NaNoBoston 2022 Emails

Dear Wrimos,

Writing is hard. But if you’ve made it this far into the month and you’re still writing, whether you’re going to reach 50K by Wednesday or your new goal is 25K, you’re doing great!

We are fast approaching the end of the month and the end of NaNoWriMo. (Where on earth did November go?!) Never fear, however, for there is still one more write-in to go! If you are in need of the extra boost, the extra word count, the extra cheering on of your fellow wrimos, join us this Wednesday for our last Discord write-in! It will be 6:30pm-8:30pm as usual, and you can find all the details on the event calendar here. 

BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!!! Next Sunday, December 4th from 2pm-4pm, we will be hosting a Thank Goodness It’s Over party in person at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library! Everyone is welcome, whether you made it to 5K or 50K. The fact that you wrote something for NaNoWriMo, is all that really matters. 

Activities include:

  • Hanging out
  • Eating candy
  • Listening to a reading of the NaNoBoston 2022 Community Story from our Discord server  
  • Handing out awards to those who have gone above and beyond this month
  • Travis may be persuaded to tell the sad, sad story of Merlene, the One-Heeled Drag Queen of Waxahatchie County.

Plus, if you’ve made it to our Kickoff Party, the Mid-Month Madness Write-In, and you make it to the TGIO party, AND you have your postcard stamped for all three events, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a bag full of really awesome goodies, including:

  • An Official NaNoWriMo poster
  • A pack of Official NaNoWriMo stickers
  • A Lamy fountain pen 
  • An Official NaNoWriMo wristband
  • Two After Dinner Amusements conversation starter card sets
  • A NaNoBoston Travel Mug

Space is limited so please RSVP on the event calendar here! (Thank you!) 

The end of the month is nigh! Even if you don’t reach 50K this year, we hope you are having fun and we hope you found a community to celebrate your highs and support you during your lows. Keep going. There are still just a few days left and those words you haven’t written yet are words you didn’t have before, so write them down and let them be counted for your 2023 NaNoWriMo word count! You’ve got this! 

-Jordan (QueenOfTheUniverse)

My Dear Wrimos,

It feels so close to the end of the month now, but we’re only about two-thirds of the way through National Novel Writing Month.  It’s like an optical illusion – the temporal version of “objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”  

Part of this is, of course, that a major holiday – Thanksgiving – is coming up this week.  Some folks travel over the holiday to see their families and friends, have a big meal, and enjoy all kinds of activities that preclude working on your novels.  And that’s fine.  Believe it or not, you still have 20 percent of the month – six entire days! – left after the holiday to knock out those last words!  When I say it’s eminently possible, I speak from experience – I’m often chronically behind at this point of the month myself.  

We’re here to help.  Wednesday, November 23rd, we’ll be on Discord from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm hosting an online write-in.  This is a treat for Jordan and me, as we’ve always hated that long gap between Sundays when we’re doing in-person events.  Sunday, November 27, we’ll be hosting the last Zoom write-in of the season, from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.  Basically, we’ve worked it out so we can be there to lead you into getting writing done beforehand, and we’ll be there to help you catch up if you fall behind because of the holiday.  And to wind up the month, we’ll be back on Discord on Wednesday, November 30th, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm for our final Write-In of the month!  

Meanwhile, the Community Story is turning into a riot (although that is not meant to be a writing prompt, so …), and we’ve had outstanding attendance at both our in-person and online events.  Most importantly, you’ve all shown remarkable grace with each other – offering support and guidance and friendship and laughter.  Jordan and I are very proud of you for that, and for everything you’ve accomplished this year.  

So back to work, and save the date on December 4th for the in-person TGIO Party!  We’ll have details in our next weekly email.  

Respectfully, , 

Travis (tkphotog)

Dear Wrimos, 

I want you to know that we had a blast yesterday at our Drop-In Mid-Month Madness Write-In at the BPL and we sincerely hope you did too. Travis broke the Donation Station… twice. And we had some other small hiccups along the way, but over all, it was a great day and we know everyone got a lot of words written! Congrats! 

