The End (episode 27)

The last day of nanowrimo and the last podcast episode. Maybe. Get the mp3.

Thanks for all you comments, e-mails and calls. This has been great! And if you're at all interesed in science, check out the Ig Nobel Prizes.

Day Twenty-Nine (episode 26)

The penultimate episode!! Get the mp3!!!

• way to go Sforzie: 201,805 words in 28 days
• check out lulu.com's possible free book offer
• National Novel Finishing Month
• National Novel Publishing Year
• I didn't mention it, but there's also National Novel Editing Month (in March)
• most importantly, there's a new Robust McManly Pants novel *squee*

As seen on my friend's bookcase: my last year's nanovel between William Gibson & Neal Stephenson. A dream come true.

Day Twenty-Eight (episode 25)

I get creepy and stuff. Hear the mp3 strangeness.

• novels that read like nanovels (like Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom)
  
• forum stalkers and stalkees - am I the only one?
• re: finishing - YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Day Twenty-Five (episode 24)

I had a celebration, got my purple bar and go FC Barcelona!! Hear the mp3 goodness.

• Things I have learned doing nano:
  • self discipline
  • self confidence
  • value of community
  • value of deadlines
• rate your novel (parental advisory)

Day Twenty-Four (episode 23)

There's not much to say today, but you can listen to the very short mp3 anyway.

Day Twenty-Three (episode 22)

Questions and answers and an mp3 file.

Way to go Sforzie, you crazy crazy woman!

From the forums: seven nano questions

1) How are you feeling right now about you novel?

• pretty good

2) Are you satisfied with your word count?

• yes and no
  • yes because I’ll hit 50,000 way befire I did last year
  • no because I slowed down a lot

3) Do you want to get your novel published?

• yes

4) Which week was the worst for you?

• the 7 day stretch between weeks 2 & 3
  

5) How much time do you spend writing your novel?

• a couple of hours a day except when I don’t

6) What do you think of writing two 50 000-word novels at a time?

• No! (unless you’re Sforzie)

7) True or False, do you think your novel is worth reading?

• True
  

Day Twenty-Two (episode 21)

It's podcasty-nano randomness! Now in mp3.

I got a nice mention on WrimoRadio. Yay WrimoRadio! Boo, it's gone.

• Randomness
  • I got a book from Korea
  • Check out random podcasted randomness at http://www.openpodcast.org/
  • extemporaneously - a bad word to use in a nanovel
    
• Moving on from yesterday
  • angry letters to my author

Day Twenty-One (episode 20)

Back in the saddle after a brief break. Hear it in glorious mp3-ness.

Check out the "angry letters to my characters" on the nano forums, and here are some tips:

• what’s been helpful this year:
  • writing every day no matter what
  • telling everyone I know (oh, the peer pressure)
  • having a plan
  • taking breaks – the 20+10 method
  • M&Ms

• what helped last year:
  • taking dares
  • turning off the internal editor
  • just letting it happen
  • drinking

Day Seventeen (episode 19)

A rambling episode of signs and nails. Listen to the mp3.

Check out these distractions tools.

• escape pod sci fi stories
• writing toys & games
• music to write to: Pandora
  

Fingernail pictures:

Before

After

Day Sixteen (episode 18)

What's the difference between writing a novel and making a movie? Listen to the mp3 and find out.

I realized my novel is suffering from a crippling dearth of zombies, and went out for lunch.

Other nano podcasts

• Jason Shaffner’s nano blog
• Write Now by Dawn Groves (as mentioned on Wrimo Radio)
  

Collaborative novel writing

• Glypho

Halfway! (episode 17)

We're halfway there – woo hoo! Hear the mp3 love.

• rewards - have them!
  
• check out your local group
  • under regional affiliation on forums
• go to a meetup or say hi on the forums, they are great support
  
• thanks to the local inspiration fairy - yay postcard!
  
• the local group here is keeping me motivated & our weekly meeting has turned into one of my rewards

Bonus track: I read an excerpt of my novel!

Day Fourteen (episode 16)

I'm still sick, I took days off, hear the mp3! fear the mp3

Sforzie is kicking ass and taking names, I'm slow and unsteady, how 'bout y'all?

PS. There's a tiny bit of New York language in this episode (see if you can spot it). Keep kiddies and bosses away.

Day Eleven (episode 15)

Slow day for me. Hear me whinge on the mp3.

Baron sent me a link to the transcript of Cory Doctorow's workshop in Second Life.

Don't forget to post your word counts for the ten minute word war.

Day Ten (episode 14)

Good day, had some beers, feeling fine. Listen to the mp3!

