Hmm. I guess I use pop culture references a bit. My MC once commented on being the Brett Favre of gymnastics, and Facebook, email, Twitter and a Jay Leno doppleganger get references.

I had the power out almost all of yesterday - 11 to 11, pretty much. So all my writing was done with it off. I thought that would be bad for it; but I got 4k. Exactly. As in, 4,000 words. Yeah. That was amazing. xDD
So I'm almost halfway!!!! And I have *too much* that needs to happen, instead of too little! Yay!
Too many exclamation points. xD

215 words so far.

Still plugging away at this... My mumsie's laptop has been having some technical issues this week (typical for the 2nd week of NaNo) and I don't think it likes me very much. I'm at about 15.6k so far.
I'm definitely going to be doing the 11/11/11 challenge thingy tomorrow and am hoping to actually get to 30k.

As for co-authoring, I'm a bad girl. I keep forgetting to upload what I've written to our Google Doc. Erm. I think I should go do that.

Happy NaNo-ing, everyone, and great work!

I'm also procrastinating at the moment, because I'm not quite sure where I'm going next in my story. I'm getting the feeling there's a serious lack of action...

But at least I finally figured out how to make the word count widget work!

*joins the party late*

My brother convinced me try NaNo just for the fun of it because he's doing it and wants a writing buddy. I've created stories ever since I first learned to read, but this is my first attempt at actually sitting down and writing one. I didn't start writing until Day 4 and right now I'm at only 10,630 words. *shrug* That's still more than I thought I would write when I first started.

My NaNo username is dragon_topaz. My book title right now is "Orders From On High" but I think that's kind of cheesy so I will probably change it as soon as I come up with something better.

I haven't been around in SUCH A LONG TIME! *le gasp*

I'm planning to hit 25k by the end of this weekend. My NaNo username is Swordmaid, and my book's called Celakim.

Welcome to the craziness that is NaNo, dot! 10k in such a short time is quite good; I'm only around 19k and I started on Day 1.

I've written a whopping 198 words today - almost 2% of the quantity needed to reach that 11/11/11 challenge (11,111 words today). The serious writing (I hope) will get underway shortly.

I thought semi-hard about doing the 11,111 challenge, but I decided it was too much... I'm going to be gone for at least 5 hours later on today. I might've been able to make it, but... I decided not to.
However, I'll probably end up at least a day ahead of schedule and end today at 20,000 or so.
I'll probably lose the lead over the weekends though- for some reason weekends are the hardest to write for me...

I finished two books so far this month, and they weren't really thin ones. Now that I don't have anything to read- maybe I'll write more.

/ramble

Have you all done any wordle's so far?

Here's one of mine.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4395673 ... r_-_Day_11

About your questions:

1. Word wars are (generally) informal competitions between writers to see who can write the most words in a specific amount of time (like 10 or 20 minutes). It's all part of that incentive to get to 50k.

2. I've never published so I can't answer this definitely, but I imagine the opportunity to edit exists. One of the 'goodies' of winning NaNo is a special code that allows you to get a free copy of your book. You have time to edit before submitting the manuscript.

3. This is my third year. I won last year but not in 2009; real life kept me down to about 35k words that year (though I did eventually finish that story).

Regarding your response to:
-My question #1: Cool! That must be fun! Thanks for explaining!

-My question #2: I think that this opportunity to get a free copy of your book through NaNo was what I meant when I said "published". I knew it wasn't published for real, but my mom had told me about a NarniaWebber she had met who read from their NaNo book. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same thing - and it's good that one can edit one's story before submitting it! Have you ever got a copy of one of your stories?

-My question #3: Neato! And congratulations!!

Oh, and Nellie:1. I *think* word warring is when you and a group of people get together and compete to see how many words you can get in a certain time frame.
2. Yes, it says in the beginning email that December and beyond is for editing.
3. ME!!!

Thanks for explaining, Lucy Queen of the Sea! And best wishes for this, your first year doing NaNo!

Soo . . I just thought I lost all but a few thousand words of my book. Yeah. I cried. A lot.
And my brother couldn't find a way to get it back. And then I told my sister, and she googled it, and - lo and behold. I have, officially, the best sister that ever was. I cried again, but for a different reason. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Makes me love my book.

Wow. That must have been quite frightening, Elanor! I'm so glad your sister was able to help you find that part of your story again. You must have been very relieved!

Question #3: who all is doing NaNo for the first time this year?

I am! I found out about NaNo on this thread last year right before November, and I was too unprepared (and chicken) to do anything. But this year I actually remembered in time to plan!

Good for you, hogglestock! All the best to you in your writing this year! (And, by the way, I love your username and avatar. So cute! It's been a while since I've read Prince Caspian, so I had forgotten about this character, but sure enough, when I looked him up, there he was in the book being introduced to Caspian along with the other Old Narnians. Cool!)

Nellie, I'm a first timer NaNo'er too. Though I did do Camp NaNo this year (and failed ).

That's great, Lady Courage! And what's Camp NaNo? (*Has heard of this, but really doesn't know what it is...*)

I'm going to need so much encouragement...

I haven't had the chance to hit 10k yet. I haven't even been able to write since Friday, because I have so much going on, and I'm leaving from the 9th through the 13th. I'm going to be so behind!!!

*Cheers winterlife on!!*

Have I mentioned that I hate my novel?

I really do. I really really really do. Really. In other words, I am stuck in a rut. The 5 Zone. The Second-Week Slump. Whatever you call it, it has me. Ugh *headdesk...er, headwall*

Aww, I feel for you, ChristProclamer! Hopefully you'll get out of this rut/slump thing soon! (And I hope you come to like your novel in time, too. Or at least not hate it!)

*joins the party late*

Welcome, daughter of the King! (I'm actually not doing NaNo - this year, anyway - but I've been enjoying coming on this thread to see how people are doing and encourage them! Glad you're here! )

I haven't been around in SUCH A LONG TIME! *le gasp*

Welcome back, Fara Swiftblade!

I finally got to 17k. Hurrah! I never thought I would make it this far.

Got mah 50k! So happy, since this NaNo started out as the hardest yet.

I'm currently sitting at 8567/11,111 with a little over an hour and a half to go. I can do it, I just need to hunker down and write, lol. At least the plot is moving a long a bit steadier!

Someone save me! My main character is having a dark side episode and I can't make him likeable! That and my main female is coming off as too cold and tough... I hate it when I ruin my own characters' lives. *insert self-destruct emoticon here*

NOTE: this is not meant to be taken entirely seriously, nor do I have suicidal tendancies. I'm just really frustrated with myself... And Jath. He's really turning out to be a sith lord in the making.

So, did anyone actually make 11,111? (I assume Gymmie did, because she's awesome like that. )

I originally wasn't even going to try, because I had to work... but I stayed up late and tried really hard to wring plot episodes from the depths of my brain where they've been hiding. (It's been kind of a "my novel hates me" year so far, with the characters meandering around and rabbit-trailing as slowly as possible, and... well, if you've been there you know what I mean!)

It came down to 3 minutes before midnight, and I had 559 words left to write. So I didn't make it, but I hope someone else did.

I got 30k yesterday. My book is horrible, characters are nasty, cliche and wrong, but - 30k! And much fun.
Congrats Gymmie!