Welcome to Destiny Islands. This is the starting point of our journey. White sand, green foliage, perfect weather, blue water… and an endless sky. Isn’t it pretty? But even though this place is paradise, it’s a little small, don’t you think? Especially for people like us, people with big dreams of bigger islands — I mean, stories full of 50,000 words.

This is why we’re building a raft. We’re leaving this beautiful world behind in hopes of pursuing something greater, something more than just the same old stuff every day.

The day to set sail has arrived, but don’t be afraid. You have friends who are going on this crazy adventure with you! There isn’t a cloud in the sky and the waves are just waiting to carry us away towards our destiny.

And who knows… Maybe starting a new journey won’t be so hard — or maybe it has all ready begun. All it takes is a blank page and determination. Step forward… Can you do it?

Of course you can. We’ll go together, after all.

This weekend, we have not just one, but two write-ins happening!

Write In #1:
What: Early Risers Write @ Barnes & Noble
When: Saturday, November 6th from 9am-Noon
Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers
Address: 3055 S Glenstone Ave. Springfield, MO 65804

As usual, bring your novelling utensils and other items you’ll need for the couple hours we’ll be there. We’ll be seated in the cafe, along the wall by the plug ins (if someone could bring a power strip, that’d be helpful… there are only two regular outlets).

Write In #2
What: We Write at Hebrews Coffee!
When: Saturday, November 6th from Noon-4pm
Where: Hebrews Coffeehouse
Address: 1604 E. Republic Road Springfield, MO 65804

As above, make sure to bring all your novelling utensils with you. If anyone has a power strip that they’d be able to bring, it’s always appreciated as we always seem to run short on power outlets. We will be meeting in the meeting room, which is in the back of the place (it seats about 20). Hebrews did mention two stipulations to us upon booking the room: we need to have at least five people show up and they require everyone in the meeting room to purchase at least one menu item (be it a drink or whatever). Somewhat arbitrary rule, I think, but it was the only way to book it. If you really want to come but maybe can’t afford to purchase something, you can shoot us a reply in private and we’re sure we can spot a couple people for drinks, as we don’t want anyone feeling left out. If we have too many people for the meeting room, the coffeehouse has a lot of seating outside of the meeting room as well.

Also, make sure you all visit the Springfield, MO Regional Forums on the official NaNoWriMo site! They’re located here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/228

No, really, it’s great.  Because that means you now get to be Rage Kitties:

Rage Kitty says hello. And did not like his mittens.

This is the week where you get to hate everything, because if we tried to stop you, you’d vomit flaming plasma all over us, and it’d be gross.  And you know what?  It’s okay to hate everything once in awhile, and it’s totally okay to hate your novel.  Because right now, at this instant, you’re probably thinking that your novel sucks.

And it probably does.

And that’s okay!  You know why?  Because now you can write whatever the heck you want!  It sucks already!  You can’t make it worse by adding more suck!  So let it suck!  Let it get weird and stupid and silly and–if necessary–let it go Rage Kitty all over the place!  You don’t just count the words you want to read later; you get to count the words you hate, too!  Isn’t that awesome?

So, Wrimos, go nuts!  Get mad!  Pound out 500 words from sheer spite and disgust and then add them to your word count!  Write the worst scene you don’t want to write because it makes you angry how bad it is and add it to your word count!  This week, get mad at your novel!  Get angry!  Get ragey*!

And don’t forget our write-ins this weekend!  We’ll get mad as a group (and your MLs will bring a nifty mascot)!  Be awesome, Wrimos, and get angry!

*Not a real word, and it would still count!

To those of you who couldn’t make it, no worries!  Our word count jumped by a little over 100,000 words today, and that means you were being super and awesome and writerly; fantastic!

For those of you looking to bump your word counts, consider a write-in.  We’ve got three (yes, three) planned in the next two days, and they fall as follows:

November 7 (Saturday)

12:00 PM-4:00 PM at the Student Union at Missouri State University; we’ll be on the bottom floor.

November 7 (Saturday)

4:30 PM-8:30 PM at the Panera on National and Elm; we’ll be in the meeting room.

November 8 (Sunday)

10:00 AM-3:00 PM at Rendezvous on Campbell and College; if you don’t see a bunch of people frantically writing in the main floor, check the mezzanine.

And for tonight’s encouragement, let me tell you about Guy Gardner:

Guy Gardner is a Green Lantern (no surprise, given our theme), and Guy was originally introduced as a one-off “What If?” character.  “What if…Hal Jordan hadn’t become Green Lantern?”  The answer was that Guy would have become GL, and Guy was a bit cocky about being GL.

