1. Bucket List: The Night of Writing Dangerously

    November 22, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Bucket List, Geek Events, Travel, Writing by Kristina Horner

    For 7 years now, I have dedicated my Novembers to pounding out novel after novel, fighting against the odds to prove that I CAN do anything I set my mind to. And for nearly as long, other Wrimos across the country have gathered in San Francisco for one night of that month to experience this challenge together, with food, drink, and merriment.

    When I started NaNoWriMo, I was in college. So not only was I writing an obscene amount of words in a month, I was doing it amidst homework! Amidst tests and class periods and my part time job! And each year I thought, “Maybe I’ll make it down to San Francisco this year,” but each year threw new obstacles in my way, and traveling for the sake of writing never fit into my crazy schedule.

    But on this, my eighth year of reckless novel abandon, my friend and writing cohort Liz and I decided THIS. This was our year.

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    I have many blog posts already about the road trip, so for this, let’s focus on the event itself. This is also my very first bucket list post! If you want to see the other things on my (still growing) bucket list, you can check that out here.

    Anyway, Liz and I got dressed up (the theme was Noir) and arrived at the ballroom via Lyft. Let me just tell you, this ballroom was gorgeous. It was located in the Merchant Exchange building right in the middle of the city, and the view was fabulous. There were tables everywhere, a little podium up front for speakers, and raffle prizes along the wall.

    The open bar had fun novelty drinks such as the Noveltini, Cosmonovelton and GimLit. The Noveltini was my favorite. There was also a candy bar, where writers could refill a little white bag with enough sugar as they would need to get them through the write-a-thon. Dinner was fabulous and consisted of too many delicious things for me to even remember, and of course, throughout the night, they also served us donut holes and had a late night milk & cookie bar. The food was by far one of the best parts of the evening.

    As far as activities went, sometimes it felt like there was almost too much to do! There was food to eat (as I mentioned), writers to mingle with, staff to meet, booze to drink, and a professional “author portrait” studio set up in back. Anyone attending the gala could get their photo snapped for use on our NaNo author pages, potential book jackets someday, who knows! That was a lot of fun. There were also timed writing sprints over the course of the night, as well as table wars, which encouraged the different tables of writers to get as many words written as they could so as not to let down your other table mates. It was a good motivator.

    I was too excited about everything going on to take many pictures, so instead of seeing the gala itself, you get this selfie.

    I was too excited about everything going on to take many pictures, so instead of seeing the gala itself, you get this selfie.

    Let me talk about the tables for a second. It was a beautiful sight. The people running this event clearly know what they’re doing, as every single table in that ballroom had a powerstrip beneath it for attendees to plug their laptops into. Just try and imagine a gorgeous banquet room filled with people dressed to the nines with their laptops in a circle around their fancy tables. It was a sight to behold; especially when laptops were favored over other items and no one knew where to put their plates, wine glasses or candy bags. It was a juggling act, but made for great conversation. And, as far as I know, nothing was spilled on anyone’s computer.

    After the food, another big highlight for me was getting to finally meet the people behind NaNoWriMo. This event has literally helped shape the last eight years of my life, and so much of that time was spent alone in my room, fingers poised above a laptop. Getting to not only meet and hug the people who created this crazy project, but to be in a room of 250 others who so completely understand what this project means to me was overwhelming. I might have gotten a little emotional.

    I first met Shelby Gibbs and Tim Kim back at LeakyCon this summer, and they are the ones who convinced Liz and I to make the trip to San Francisco for the event. It was so lovely to see them again, and to get to meet Chris Angotti, the Director of Programs, Grant Faulkner, the Executive Director, Tavia Stewart-Streit, the Deputy Director, and so many others! And everyone knew who I was! Writing that NaNoWriMo song was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I had a lot of people come up to me and tell me they listen to it every year to get pumped to start writing. That meant more than anyone could ever imagine.

    I also got to announce the second table war, as well as saying who won when it was over. I had a blast, especially because it meant I got the microphone for a small amount of time. Of course I used that opportunity to ask for a show of hands for who pronounces it my way, “na-no-wree-mo”. I lost, overwhelmingly, but hey! There were at least twenty or so people who raised their hands!

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    Getting to attend this event was something Liz and I have only ever dreamed of doing. We both managed to write about 2,500 words over the course the evening, made friends with our tablemates, stuffed ourselves with food and drink and went home exhausted but so, so happy. The crazy long road trip we took to get there was completely worth it. I am extremely happy with my very first bucket list item, and if everything on that list is as fun as this first one, then I highly look forward to starting to cross them off over the rest of my life.

    There’s still 8 days left of NaNoWriMo! Who’s still in? How much would you like to be able to attend an event like this, dedicated solely to writing and to raising money to help empower others to write books? It was a dream come true, for me. Thanks for reading, and hopefully my next bucket list item won’t be too far off.

