This year, December 1 falls on Thursday. In order to maximize the number of people who can come to the wrap-up party for our writing marathon, we are having two separate events. We encourage you to try to make it out to one, if at all possible. It’s a great way to wrap up the month, and maybe snag one or two buddies to help you edit the monster you just finished writing over the rest of the year.

The first Thank God It’s Over party will be at Moose’s Down Under, the same location we had our Kickoff. We have several tables reserved from 6 to 9pm, so feel free to come by if you can make it down. Moose’s is within walking distance of Burrard, Granville and Vancouver City Centre SkyTrain Stations on the Expo, Millennium and Canada lines. RSVP for the Thursday, Dec. 1st event in this forum thread.

The second TGIO will be held at the Boston Pizza in New Westminster on Saturday, December 3rd. Our reservation is from 12 noon until 4 pm. If you can come, please RSVP in this thread.

Important: If you wish to attend both events, please RSVP in both threads. We hope to see as many people as possible come out! We always enjoy meeting new participants and seeing familiar faces.

We hope this year has been rewarding, even if you didn’t quite make it to 50,000 words.

Year-Round Writing

Yes, you just wrote an entire novel over this month (or more, if you’re a real overachiever), but now is the perfect time to tell you about our other writing groups, if you’re interested in developing more as a writer, and maybe getting published in the future.

Several of us (especially our New Westminster Wrimos) have a very active year-round writing group, coordinated from our “The Other 11 Months” Facebook group. Membership is open, and usually someone will approve your request to join within hours. There is a (somewhat less frequently updated) Google Group version of TOEM, if you hate the Book of Faces.

We are also very lucky to be the hosting region for a high-calibre professional writing conference: the Surrey International Writer’s Conference, which takes place late October each year. The cost of the conference is rather high, but the conference itself is well-worth the cost. They offer workshops run by New York Times Best Selling authors and literary agents, the opportunity to pitch your polished novel or book to one of the literary agents or publishing house editors present, the chance to have a published author read 3 pages of your work and critique it. . . not to mention all the networking with other aspiring writers you’ll be able to do. A few of our Wrimos have been to this event, and all of them regard it as an extremely valuable experience.

Lastly, our twitter account, come December, will go into a quasi-hibernation mode, now that NaNoWriMo is coming to its end. If anything writer-y in Vancouver and the rest of the Lower Mainland comes to our attention, you can be sure that we’ll retweet it for you.

If you’re nearby and looking for a quiet spot to sit down and write for a day, this is your chance!

Our official Write-ins will take place on Tuesday Evenings, at the Waves Coffee on Robson and Cambie streets in Downtown Vancouver. (211 Robson Street – Link on Google Maps) We will start at 6pm, and run until 9. Of course, you are welcome to arrive before or stay later if you like.

There are power outlets available for use, and there may be purchase requirements on internet access. Since this is a coffee shop, there will be food and drink available for your purchase and consumption.

Get Started Fast! Instructions

If you have not done so already, visit http://chatnano.servehttp.com/wrimo-registrar.php and fill in your information. This will help protect your nickname on the network, and ensure no one pretends to be you. In the Region field, you will select Vancouver. Be warned: this process may take more than a minute – DO NOT REFRESH THE PAGE.

Once it has completed successfully, you may now visit: http://chatnano.servehttp.com/wrimo-login.php and using the info you gave in the previous page, log in. The choice between the two IRC Widgets can be left to the default setting, unless it doesn’t work, in which case, go back to the link and select the Mibbit option.

IRC Whizkid! Instructions

Server: ipocalypse.net
Port: 6667
Channel: #vancouvernano (NOTE: This channel name differs from last year due to difficulty registering the old name.)

General Remarks

If you’re interested in seeing who else is out there in other regions doing NaNoWriMo, check out the full list of channels here: http://chatnano.servehttp.com/chats.php

No, really. It’s huge. With about 900 active and homed (meaning that vancouver is their primary region) participants in 2010, spread across something like 2.8 square megameters, Vancouver is among the largest NaNoWriMo regions. And we have two (2) Municipal Liasons to try and engage as many people across the region by holding in-person gatherings.

Of course, since the MLs have lives and work of their own and are limited to being in one place at any given moment, this becomes a nigh-impossible task! To help ease the burden and spread the NaNoWriMo love across the GVRD, we have recruited a crack team of Mini-Bosses! These Mini-Bosses are a team of ordinary Wrmos who have extra time regularly during the evenings, and want to try and help out by volunteering to hold write-ins near their work, school or homes, two times during the 30 days of November. Without them, neighbourhoods like New Westminster or East Vancouver probably wouldn’t have any regular, official events nearby.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce the Mini-Bosses for VancoWrimo 2011! Or rather, let them introduce themselves!