There are two very interesting things about Guy.  First, he’s had more character changes than most comic book characters.  He started out a regular-level jerk, then he ended up with some pretty bad brain damage, then he managed to come back from the brain damage but was still mildly jerkish, and now he’s one of those cocky-hard shell types with a gooey center.  Before the brain damage, he was a teacher in Baltimore.  He taught kids with special needs, and while he’s brash and bullheaded and can still be rather jerkish.  He’s an interesting person with lots of depth, and he’s the only Lantern whose ring sparks before he aims it (running theory being he’s so ready to go into a fight that his ring can’t contain his willpower).

So, for this coming week, embrace a few things about Guy.  Take a look at that one-off character and see if more can be done.  Mess about with a character’s background and personality and discover a depth or facet you weren’t expecting.

Make your ring spark, WriMos, because your determination and your talent can’t be held in.

In short, keep being awesome.

*You’re welcome.

It’s eight minutes to midnight, so we don’t have official numbers for the day just yet, but we’ve currently written nearly double our first day count, and by the time the clock rolls over to midnight, you amazing writers may very well blast past 100% improvement.

And if we don’t, who cares.  Because we’ve written over 300,000 words in two days, and that’s fantastic.

Remember, it’s all about willpower this week.  You’re Green Lanterns.  You can conquer anything with the sheer force of your will.  Push forward, Poozers!  We know you can do it!

Unofficial Word Count: 165,838

This puts us (without any U.S. areas showing numbers yet) fourth in the world.

I’m gonna repeat that:  fourth in the world.

We are only being trumped by New Zealand, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you are currently beating all of Europe.  All of it.

Rock on, you kickass WriMos.  Rock on.

But it was a red letter day in other ways.  Our write-in today is, Robert and I have decided, the biggest write-in we’ve ever had.  We had about 25 people.  If one more person had shown up, someone would have had to sit on the floor.  It was wonderful!  The Springfield region boasts 200+ Wrimos, and we got to see a tenth of that at today’s event.  A tenth!

Also, a quick shout-out to the wonderful staff on East Sunshine, who were incredibly welcoming, helpful, and curious abut the event.  They’ve got a great team out at that Panera, and it wouldn’t have been such a great write-in without them.

Here’s hoping first-day word counts are going smoothly for all of you under the umbrella of Springfield, MO.  If you’re feeling a little stressed, don’t worry; you’ve got 29 days left to make word count, and I’ve no doubt you’ll do it beautifully.

I’m off to make a sandwich while the site loads (poor Dan), and then I’m going to look at the Word Count tally and giggle at all the places we’re going to beat by the time our word count goes through at the end of the day.

Write on, you crazy WriMos!  Write on!

*Not really.

**Well, maybe a little.

All the brave midnight WriMos are–hopefully–tucking themselves securely into bed.  The midnight write-in was absolutely fantastic, and we had an awesome time!  Jokes were made!  Words were written!  Llamas wore hats (and I’ll never get it out of my head)!  We even found time to snap a few photos.

I want to say an enthusiastic thank you to all the people who braved the cold and the time and showed up to have a good time and get in some writing.  And to those of you who couldn’t make it, never fear!  The day has only just begun!  We’ll be at the Panera on East Sunshine (2924 East Sunshine Street, for you self-mapping types) from 3:00 PM-7:00 PM.  We’ll try to start writing as near to 3:00 as possible and end at about 6:45 so we have time to clean up a bit and pack everything away before the store closes at 7:00.  Come if you have any time at all!  We can’t wait to see you!

Currently, the Springfield word count is sitting at 0.  Can’t wait to see that jump sky high come the late evening.  But for the moment, I’ll wave goodnight to the zero and head off to bed, and you should do the same.  Day one will still be here when you wake up.

To those who couldn’t make it:  Never fear!  There’s plenty of chances left to join in on all the fun!

In fact, here’s one now!  While there is a super-cool and fun dares thread on the NaNo site, it is an all ages forum, and we respect that.  Which is why the comment section of this post will be a dares thread for the grown-ups.  Got a dare you want to share but it won’t pass all-ages muster?  Put it in the comments!

Again, just so you don’t forget:
INFORMATIONAL MEETING
WHEN: October 24, 3:oo-7:00 PM
WHERE: Panera on National and Elm (500 S. National, for you Googlemap types), in the meeting room
TO BRING: Never hurts to have a notebook and pen or even your computer.  We don’t write at the informational meet-up, but sometimes we doodle.
SPECIAL NOTE: You don’t have to stay for the full 3:00-7:00, and you don’t have to show up at 3:00.  We’ll be hanging out to greet anyone who comes in or wave goodbye to anyone who leaves before 7:00.  If you can’t make it until 4:58, that’s fine.

