30 days - you can do this alone, or with one other person. You can write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, or any other type of script you want - which gives plenty of scope (and presumably includes radio scripts as well, although it’s not in that list I swiped from the official site).

Bad Municipal Liaison that I am, I won’t be participating as it’s not something I’m interested in doing (at the moment - I’ll never rule it out completely), and they have other MLs to cover it anyway. Any of you going to take part though?

Anyone can enter.  There is no entry fee.  Short stories must be a minimum of 1,000 words but other than that the rules are quite flexible.

Prizes include a year’s free hosting & domain for a wordpress blog, $50 Amazon vouchers, Entrecard credits, etc.   The prize list will change as the contest continues.  Anyone who enters, sponsors a prize or advertises the contest will get full credit and a link back on my blog.

“The Linen Hall Library [Belfast], has recently launched the 2008 Michael McLaverty Short Story Award - a nationwide search to find the best new short story by an Irish writer. With a terrific chance for the overall winner to capture a lucrative prize of £2000 and an exciting possibility of having their work published by Linen Hall Library, this award seeks to unearth the best emerging new talent, whilst also celebrating the legacy of one of Ireland’s most important writers.”

See http://www.linenhall.com/displayNewsRecord.asp?ID=41 and http://www.linenhall.com/displayNewsRecord.asp?ID=25 for more details.