Pwinkle – New Westminster

My NaNo name is Pwinkle – short for Periwinkle – sea snail, flower, nickname – the all purpose word. I’ve done and won NaNo since 2008 and have a competitive spirit. Each year I’ve participated, I have graphs and spreadsheets to track my word count – an emerging OCD?

l.s.taylor – South Burnaby

I’ve done NaNoWriMo several times in previous years, under different usernames. Due to a recemt unfortunate mishap with my chosen pen name, this year I’ll be participating under my *actual* name, l.s.taylor. I mostly write YA fantasy—but I also toy with urban fantasy, science fiction, and romance. Besides writing and my dayjob, I study swordplay—longsword, sidesword, and rapier. Nothing’s as therapeautic as whacking at things with a four-foot-long blade. Fun fact: my very first serious attempt at NaNo was thwarted by a well-meaning professor with a serious concern for the sleep I would miss.

xore – Yaletown

My name is Rob, I go by Xore on the forums on those rare occasions I show up there. I’ve been doing nano every year since ’06, where I pulled a 5k word count and have been pulling 50k ever since. I dabble in sci fi and fantasy, waxing on philosophy and waxing off the laws of physics. Every year I try something new: this year I plan to dabble in killing off POV characters and building a fantasy landscape of dry puns and the groans of those who suffer them.

witchling – Vancouver East

I’m 23 and a super-sophomore of the English Lit pursuasion – which is more embarrassing than comic worthy. Between the essays and reading assignments I’m also a retail mercenary, part time girl geek, and professional tea-swiller. I’ve been doing NaNo since I was knee high to a grasshopper and more often than sometimes I’m successful. This year they made me sign a Code of Conduct which prevents me from sharing my genre or story details. Killjoys.

DSL – New Westminster

I am Dave, aka DSL. This will be my sixth year doing NaNo and my second win. My genre changes every year, and I plot as much out as I can in advance. This time it’s apocalyptic-science-fantasy flavored with horror. First of a trilogy, if it goes well. I look forward to meeting new writers and greeting friends from last year.

catalytic – Teens

I’m catalytic, the phenomenal queen of the teens. This is my second year paticipating in the insanity that is NaNoWriMo. My genre will probably be literary fiction- because I like to pretend I’m a deep person. I have a tendancy to start talking to myself while reading/writing in public and thus NaNoWriMo really does cause people to worry about my mental health. I will never live down the time I casually told one of you that I get around- I swear THAT time I was talking about being social.

Pyewacket75 – Mini-Boss of IRC, Whalley/North Delta

Hey! I’m Pyewacket75 and I live in the Surrey/Delta area. This is only my second year doing NaNo so I’m kinda new at this mini-boss deal. I’ll be spending a lot of time in the NaNo IRC doing my MB thing in there so expect lots of word wars! I’ve been writing for years, but I’ve written House M.D. fan fiction for the last 2. My genre is fiction/romance with a heavy side of smut, and I’ve begun a journey into original fic with the hopes of publishing it. See you all soon!

sheakoshan – Mini-Boss of the Internet

Pumpkin!

 

                             Pumpkin!

Thanks to our Mini-Bosses for this year. We really appreciate the help!

If you have any questions about them, drop us a note in the Regional Forum in the Mini-Boss question thread.

We handed out the Top 10 Reasons to Participate in NaNoWriMo to the attendees and thought we’d share them with you too :)

Top 10 Reasons to Participate in NaNoWriMo

10 ) It’s 30 days. Whether you make it to 50,000 words or not you’ve tried something new.

9 ) You meet other aspiring (& published) writers, not only in Vancouver but from around the world thanks to the forums

8 ) November becomes a housework-free month (Darling, can you do the dishes tonight I’m at a key point in my novel)

7 ) It’s therapeutic, all those things you wish you could do… you can do vicariously through your characters

6 ) A fantastic excuse to stay up way past your bed-time and eat all that half price Halloween candy that conveniently goes on sale Nov 1st.

5 ) You benefit from the synergy that envelopes us as we all work toward that common 50,000 word goal

4 ) You can participate as much or as little as you want, we’re just a click or coffee shop away when you need a boost or have written yourself into a corner

3 ) NaNoisms – those little phrases that made perfect sense when you wrote them… “Good thing decapitation isn’t fatal” or “Can you hand me a glass, I can’t see you clearly.”(Quotes courtesy of the NaNoWriMo.org forum)

2 ) You can make lasting friendships (some of us write together all year long at ‘The Other 11 Months’ group on Facebook

And most important of all…

1 ) You can finally say those magic words, “I wrote a book”

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