And, being the bringer of great good news, I have an updated schedule for those of you with your planners at the ready.  We’ve still got a couple of holes, but they’re in the process of being filled; I promise.  Write-ins marked in bold were previously noted by not scheduled anywhere.  Italicized write-ins are still under discussion.

Informational Meeting (because seeing it a third time can’t hurt)
Sunday, October 24; 3:00 PM-7:00 PM, Meeting room at the Panera at National and Elm

Write-Ins (Split by Weekend)
Saturday, October 31; Midnight Write-In (Location TBD)
Sunday, November 1: 3:00 PM-7:00 PM, Meeting Room at the Panera on East Sunshine

Friday, November 6; 6:00 PM-11:00 PM, Borders on South Glenstone, table in the back
Saturday, November 7; 12:00 PM-4:00 PM, PSU at Missouri State, first floor near Khaldi’s. (Leg #1 of Marathon Write-In)
Saturday, November 7; 4:30 PM-8:30 PM, Panera on National and Elm, Meeting Room (Leg #2 of Marathon Write-In)
Sunday, November 8; (Time and place TBD)

Friday, November 13; 6:00 PM-11:00 PM, Borders on South Glenstone, table in the back
Saturday, November 14; 12:00 PM-4:00 PM, Midtown Library (Downstairs)
Sunday, November 15; (Time and place TBD)

Friday, November 20; 6:00 PM-11:00 PM, Borders on South Glenstone, table in the back
Saturday, November 21; 12:00 PM-4:00 PM, San Francisco Oven on Republic (upstairs) (Leg #1 of Marathon Write-In)
Saturday, November 21; 4:30 PM-11:00 PM, PSU at Missouri State, first floor, near Khaldi’s (Leg #2 of Marathon Write-In)
Sunday, November 22; (Time and place TBD)

(No Write-Ins during Thanksgiving weekend.  We’re MLs; not slave drivers.)

Saturday, November 28; 3:00 PM-8:00 PM, Library Center (Storybook Room)
Sunday, November 29; (Time and place TBD)
Monday, November 30; (Time and place TBD)

Ridiculous Blow-Out of Achievement Party:
Saturday, December 5; (Time and place TBD)

Don’t worry about the currently empty Sunday dates (or the currently empty Monday at the end of the month), those are currently in discussion, and we should have an answer for you by next week.  Yes, we’re cutting it a little close, but that’s how it rolls sometimes.

If you have any ideas where to hold the Midnight Write-In, drop a line.  Steak & Shake was mentioned on the boards, and while we’re certainly not opposed to that fine establishment and its awesome cheese fries (seriously, they are amazing), concerns about outlets are a big factor in choosing not to work there.  What’s the point of a crazed midnight write-in if someone’s battery gets borked?

Hope to see you Saturday, October 24, 3:00-7:00 PM, Panera on National and Elm, in the meeting room. (No, I couldn’t resist one more plug.)

For those of you new to the madness, if you can’t get logged in our signed up for the first couple of days, don’t worry.  This is tradition.  Celebrate it!  Why, I remember a year when the NaNo site foze so badly my browser froze, and then I had to force quit (on a Mac! The horror!).  Hell, last year everything went swimmingly.  The site was a bit slow, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been in previous years.  And then the servers crashed because, well, that’s what NaNo servers do.  There was semi-serious discussion amongst a few of us to send the Chris Baty and his gang a case of good whiskey to do with as they saw fit.  Given the mood we suspected they were in, we figured there was a fairly good chance they’d use it as lighter fluid.

But, again, it’s all part of the experience.  Other parts of the experience you can look forward to this year:

• Ridiculous titles in the forum threads.  Because your MLs are like that.
• A lot of fantastically silly dares to keep you writing through your worst writers’ block.
• Carpools!  Oh, we love carpools!  And, in really, really good news, Gayle no longer drives a death machine!  Now she drives a roller skate that seats four! (and Robert drives a toaster!)
• Enough coffee, soda, and questionally nutritious food to keep a small army of writers constantly motivated.
• Swearing!  If you do not care for swearing, please let everyone (read: Gayle) know, and they (read: she) will try very hard to not make your ears burn.
• Robert occasionally leading us in a round of yelling, “BUS!” when we NaNo at the Panera on National and Elm.

To those returning WriMos, what’s missing?  And to those just joining us this year, we look forward to including you in the chaos!