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  2. NaNo Thoughts #2

    November 13, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Journal, Nerd Topics, Travel, Writing by Kristina Horner

    I was so dedicated to not falling behind in word count on my trip to New York, but I came home exhausted and about 2,300 behind anyway. I was disappointed, but, by some crazy force of madness within me, I managed to write something like 6,000 words in 2 days and hit 20,000 right on time last night in an hour long word sprint I hosted on Twitter. It’s been a crazy couple of days, guys.

    And it’s only about to get crazier.

    I’m heading down to San Francisco tomorrow on a road trip to finally, finally attend the Night of Writing Dangerously, a party/write-a-thon for donors to the Office of Letters and Light. It’s a time to dress up fancy (I hear the theme is Noir) and raise a glass (and a pen) to the organization that tirelessly brings us NaNoWriMo, year after year. I couldn’t be more pumped.

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    I have always wanted to go, but it’s never been practical before to figure out a trip to San Francisco amidst the already crazy time-management of writing 50,000 words in a month. However, this summer I had the pleasure of meeting NaNo staff at LeakyCon, and combined with the perfect storm of also still having my Ford Fiesta, my main writing buddy Liz and I knew this year was the year. We’re taking turns driving (and, subsequently, writing) as we embark on the trip of a lifetime. What should I wear? I haven’t even started packing!!

    I’ve been running a funding page for the event I’d like to point you in the direction of – the amount you need to raise for the event is $250, but this program has done so much for me that I am really trying to raise double that. My goal is $500 and ultimately this project will be the video I make for the Project 4 Awesome this year, so I really would love if people could check it out. Donating to my page sends the money to the same place as if you donated it directly to the Office of Letters and Light. Helping them reach their funding goals ensures we have NaNoWriMo for years to come!

    On that note, who’s on track with 20,000 words today? How crazy is it that we’re nearly at the halfway point? This November is flying by, and I’m happy to report I am still enjoying my story this year. But then again, I haven’t hit the 30,000 blues yet…. that should happen right on schedule around the time of the Write-a-Thon this Sunday, so hopefully being in a room full of insane writers (I mean that in the kindest way possible; I’m one of them) will help drive me through that.

    Let me know your mid-month NaNo thoughts in the comments below, and I’ll be sure to report all of the fun goings-on at the event this weekend.

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  3. NaNo Thoughts #1

    November 5, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Journal, Writing by Kristina Horner

    If you’re following me on either one of my twitter accounts, I’m sure you’ve already gotten a general sense of how this National Novel Writing Month is going:

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    That twitter post was from a few days ago, when starting a 50,000 word writing marathon during a cold as well as 25 hours of gaming was a bit…. overwhelming for me.

    Now it’s Day 5 and I’ve just about caught up to where I am supposed to be. Today’s goal is 8,333 and I’m sitting at 7,122 with the intention of writing more tonight. It’s a good feeling.

    HOWEVER! Tomorrow I leave for New York for 5 days. I just never make it easy for myself.

    It’s going to be a trying month, but that’s honestly one of the things I love most about NaNoWriMo. Seeing these very obvious roadblocks in my path and figuring out how to crush them.

    The word sprints I’ve done so far have been extremely helpful and lots of people on twitter have been joining in! It’s so nice to see so many people participating. It really makes the whole thing so much more fun.

    This is just going to be a short blog post, but I’ll hopefully be updating from New York. Except fun outfit of the day posts and perhaps even a review or two of some Broadway shows! Can’t wait!

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  4. NaNoWriMo/Extra Life

    November 1, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Journal, Nerd Topics, Writing by Kristina Horner

    Hello blog readers!

    Today is one of the craziest days of the year and of course, because fate is cruel – I’m a big pile of sniffling, achey congestion. So even though tomorrow I plan to play 25 hours straight hours of video games to raise money for Seattle Children’s Hospital, and it’s the start of my month-long novel writing marathon… the only thing I’m working toward today is seeing if it’s possible to use an entire box of Kleenex in a single sitting.

    Currently I’m winning.

    I’m also currently sitting at 315 words on my NaNoWriMo novel, because I’m a boss. And by “boss” I mean “really disappointed that the first year I’m finally not hungover from post Halloween shenanigans, my head feels like it’s going to explode anyway”.

    Anyway, every word I type here is both taking up energy I don’t have and keeping me away from working on my word count (…or napping) so I’ll make this short and sweet.

    1. If you interested at all in Extra Life, the gaming marathon to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, you can check out our live stream starting at 8am on November 2nd and going until 8am the following day. We have a whole list of activities planned that you can read about here, and if you feel sufficiently moved, you can also make a donation here. It’s for the kids. 🙂

    2. If there’s any part of you that ever even once thought “NaNoWriMo sounds like fun…” today is your day. Just start. Start writing and see where it takes you. Finally give yourself the gift of time and focus and just start. Sign up on NaNoWriMo.org and add me as a writing buddy!

