Hello everyone, and welcome back to NaNoWriMo! Our calendars are telling us that November is drawing close, and that means a couple things for us here in Vancouver:

Kickoff! 
We are hosting the Kickoff party for NaNoWriMo 2011 in the same location as last year, on October 30th, from noon to 4pm. Our location is Mooses Down Under, 830 West Pender St., downtown. It is 2 blocks away from the Canada Line Waterfront station, or 2 blocks away from Burrard Station on the Millennium and Expo lines, so it’s easy to get to via transit. There is a parkade on the next block on Howe street if you’re planning on driving.
Lunches are between 7 and 15 dollars, and sharing a meal is okay so you don’t have to break the bank to come (a 15% tip will be automatically added to each bill). We will also have a couple games for you to win prizes, and a raffle for some cool inspirational writing aids! We will be putting up an RSVP thread in the regional forum very soon!

Seeking Locations for Official Write-Ins! 
Do you know of a space that can fit between 15 and 30 people plus laptops that is near transit? If so, drop us a line! We’re looking for a place to hold our official, once per week, Write-Ins during November so people in our region can meet up, sit down, and crank out words together.
Internet access is not required (but would be very nice), but tables and chairs are. Since not everyone drives in our region, we need to find a spot that is close to transit – preferably within walking distance of a SkyTrain station, but on bus route that runs reasonably frequently into the evening is fine too. Several people use electronic devices to compose their novels, so having outlets is a definite plus.
We are looking into a couple promising locations, but since there are only two of us, we’re not going to see them all. If you know of a sweet writing spot that has room for a group of people and won’t mind a bit of noise, let us know!

NaNoWriMo.org Annual Reboot! 
It’s also that time of year again – the time when www.nanowrimo.org gets shut down for maintenance and its memories of days gone by are erased with industrial-strength Memory-Scouring Lasers. If you’re worried about all your Nanomails, go back them up soon! Want to save that hilarious dare thread from last year? Copy it somewhere else! If not, it will vanish into the aether forever after the wipe. This year, the nukification is happening on October 10th, so you should back up anything you want to keep soon!
During the site outage, you can keep up with local goings-on via the VancoWrimo website: www.vancowrimo.ca, or follow us on Twitter: @VancoWrimo

Recruiting Mini-Bosses! 
Is there a lack of official write-ins near your home, or can’t get out to any of our events but still want to write with other people? Are you able to commit to holding two write-ins during November? Then consider becoming a Mini-Boss for your community!
Mini-Bosses are volunteers from several neighbourhoods from our vast region that host write-ins on behalf of the Municipal Liaisons in spots that would not otherwise see an official event. Since the Vancouver region is growing so quickly and covers a lot of area geographically, MLs need a leg-up in some of the other communities. Mini-Bosses will also help distribute the NaNoWriMo swag that the MLs hand out during official events. Last year, we had several helpful, excellent Mini-Bosses, and we would like to have a couple more this year.
Got questions about the Mini-Bosses? Check out the FAQ.

More to come! 
It’s still early in the season, so keep an eye out for updates soon. In the meantime, you’ve still got about a month to get struck by inspiration and get your finger joints loosened up!

Looking forward to writing together!
- MysteriousAges and Sue___B