Now, as we head into Week Three, we hope you’ve managed to climb your way out of the muck that is the traditional Week Two doldrums. Week Two is tough, but Week Three brings new highs to you and your writing! However, if you’re still stuck, or experiencing self doubt, it’s time to take a little break, work on a different project, spend time with a furry friend, or do some jumping jacks in your living room. After that, get back to your writing because those Week Three Highs are just waiting to pull you up!

Now, we wouldn’t be the MLs that we are if we hadn’t put together some events for you, now would we? 

On Wednesday, November 16th, we have our next Discord Write-In from 6:30pm-8:30pm. If you’re new to Discord, give it a shot. We’ve got a great sprint bot to keep everyone writing and great conversation when we aren’t sprinting! You really don’t want to miss out! (Also note, the Discord server and its sprint bot are available 24/7, so even if you can’t make the event, you can always chat and sprint whenever you want!)

On Sunday, November, 20th, we have another Zoom Write-In from 2pm-4pm. It’s a great time to avoid bothersome family members if you need to, close yourself off in a quiet room and come sprint with us! We also chat between sprints too, just to see how everyone’s doing, we’re not that heartless. After all, Travis is known as the Warm Extrovert of your ML team and Zoom really is his baby. 

And don’t forget, there are a lot of satellite events happening online and in-person. Find them all on our regional event calendar!

Our email system seems to still be broken. We apologize for the inconvenience! Please find all of our emails on our website here. 

Whatever happens next, just remember to keep writing and have fun!

-Jordan (QueenOfTheUniverse)

My Dear Wrimos, 

Welcome to Week 2 of National Novel Writing Month!  This is when many of us start to flag or run out of steam.  Those of you who’ve been at this for a while know that the Week 2 doldrums are a thing.  It can be a bummer.  

For me, today, the reason I hit the brakes was external.  I usually work evenings, and have been taking advantage of my free time in the morning to prop myself up in bed and write.  Well, today, I was called into work hours early, which, as we say back in Georgia, put a little hitch in my giddy-up.   

The doldrums can happen to us all, even when you’re doing everything right.  Ask any 100 Wrimos what they do when this happens and you’ll get 100 different answers – some serious, some funny, many contradictory and all of them correct in their own fashion.  I’ll skip that advice and just get to the important part:  KEEP WRITING.  

Sometimes big words don’t come all at once. Did you know that Neil Gaiman wrote Coraline at 50 words a night? If you need to, set yourself up a minimum daily word count goal. You want it to be somewhat of a challenge, so find the word count that works for you. Jordan’s is 500 words. Yours might be 1K or maybe 300. Whatever it is, stick to it.  Even if you just add a sentence, or a paragraph, or a couple of paragraphs … it’s still progress.  

And if you’re still having trouble, check out the list of motivators and focus tools on Jordan’s Writing Fiction Guide! Maybe you’d like to see kittens as you write, or fight monsters, or maybe you’d like to see your words disappear if you stop writing. Need background music or the sounds of a busy cafe while you write? We’ve got that too!

Meanwhile, we’ll be having two official write-ins in the next week.  Tomorrow (Wednesday), we’re having our weekly Discord write-in from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm.  Jordan’s got the Sprinto bot tuned up, detailed, polished, and ready to lead you to greater and greater word counts.  

Sunday is our in-person Mid-Month Madness Write-In at the Boston Public Library!  Drop in anytime between 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm to enjoy the company of other people in our predicament as we work our way toward the end goal – 50,000 words (or wherever you end up!).  Just a reminder – we are encouraging folks at our in-person events to mask up, take sensible precautions, and do your best to keep yourselves and your fellow Wrimos healthy.  Hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and masks will all be freely available for everyone who attends.  

Find further details for both events on our region page’s event tab. The Discord invite link is to the left of the events listing!  You can also find information on Satellite events on the same events page, so there’s plenty of incentive to keep writing.

