Scheduling for NaNo!

For those NaNo Rebels who missed it, I posted about our new hashtag over at my other blog, along with asking what your goals were for NaNovember. Get your butt over there and deal with that. Then come back. I'll wait.

Done? Good.

Okay, so one of the things we talked about doing was virtual write-ins. My plan is to do them on Chatzy because it's easy, but that means we won't be able to have a link until close to doing it. So...you'll have to check the blogs and/or facebook/twitter. However, you don't need me to lead these things. I'm here as a facilitator mainly. If I can't do a write-in when a bunch of you want to, let me know and I'll still post it on the schedule along with who's leading that puppy.

But... if we want to schedule them in advance, we need an idea of when people are available. I'm in Michigan, so eastern time, but I know other people are elsewhere. In order to get our butts organized, I'd like everyone to give a general idea of where they are state/province/country if not US/Canada, timezone, and a rough idea of when you are most available for writing/write-ins.

Also, make sure we have your twitter handle if you're on twitter so we can follow each other. Most people that I follow already, I'm following as @Selestedelaney, so if you haven't followed me yet, follow that me (or both of me if you want, but that's where I'll follow back from). And feel free to poke me with an @mention if I haven't followed you yet.

To kick things off, I'd like to do a Nov. 1 write-in. I'd say do a midnight est one on Halloween, but timezones make that unworkable. My unavailable times are before noon and between about 4-10 pm. 10pm-2am are my prime writing hours. Let me know who could make it sometime on Tuesday and we'll set it up. :)

Our list of #NaNoRebels:

(Name/Twitter Handle/Timezone/best availability)

Julie Particka(Seleste deLaney) / @Selestedelaney / eastern / 12-3:30pm & 10pm-2am

Gareth / @FalcataTimes

Noelle Pierce / @NoellePierce

Danielle LaPaglia / @Dannigrrl5

J.A. Campbell / @PFirewolf

Terri / @Angbuf

Tammy Crosby / @CrosbyWrites

Misha (CanadianSportsChick) / ?

Katee Robert / @Katee_Robert

Kelly Metz / @bwlrgrl300

Rae Lori / @RaeLori

Chrissey / @ArcadeStarlet

Donna / @DBReynoldswrite

Todd DeSilva / @todddesilva

Janelle Alexander / @Janellealexandr

Sean Hayden / @ShaydenFl / eastern

NaNo Rebels and Team Purple

I'll get to the NaNoRebels stuff at the end. First, though, I want to talk about something more important. What's more important than NaNo, you ask?

Bullying.

That's right. Last year on 10/20, people wore purple in support of the It Gets Better Project. I'm wearing my purple now, are you? If not, you should be, because there's a damn good chance bullying touched your life in some way. Were you the bully? Were you the one on the receiving end of the beat-downs (mental, emotional or physical)? Was someone you loved?

It Gets Better is a program aimed specifically to LGBT youth, but the problem of bullying is so pervasive that none of it should be ignored. In some ways, we've made strides and certain things that were once commonly used insults have--at least among most young people--have fallen out of fashion. It's no longer "cool" to call someone a fag or a retard or numerous other things. But bullying still exists and it's not okay.

When I used to teach high school, there were teachers who were incensed at the idea of their students using certain words (nigger, fag, dyke, retard...the list goes on) because they saw it as a form of bullying. But the openly gay student whose locker was broken into? He was the one fined for the damage. The chubby girl? It was perfectly acceptable in their minds for insults to be hurled her way. Apparently those were descriptive. Pardon me while I throw up all over again. These teachers even went so far as to make snide comments about a parent after conferences because the woman had the gaul to wear a leather skirt to conferences--the tramp.

This tramp made sure to wear leather to school every day for the rest of the semester.

The fact of the matter is, bullying doesn't stop once you're out of your teens. But it does get better, because the people who aren't assholes grow up and are against bullying. They stand in the corners of the people being mis-treated. It gets better because you know you aren't alone.

I told a friend today that I hope a time comes when we don't need to wear purple on 10/20. When bullying in all its forms disappears because the bullies no longer get the attention they crave. But until that time comes, I am Team Purple. Are you?

As for my NaNoRebels. Last week's post has a list of people participating. If you want to pimp this out and get a bigger group, please do. The more the merrier. In the meantime, the lovely Tammy Crosby has made us a little thing to put on our blogs (button? avatar? picture square?). I love it and I hope you do too. I might even use it as my twitter pic in November :) Grab it and help promote the cause. Mine in the sidebar will link back to the sign-up post. If you want to do the same, here's the linky for that: http://julieparticka.blogspot.com/2011/10/welcome-nanorebels.html

Welcome #NaNoRebels!

As many of you know, I have an unhealthy love for NaNoWriMo (if you don't know what that is, check out their site here). This year I'm faced with a November full of what if. There are a number of things going on right now, and any or all of them could come to fruition in November, which will alter my 50k words plan. (To put it in perspective, any of them would befabulous things, so I'm not complaining.)

What that means is, my NaNo is potentially going to be an exercise in change where I jump from one project to another to another. And I'm not the only one. My writing group (the Rebels), has some people who are spending November on heavy-duty revisions, some who are writing the 50k, some that are doing a bunch of smaller projects, and some who are determined to finish a project without worrying about that blasted 50k. Add to that the fact that my local NaNo group doesn't work for me, and...

it's time for #NaNoRebels.

This is not limited to my writing group. We stuck with Rebels because we're not necessarily worrying about the official rules. You already started your project? Awesome. You're a Rebel and can join us too. This project will be running on both this blog (YA) and my adult blog in tandem. On Tuesdays, I'll post there with an updated list of when we have scheduled virtual write-ins (I will probably set up a lot of them, but other people can do this too, just make sure I have the time and URL and I'll get it on the list.) On Thursdays, I'll post here and we'll all do status updates and commiserate with stories and rants from the previous week. (Feel free to rant at the other blog too, but just to give a basic idea of what's where.)

In addition, we're going to use the hashtag #NaNoRebels on Twitter for whatever chitchat we want as well as reminders about upcoming virtual write-ins.

What I want from you. Let me know if you want to play along. I'd really like it if you followed/joined/GFCd the blog (one or both, you know, just to make me happy) and put something in the comments that lets me know you're going to be a Rebel too. The last Thursday of this month, there will be a post where you respond with your goals for NaNo.

So please, join in, tell your friends, and get your fingers warmed up. It's going to be an interesting November.

Our list of #NaNoRebels:

Julie Particka/Seleste deLaney

Gareth/Falcata Times

Noelle Pierce

Danielle LaPaglia/Dannigrrl5

J.A. Campbell/PFirewolf

Terri/Angbuf

Tammy Crosby/CrosbyWrites

CanadianSportsChick/Misha

Katee Robert

Kelly Metz/bwlrgrl300

Rae Lori

Chrissey/ArcadeStarlet

Donna/DBReynoldswrite

Todd DeSilva / @todddesilva

Janelle Alexander / @Janellealexandr

Jennifer Baker / @BronwynK

Sean Hayden / @ShaydenFl

Update: the blog follow thing is fubar. I'm getting on fixing it now. Please follow when you can!