Episode 2:13 - End Days

Less than 48 hours left. So, why are you listening to me?

• feedback
  • Sarah has questions:
    1. What’s your day job? - I'm a civil servant for the Government of Canada
    2. What novel writing program do you use? I always wondered if those programs were worth purchasing. - I use CopyWrite, it's awesome and totally worth buying (Mac only)
    3. As a nano veteran, is it normal for nano participants to sink into gut-wrenching depression when it’s all over? I swear I think I’m a freak. I’ve been on this amazing creative high for a month now, and I reached the 50k mark, and then plummeted into the pit of despair. is this normal, or am I in desperate need of lithium? - Yes, it's normal
    
  • Michael says, “Do you ever write scenes where your characters are standing around waiting for you to tell them what to do? That’s depressing. Then later something clicks, and your characters are doing things you didn’t intend them to do, living a life of their own. That’s fun.”

• main course
  • Eugenia is a winner!
  • Sarah is a winner!
  • displaced beatnick is a winner!
  • to everyone else who is a winner – congrats!!
  • to everyone else who’s madly writing – go go go!!

• reading
  • Sarah's excerpt
    

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • reaching 50K

Episode 2:12 - Implementing Impactful Eyeballs

Neener neener neener, I am a wiener. In mp3 format.

• feedback
  • Michael has been sending me lots of encouraging nanomail, and I fear he knows me better than I know myself
  • Nan sent a whole lot more distractions:
    
  • Bad Language
  • The Word Project
  • The Alternative Dictionaries
  • Web Economy Bullshit Generator
  • Writer Beware
  • The Apostrophe Protection Society

• main course
  • I got the green, then the purple bar
  • I made a snowman as a celebration
    
    
    
    
  
  

• reading
  • stompy's excerpt
    

• promo – Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • dirty tricks for increasing wordcount

Episode 2:11 - The Self-Indulgent Show

Wherein the host waxes poetic about all the lovely encouragement she’s gotten from the listeners and Oscar-Mike-Golf! Another McManlyPants novel is done! Listen to the fangirl babble.

• feedback
  • Michael sent me a very encouraging nanomail
  • Nan is sent me another great email about her excitement about being so close to done, worrying about typos and nice stuff about the podcast and its wonderful listeners

• main course
  • woo hoo! to all the listeners
  • many of us are very close to finishing
  • if you aren’t close to 50K, don’t forget that this is one of those weird things where starting is almost as good as finishing
  • we’re novelists – how cool is that?
  • my neighbour & friend Kris got the green bar
    
  • so did Robust McManlyPants, about whom I talk for too long

• reading
  • Eugenia's excerpt
    

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • let’s encourage each other

Episode 2:10 - Stranger in a Strange Land

So stinkin’ liberating! Get yer free mp3s here (listen carefully to hear the sweet sounds of a hard drive spinning - spin baby, spin!).

• feedback
  • Michael wants to publish and mentions lulu.com
  • donnieg liked hearing his words read, and is kicking ass & taking names
  • Nan has reached that magic point where the characters are doing their own things
  • nano-newbie Sarah (not the other Sarah) sent me a really nice email – yay! I’m happy to help!

• main course
  • omg! donnieg has a green bar!
  • Sforzie is over 100K
  • traveling for me = crap for wordcount

• reading
  • Robust McManlyPants’ excerpt
  • shinan’s excerpt

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • where do you stand in your region?

Typing is tough

So, I do this thing every nano. I paint my nails for Halloween, then I take a picture of my hands on Nov 1. I take another picture Nov 30, showing the destroyed nail job. Well, this year I can't wait for the 30th. I need to cut my nails, and the polish job is worse than usual. Here's the evidence for posterity.

Nov 1:

Nov 19:

Episode 2:9 - Drinkin' and Writin'

It’s all downhill from here. Sliding down the mp3s.

• feedback
  • Eugenie’s a publish person
  • so is Steph
    
  • Nan left more distractions

• main course
  • back up your novel, every day!
    
  • what are your writing rewards?
  • I’m traveling next week; I'll try to podcast but no promises

• reading
  • donnieg’s excerpt

• promo – Confessions of a Struggling Writer

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • NaDruWriNi

Happy Halfway!