So there you go.  Remember, any forward progress is good, and keeps you going in the right direction.  Soon it’ll be week three, and from there, it’s a straight shot to the finish line.  We’ll be right there with you – or in some of our cases, behind you.  🙂  

Respectfully, 

Travis (tkphotog)

November 1, 2022

Our Dear Wrimos,

Welcome to November and this crazy thing we like to do every year called National Novel Writing Month! We are just a bit flabbergasted that November 1st is already here. It’s time to hit the ground running, leave everyone else in the dust, and leave those rubber skid marks on the road behind us. YOU’VE GOT THIS. We know writing a novel in a month is a daunting task, but trust us, YOU CAN DO IT. 

Remember, you’re writing a FIRST DRAFT and first drafts are supposed to be messy and incomprehensible. Multiple rounds of editing will clean it all up at a later date… like next year, after the holidays. Right now, your job is just to get words on the paper, or your computer screen. Write your heart out now. Edit later. YOU’VE GOT THIS!

EVENTS: Often, folks think writing is a solitary venture. When you think of a writer what comes to mind? Someone sitting at a little desk in their attic, alone, typing away at their keyboard, or maybe staring morosely at a blank page. During NaNoWriMo, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We prefer writing together to harness the momentum of a room full of writers to help us get our own novels written. 

This year we are only hosting one in-person write-in later on due to the pandemic, but never fear! Zoom and Discord are with us to keep us connected! Here are our next two events:

PRIZE DRAWING: If you came to the Kickoff Party last weekend, we handed out postcards where you can check off the virtual events you attend and get it stamped at all three in-person events. If you get all three in-person event stamps, you will get entered in a drawing to win some cool prizes, including an official NaNoWriMo poster! 

SATELLITE EVENTS: If you’re interested in hosting your own events this November, whether you want to meet in-person with a small group of friends, or you want to have online meetups more often, we have two Satellite Write-In Guides on our website to help get you started.

RESOURCES: 

  • Discord is open for folks outside of events there, to chat, ask questions, and run word sprints with the Sprinto Bot. Stop in and say hi! Find the invite link here.
  • There is a NaNoWriMo book display at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library full of fantastic books on writing just waiting for you to check them out and take them home. 
  • Writing Fiction Guide – This guide on the Boston Public Library’s website includes a ton of information, including recommended books, online tools, writing classes and critique groups, publishing information, and more! 
  • Printable Progress Chart – Color in the boxes as you get your words done, marvel at your success, and show it off to friends and family as proof of your magnificence! 

DOUBLE-UP DONATION WEEKEND: Double-Up Donation Weekend will be happening Friday, November 4th through Sunday, November 6th and is their biggest donation time. Big name authors pledge to double the donations at certain times throughout the weekend and there are prizes you can win as well. Check the website for more information. The money raised helps NaNoWriMo keep their website running and gets classroom kits and other educational material into the hands of children and teachers. 

EMAIL UPDATE: There is no update, unfortunately. If you get this email in your in-box, that’s great! That means the email system is working. If you do not, it means the email system is still broken for us. If it is still broken, check our website here to read all of our emails. 

HAPPY WRITING AND GOOD LUCK! (Not that you need it. YOU’VE GOT THIS.)

  • Jordan (QueenOfTheUniverse) & Travis (tkphotog)

October 11, 2022

Our Dear Wrimos, 

Please note that our weekly regional emails don’t seem to be making it into anyone’s email inboxes. Check our website (NaNoBoston.org) for a list of places to receive updates and to read our emails. HQ is looking into the matter and we thank you for your understanding and patience. 

Now… onto the fun stuff!

After our COVID-induced break from in-person events, we’re excited to announce that the NaNoBoston Kickoff Party (world famous in Boston) is back again – and LIVE!  

The Kickoff Party will be taking place on Sunday, October 30, from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.  This year, we’re meeting in the Commonwealth Salon at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library (700 Boylston St. Boston, MA 02116)  This is a wonderful space to meet, with high ceilings and lots of room for your imagination to grow.  