There's a great video called Computer Problems. Take five minutes and watch it. Then, if you have a Mac, in December get DTV and watch all kinds of cool FREE videos.

If you run windows, you may want to check out Mozy as a backup system. They offer 2GB free storage, but you have to download a client. Buyer beware (I haven't tried this).

If you're a podcaster and want to play my promo, you can get it here. If you want me to play yours, e-mail it to me and I will.

Day Nine (episode 13)

Two novels, lots of words and popular tools. Check out the mp3.

Way to go Sforzie! Over 50,000 already. See my envy. See it burn.

Check out this progress meter available from lostcarpark.com. You plunk this tag into your site's code:

<img src="http://www.lostcarpark.com/wordcount.php?uid=11111" />

and you replace the 11111 with the numeric id from your profile on the nano website (check the url when you go to your profile for the id).

There's also a big one available at danguf's livejournal site.

Don't forget about the 10 minute word war, and let me know how you're rewarding yourself as you meet your goals.

Day Eight (episode 12)

I'm feeling better today (yay sleep!), and it turns out that yesterday's writing wasn't so bad, after all. Get the mp3 to hear all the gory details!

An example of city word wars can be found at the forums.

I'm starting a word war among all of us: within the 24 hours after you hear this episode, time yourself for ten minutes, then post your word count as a comment. Or e-mail me your count and a chunk of your ten minute output. Even more cool, call me and read it to us all! w00t! Go word wars.

Day Seven (episode 11)

A funny thing happened on the way to this podcast. As I was writing up the show notes and posting the file to ourmedia, my computer stopped recognizing keyboard input. Not totally odd, except I'm using a laptop, and the trackpad & function keys still worked. Wired. Obviously, I fixed it. On to our regularly scheduled stuff:

I think today's show is... not so good. I'm tired and cranky. If that's not a great selling job, I don't know what is, so grab the mp3.

There are lots of comments about Maria's podcast. I'm a little blah today and may be suffering from the second week blues. But check out audio excerpts from this past Sunday's local meet up!

Special Episode

Maria Langer, who does the Maria Speaks podcast, had so much to say about my podcast and NaNoWriMo in general that she devoted an entire episode of her 'cast to the subject. And she's being gracious enough to let me redistribute it to all y'all.

Here's the mp3.

Day Four (episode 10)

A sneaky day of much writing and goal achieving. Grab the latest mp3.

I've been using Merlin Mann's timed work/break hack to great success.

Sforzie and Baron left some comments on previous episodes about taking breaks and the writers' group in Second Life.

Maria did an entire podcast episode as feedback! Look for it tomorrow.

And check out my word count. No, really, check it out!

Day Three (episode 9)

I called this one in, and the sound is a lot better. Check out the mp3.

There was more talk about webpen, and some thoughts from Wrimo Radio about encouraging each other. For many of us, there's more to NaNoWriMo than just writing 50,000 words. It's about community and working together.

Way to go us! Let's keep up the good spirits.

Day Two (episode 8)

Day two. Not perfect audio, but not bad enough to get a warning. Check out the mp3.

Tools I should have mentioned before:

• webpen
  

How I record:

• outside - Palm Tungsten C with cell-phone style earbud
• inside - GarageBand with microphone on iSight

Listener feedback:

• Leslea reminded me to tell y'all where the website can be found (check out her website & podcast)
• Maria wants me to stop doing outdoor podcasts - ain't gonna happen

Also check out the new cool profile page thingy on the nanowrimo website.

Day One (episode 7)

And we're off! Download or listen to episode 7.

Hi, everyone

• Baron mentioned a writers' group in Second Life
  
• Sforzie reminded us about donations to nanowrimo.org
  
• Nidonocu mentioned the progress tracker spreadsheet [.xls]
• JSW found out about nanowrimo from the podcast and is now assimilated
  
• Elizabeth is another first timer; hey newbies, let me know how it's going
  
• Allison asked what to do when iTunes is bad – come visit the site
• and Anthony called (you can call, too!)
  

Other stuff

• I went to a local meetup this past Sunday – look for one in your area in the regional lounges of the forums
  
• there's another nanowrimo podcast called Greenspeak
  

One Week Countdown (episode 6)

An inside podcast for the calm before the storm. Listen or download the podcast.

• Sforzie mentioned RoughDraft, too
• I got a nice e-mail from Patrick
• LS Russell left a comment letting me know about the nice mention he gave me & this podcast on his blog and podcast – They Shoot Werewolves, Don’t They. He’s going to be blogging his novel and doing a weekly podcast too. Check it out @ theyshootwerewolvesdontthey.blogspot.com

The Tip of the Day comes from Peter Herring, whose nano is writing a non-fiction book about fiction.