Not relevant, just cool:

Episode 2:8 - Weird It Up

Bet yer plot bunnies & ninjas (ninja bunnies?) here! And mp3s, too.

• feedback
  • Michael writes about having similar problems as me, but got over it
  • Nan has another distraction
  • Lesley has a question - who wants to publish and who does NaNo as only a personal exercise
    

• main course
  • answering Lesley’s question, I only tend to write during nano, but yes, I have delusions of publishing
  • Michael got over his blockage by spending a few minutes brainstorming – I did this early on & it helped a lot
  • I also got out to the local meeting this weekend, I met Steph, talked about chickens, weasels and pants

• reading
  • Steph’s excerpt

• promo – Morevi

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • get acquainted with your regional forums

Episode 2:7 - NaNoWriMo In My Pants

I’m in ur plotz, feeding ur bunnyz. Listen to the madness here.

• feedback
  
  • Sforzie & Josh (aka Alcar) commented on my readings
    
  • if you think I'll screw it up and you don't want me to, send me pronunciation keys
  • if you sent me email about your reading, wait for it - it's coming
    

• main course
  • Nan's links – a title generator, a one word writing prompt and a cool collection of language related games
  • I’m in ur X, Y-ing ur Z-z

• reading
  • Michael’s excerpt

• promo – NanoMonkeys all about plot bunnies

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • games: in my pants

Episode 2:6 - Novellists in Spa-a-a-ce

One third of the way in. Listen in as we fill the void.

• feedback
  • 2 votes for call-in show (sort of) - tell me what you want to do
    
  • a bunch of people have sent in excerpts or permission to read the excerpts in their profiles – keep it coming!
  • Sarah is stuck in the week 2 doldrums

• main course
  • 60second pep talk
    
  • I hit 20K!
  • check out the Second Life group Nanowrimo Nuts - the next meetup is Sat, Nov 11 at 10am PST/SLT

• readings
  • congratulations Sforzie and Josh on hitting 50K!
  • (you both make me sick)
    

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • creative cussing

Episode 2:5 - Behold! The Terrible Week Two

Day One, Week Two. Still no plot. But there is an mp3!

• feedback
  • I got an email from Nan while I was posting the last show
  • look at Sforzie's wordcount
  • email from Michael – it only takes a day to get behind, and a great tip for names: use descriptive placeholder names, like Toughguy or Bighair

• main course
  • I'm using a modified (10+2)*5 hack (mine's 12+5 X a lot)
    
  • I'm using an app called flextime as a timer for the above anti-distraction plan
    
  • you can disable the flash profiles on the nanowrimo site in your own edit profile
  • do people want to do a call in show? We'd use talkshoe (check it out and let me know)
    

• reading
  • Nan’s email

• promo – Dutch NaNo podcast

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • character questions

Episode 2:4 - Mad Novelling

Slow going. Listen here.

• feedback
  • Sarah & Steph left comments
  • I got email from Robust McManlyPants, my nano stalkee

• main course
  • my wordcount is okay, but the story is slow going
  • I have trouble with names
  • I've been missing out on the local meetups – this is stupid and I need to stop being stupid

• reading
  • no reading this week
  • send me your stuff! (or just let me know if I can read your excerpt)
    

• promo - The Survival Guide to Writing Fantasy
  

• s-s-s-something from the forums
  • random thing generators
  • random name generator
    

Episode 2:3 - And So It Begins

And, we're off! Listen.

• Feedback
  • You've all been super awesome – but I'm supposed to be the encouraging one!
    
  • Nan writes about using 100 words a day (more on wikipedia)
    
  • I got encouraging email from Michael and returning listener Baron
  • Leslie sent me a voice mail with the most awesome image in it – listen

• What's up today
  • the nanowrimo site is slow as molasses
  • you can now subscribe only to the forums you actually read
  • don’t forget to upload chunks of your novel in progress so we can all read
  • I’d like to do readings, so send me an audio file of your reading, send me text for me to read or just let me know if you want me to read your excerpt

• Reading
  • my excerpt
  
  
• Promo Evil Genius Chronicles
  

• s-s-s-something from the forums – wordcount badges
  • simple one
  • graph
  • another graph
  • the one on my site
  • official nanowrimo wordcount widgets