NormalNaNo

Wow! We accomplished so much as writers in the...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:32:51 -0600

Wow! We accomplished so much as writers in the Bloomington-Normal region who reached the 50,000 word count in NaNoWriMo. Congratulations to everyone who tried and to those who wrote all the way to 50,000! It’s a great accomplishment and I’m sure you’re proud of yourself.

Plus, we average 29,608 words per person. That’s a great average!

Here’s the list of who finished!

bradzb

bobmcbobob1

dOgma

HellsMelle

KiKiWrites

LinedpaperMike

Maxalt

Melenka

melissamclaughlin

misslissylou

MurphyChacho

omny sama

pagan451

poeticthings

smjohnson21

snark.gallant — probably the first to finish

TaterTotMom

Taylorxx — probably the youngest writer to finish

TheGreatSquishy

TravisHuls

visibledream34

Watermelonheaven

And those in our region but with other home regions:

auri_munonys

BStanfill001

debra.

Foobar_Zen

Geekrokken55

Grouchmuffin

IcyRoses

JadeBlue

JessWiz

nudge._.twin

randajane

Utopiaswriter

TimSimms

Enjoy a great celebration! And start planning for next year!

We did it!

Big Push to the Finish Write-In! Sunday, Nov. 29 from 4 to 5:30...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:28:51 -0600

Big Push to the Finish Write-In!

Sunday, Nov. 29 from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Coffeehouse & Deli in uptown Normal

Prizes for using the phrase ‘grand prairie’ in your text!

Prizes for other writing fetes, too.

Get help with putting words into NaNoWriMo word count computer

Word Challenge of the Day: Detritus Use this word in a sentence...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:59:06 -0600

Word Challenge of the Day: Detritus

Use this word in a sentence in your NaNoWriMo Novel. Post it to the thread in our forum.

Or, print out how you used it on your novel to the Wed. Nov. 18 Write/Half-way Celebration at Carls Ice Cream on College in Normal from 7 - 8 p.m. Win a prize if you can do it

Word of the day: Balance Try to incorporate the word —...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:24:31 -0600

Word of the day: Balance

Try to incorporate the word — Balance — into a sentence in your novel. Publish your sentence on the Bloomington-Normal forum on NaNoWriMo. Post here.

AND, if you are the first person at the Sunday, Nov. 15, Write-IN to bring a sentence, within a paragraph, in your novel you will win a prize! All the prizes are books about writing.

The Write-In is Sunday from 3:30 to 5 on the third floor of the Bone Student Center of ISU. Park in the parking lot behind the Bone. Entrance to the parking lot is on Locust St. It’s about 80 cents an hour. Or park on the street for free. There’s coffee on the main floor and lots of snacks. The third floor is pretty small, as it’s mainly a foyer with tables for studying that wraps around the Braden Theater. Click here for a map to ISU.

Word Challenge of the Day: Hyperbole

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:22:00 -0600

Word Challenge of the Day: Hyperbole

Wednesday News

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:15:00 -0600

The word of the day: Hyperbole

Write-In Tonight at Panera Bread on Veteran’s Parkway near Borders from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Special incentive for the tumblr readers. If you are the first person to bring in a sentence using ‘hyperbole’ in your novel, you will receive a prize!

Word of the Day: Scintilla Kind of weird word, with tiny...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0600

Word of the Day: Scintilla

Kind of weird word, with tiny meanings, but could do big things in your writing. Try it out!

If you use it in a sentence, please post on the Bloomignton-Normal Region, Word of the Day section.

This word idea came from Artwiculate.com

Image of moth from here

Word Challenge of the Day: Undead For all you zombie...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:40:00 -0600

Word Challenge of the Day: Undead

For all you zombie fans!

Please post a sentence or two in which you use this sentence in your NaNoWriMo novel.

Write-In Saturday!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:34:53 -0600

Write-In Saturday, Nov. 7

Join NaNoWriMo writers for a Write-In on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Fusion Brew, 712 Kingsley St.Normal. Phone: (309) 454-9300. Here’s a link to Fusion Brew’s website.

Parking is available underneath the building. There are parking spaces specifically for Fusion Brew, or it seems to be okay to park near to the FB’s spaces, too.

Since the ML won’t be there, please bring your own NaNoWriMo signs and introduce yourself to other people.

Fusion Brew is great, but it’s small so please, please, make a purchase to support this cool place.

Have fun! Keep writing!