Our Kickoff Party is always a wonderful event and sets the tone for the Noveling Season.  Highlights include:

  • Raffles!  Lots and lots and lots of raffles!
  • Starting the Community Story.
  • Meeting your fellow Wrimos, making new friends, reacquainting with old friends.
  • After the end of the event, interested Wrimos can stay to hear the story of Merlene, the One-Heeled Drag Queen of Waxahatchie County.  (Bring tissues)
  • Most importantly:  Psych yourself up for another November of Noveling Brilliance.

We have 13 mega-raffles this year!  Every raffle comes with a convenient NaNoBoston canvas tote bag to carry the contents home – you’ll need it.   The raffles include:

  • Official NaNoWriMo merchandise
  • Official NaNoBoston merchandise
  • Books 
  • Board games
  • Pen holders
  • keychains
  • DVDs 
  • And so much more! 

The Community Story is a NaNoBoston tradition.  At the Kickoff Party, we break into small groups to compose a first line, and then vote on the best one – the basis for a rollicking, fun-filled group activity over the course of November.  Wrimos voluntarily contribute a line or two to the story at each event, collectively leading to a narrative full of ups and downs, lefts and rights, and hairpin turns that are both brilliant and hilarious.  After the Kickoff, the story moves over to our Discord server, as most of our events will remain online, so everyone gets a chance to add to the insanity.  

After the end of the event, Travis brings us back a beloved NaNoBoston tradition:  The retelling of the sad, sad story of Merlene, the One-Heeled Drag Queen of Waxahatchie County.  This will be the first time the story’s been recounted live since the NaNoBoston TGIO party of 2019, and Travis is really looking forward to it!  (He loves the attention.)  

Because of space constraints, we do need to know who’s attending the Kickoff Party.  Please log onto your NaNoWriMo account and visit the event listing to let us know you’re coming.  We do encourage social distancing as much as possible, and masks, disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizer will be available.  

Your MLs are looking forward to seeing you all in person again and hope you can make it! 

– Jordan(QueenOfTheUniverse) & Travis(tkphotog)

October 2, 2022

Our Dear Wrimos,

Welcome to NaNoBoston 2022! Travis and I (your Boston area Municipal Liaisons) and our Executive Committee members (Naimah, Karla, and Alicia) are pleased as punch you’re joining us this November to write your hearts out to 50,000. We have been busy plotting … er, I mean making plans for this year. Read on for more information on what’s coming up for NaNoBoston!

Most of our regional events will be online again this year, but we will have three in-person events – the Kickoff Party, the Mid-Month Madness Write-In, and the TGIO Party. All in-person events will be at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in the Commonwealth Salon.

The remainder of our Regional Write-Ins will be virtual. We’re sticking with what works — Zoom events (Sundays 2pm – 4pm) and Discord events (Wednesdays 6:30pm – 8:30pm) — even though we still haven’t come up with a working online goal bell. Our events listings will go up soon; you can find them on the NaNoBoston regional page on NaNoWriMo.org and learn more about our virtual platforms on NaNoBoston.org.

We’ll follow up in a day or so with our big Kickoff Party announcement. The Kickoff Party is always something special – it’s usually the most popular event of the Noveling season.

While it’s not fun to say this, we are still in a pandemic. We encourage everyone attending our in-person events to wear masks and practice social distancing. Masks, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant wipes will be available at each of our events, and we urge you to use them liberally.

We will not be doing significant local fundraising or running the NaNoBoston Store this year, but we encourage everybody to head over to NaNoWriMo.org to make a donation directly. National Novel Writing Month is funded primarily by participants, and every little bit counts.

Like any good National Novel Writing Month, this year presents us with challenges both familiar and new. We’re looking forward to meeting and overcoming these challenges with you. Here’s to an awesome NaNoWriMo 2022!

Sincerely,

Jordan (QueenOfTheUniverse) & Travis (tkphotog)