Tools & cool stuff:

• check out beta testing Scrivener for Mac OS X Tiger only
• 50 writing tools via omega on the forums
• konfabulator widget
• karamba widget
• dashboard widget might be vaporware
  
• (10+2)*5 idea/widget
• list of links to folks blogging their nanos
• another nano podcast: The Happy Awesome Writing and Talking Show (THAWTS)
  
• iTunes has a featured group of podcasts about books – and there are no nano podcasts in the bunch (bad apple!)
  

Preparation (episode 5)

The best outside sound quality so far! Maybe practice does pay off. Now go get the audio, then e-mail or call me!

Housekeeping

• hey Sforzie and Tenshisama - thank for the comments
• rScott reminded me about RoughDraft
• check out this face maker

Preparation

• create characters
• make outlines
• books, movies, music
  • read books like your novel
  • read books about writing, like Spider, Spin Me A Web
  • watching movies in the genre of your novel
  • get soundtracks organized
  • join the NaNo CD exchange

Tools (episode 4)

This podcast is rated "W", for crappy audio (due to wind on the walk home).

Download or listen to the podcast. Better yet, subscribe using one of the ever-so-cute buttons in the sidebar.

• Writing tools
• CopyWrite
• yWriter
• JersNovelWriter
• flashdrive apps like portable openOffice or portable abiword

• Portability/backup
  • Backpack
  • USB thumb drives
  • e-mail chapters to yourself using gmail or Yahoo mail (if you need a gmail invite, e-mail me; I have lots!)
  • backup to your iPod
    
  • blogging tools (you can password protect some of them, like WordPress, but you need your own host)
  • is you use livejournal/deadjournal, you can restrict who can read each entry

• Other cool tools found on the nanowrimo forums
  • how to keep your house clean
    
  • lists of words other than “said”
  • dolls of characters

Supporters (episode 3)

An inside podcast today (yay! no traffic noise!). Listen or download here.

• nanowrimo.org seems to be up & running
  • you can register, check out the forums, make a donation or buy nano gear

• feedback about the outdoor sound quality
  
  • “it’s okay, but could be better”
  • I'm working on it
    

• speaking of feedback, I got mail!
  • hey, Helena and Refrayze – thanks for the comments
  • the message line is now open at 206-350-6266, which spells 206 350 NANO

For wrimo-supporters:

• be supportive
  • help when asked
  • don’t help when not asked
  • take it seriously
• realize that we won’t have much time for you
  • roommates/spouses will have to take up a lot of housework
  • make dinner
  • friends won't see a lot of us
  • it might be nice if you showed up with a casserole

E-mail me or call and I'll see you on the forums!

For the Newbies (episode 2)

This week I take the podcast on the road and the horrid sound quality proves it! Listen or download it here. This one's all about the first-timers.

So this will be your first nanowrimo - what should you know?

Time

• you need an absolute minimum of an average of two hours a day to get 50,000 words
• you can always make a goal that fits in with your lifestyle
  
• it's not about winning, it's about trying

It's a drug!

• warn your family and friends that your novel may consume you

Get ready

• get nice pens and paper
• familiarize yourself with the word processing software you're going to use

See me on the forum at nanowrimo.org, I'm spadequeen.

Leave a comment and or send me an e-mail. Really, I'm not kidding - do it!

The Countdown Begins (episode 1)

It's the first podcasted episode! Listen or download here or subscribe to the feed.

Introduction

• this show is by, for and about people participating in National Novel Writing Month 2005

What's NaNoWriMo?

• an international novel writing exercise, where folks try to write a 50, 000 word novel in the 30 days of November
• for more info, visit nanowrimo.org

What's the podcast going to be about?

• me talking about doing nanowrimo
• how to increase your word count
• other wrimos sharing their experiences

Countdown

• get ready for November

Participate

• you can register at nanowrimo.org on Oct 1

Just a warning - don't expect such extensive show notes in November.

My Odeo Channel (odeo/3cab1cc74acf62f3)

More for your money

It appears that I won't be alone in the Nanowrimo Podcast Club, and I'll have some illustrious companions. The organizers of Nanowrimo have announced that they, too, will be podcasting.

It looks like they'll be publishing weekly, so you'll be able to get a pretty close to daily dose of audio Nano-mania. Woo-hoo!

Less than two months to go...

Coming Soon

Yes, I know it's early, but I thought I'd get a jump on the crowd. I'm planning on participating in National Novel Writing Month again this year, and I'm planning on podcasting my experience here on this blog.

Yes, that's all the writer's block, character meltdowns, plot meanderings and coffee overdoses you can handle and then some.

I can't wait for November.