Word of the Day Writing Challenge We’ll have regular...

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:34:00 -0600

Word of the Day Writing Challenge

We’ll have regular writing challenges to see if you can incorporate a word into the text of your NaNoWriMo novel. You may also use the photo as inspiration, too. If you can, please post the sentence on the Bloomington-Normal Region site.

The word for today is: Perambulate

Good luck!

Congratulations to first Write-In winners

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:14:36 -0600

Thanks to everyone who came to our first Write-In at the Coffeehouse in Uptown Normal.

Congratulations to the first Write-In winners:

First two people to reach 1000 words during Write-In

BradZB

Snark.Gallant

First two people to incorporate the phrase ‘conventional wisdom.’

SandyR

Barbara

Next two Write-Ins

This Wednesday at Panera in Normal (next to Border’s) on Veteran’s Parkway from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Next Saturday at Fusion Brew on Main St. in Normal from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Writing challenge: Grand prairie

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:12:00 -0600

Last year, we challenged Bloomington-Normal Wrimo writers to include a scene or a section in their novels about ‘cornfields.’ This year, the challenge is ‘grand prairie’ or ‘great prairie’ and to include a section or scene in your novel about a ‘grand prairie.’

To make this a little different than the shorter Write-in challenges, to get a prize for achieving this challenge you will need to write a sustained section of at least 350 to 500 words that incorporates some aspect of a ‘grand prairie.’

When you have accomplished this goal, you will need to come to a Write-in and show this portion of your novel to the Municipal Liaison. Then, you will receive a prize.

Good luck!

First Write-In Sunday, Nov. 1 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Coffeehouse...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:18:01 -0500

First Write-In

Sunday, Nov. 1 from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

Coffeehouse & Deli in uptown Normal on Beaufort

Prizes! Stickers! Writing challenges!

Look for NaNoWriMo signs on big tables in back.

Buy a cup of coffee…support the places we meet.

For all events in November, go to the Bloomington-Normal region’s Google Calendar

Great pumpkin weather this weekend! We’re up to 114...

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:41:20 -0500

Great pumpkin weather this weekend! We’re up to 114 writers in the Bloomington-Normal region! Fabulous!

Are you creating a timeline? Perhaps doing some character sketches? Doing some planning ahead helps in November.

Check out these links

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:06:00 -0500

We went over some of these links at the Info Meeting. Maybe something will inspire you:

At the Info Meeting, I handed out this Novel writing workbook of 26 pages of ideas, worksheets & inspiration. http://www.silveragebooks.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mag/ns/ns_2007.htm

Thirteen Writing Prompts from McSweeney’s. Maybe a little off the wall, but something to get you going when you get stuck: http://nienkehinton.blogspot.com/2006/10/nanowrimo-tools-tips.html

NaNoWriMo writing tips. http://nienkehinton.blogspot.com/2006/10/nanowrimo-tools-tips.html

At the Info Meeting, we discussed the helpfulness of Excel worksheets that people have created to track their success in NaNoWriMo. here are a few of those.

Denver NaNo writing tips, including Excel worksheets and plot helps. http://dennanos.org/?page_id=69

Ireland’s NaNo resources, including an Excel report card. http://writers.sharp-words.co.uk/resources/nanowrimo-resources

Naperville’s Useful references for writers. http://naperwrimo.org/wiki/index.php?title=Useful_references_for_writers

From the Editor Unleashed Blog: Writing with the Bulls http://editorunleashed.com/2009/10/12/nanowrimo-writing-with-the-bulls/

2008: These writers made it to 50,000 words!

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:24:00 -0600

Auri_Mynonys

bdobyns

bradzb

falineelode

felixemery

feloniousfeline

fidelis

grouchmuffin

Jadeblue

Laury

lord gallant

Mayemmistrees

melenke

MurphyChacho

Pagan451

shadowbinx85

Sweetjami

WVHillbilly59

That’s a 26 percent completion rate for our region!

All together everyone (all 70 of us) write 648,000 words collectively!

Useful References for Writers

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:56:00 -0500

Useful References for Writers:

A very long list of links to resources for writers that’s been compiled by the writers of the Naperville NaNoWriMo and their group that meets throughout the year: West Suburban Writers. Some links still work, others do not. But lots of places for ideas. Check it out!

McSweeney's ideas

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:54:00 -0500

McSweeney's ideas:

Some of material that I handed out at the first Write-In can be found at this page on the McSweeney’s website.