    And if you want to send any good, healing thoughts my way… that would be much appreciated. I’m quite tired of this cold and would like to get on with all the marathoning I have planned for this month.

    Let me know what you’re writing about for NaNoWriMo this month in the comments. I love hearing what other people are doing! And good luck!

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  5. Video: NaNoWriMo Pep Talk!

    October 9, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Geek Events, Writing, YouTube videos by Kristina Horner

    In addition to being in up to my eyeballs in Halloween party planning and putting together another epic 24 hour live show for Extra Life – I’ve also got the pre NaNoWriMo jitters something fierce. We’re still three weeks out, but I find it creeping into the back of my mind pretty regularly already. What am I going to write? How am I going to make the time? Is anyone going to do it with me?

    That’s why I decided to post a pep talk video early this year, to make sure those of you on the fence about it have ample time to mull it over. Here is that video!

     

    I will likely be posting more videos to help participants along this year, as well as hosting my usual word sprints on twitter. Make sure you’re following me if you want to join in the fun!

    I’ll also be heading down to San Francisco for the Night of Writing Dangerously – it’s a gala/write-a-thon they throw every year to raise money for their organization (as well as their free creative writing programs in hundreds of schools and communities all over the place), which I am all about supporting. I am trying to raise $500, which is minuscule compared to the amount this project has done for me over the years. If you’re interested in donating, here’s a link to my funding page.

    How do you decide what to write each year? Usually I start with format – do I want to write a “diary” book? First person? Letters between people? Back and fort POV between two characters? Then I figure out the genre I’m interested in, and then start to flesh out the details. Let me know your methods in the comments!

     

    And as usual, if you get stuck, you can always rewatch my NaNoWriMo music video. It’ll be trapped in your head for days, at the very least. 🙂

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  6. Time’s 100 Best Books of All Time

    October 4, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Nerd Topics, Writing by Kristina Horner

    I’ve had this list saved on a page in Evernote for months; when I realized I didn’t have any ideas for today’s blog post, it seemed like just the thing to do. What are we doing exactly? We are embarrassing ourselves with how not well read we are. This is Time’s 100 Best Books of All Time. The list was compiled by Time magazine’s critics Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, and I’m about to show you how many I’ve actually read cover to cover.

    The Adventures of Augie March
    All the King’s Men
    American Pastoral
    An American Tragedy
    Animal Farm
    Appointment in Samarra
    Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret 
    The Assistant
    At Swim-Two-Birds
    Atonement
    Beloved
    The Berlin Stories
    The Big Sleep
    The Blind Assassin
    Blood Meridian
    Brideshead Revisited
    The Bridge of San Luis Rey 
    Call It Sleep
    Catch-22
    The Catcher in the Rye
    A Clockwork Orange
    The Confessions of Nat Turner
    The Corrections
    The Crying of Lot 49
    A Dance to the Music of Time
    The Day of the Locust
    Death Comes for the Archbishop
    A Death in the Family
    The Death of the Heart
    Deliverance
    Dog Soldiers
    Falconer
    The French Lieutenant’s Woman
    The Golden Notebook
    Go Tell it on the Mountain
    Gone with the Wind
    The Grapes of Wrath
    Gravity’s Rainbow
    The Great Gatsby
    A Handful of Dust
    The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
    The Heart of the Matter
    Herzog
    Housekeeping
    A House for Mr. Biswas
    I, Claudius
    Infinite Jest
    Invisible Man
    Light in August
    The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
    Lolita
    Lord of the Flies
    The Lord of the Rings
    The Moviegoer
    Loving
    Lucky Jim
    The Man Who Loved Children
    Midnight’s Children
    Money
    Mrs. Dalloway
    Naked Lunch
    Native Son
    Neuromancer
    Never Let Me Go
    1984
    On the Road
    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
    The Painted Bird
    Pale Fire
    A Passage to India
    Play It As It Lays
    Portnoy’s Complaint
    Possession
    The Power and the Glory
    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
    Rabbit, Run
    Ragtime
    The Recognitions
    Red Harvest
    Revolutionary Road
    The Sheltering Sky
    Slaughterhouse Five
    Snow Crash
    The Sot-Weed Factor
    The Sound and the Fury
    The Sportswriter
    The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
    The Sun Also Rises
    Their Eyes Were Watching God
    Things Fall Apart
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    To the Lighthouse
    Tropic of Cancer
    Ubik
    Under the Net
    Under the Volcano
    Watchmen
    White Noise
    White Teeth
    Wide Sargasso Sea

    So… 10 out of 100. That’s terrible. And to be perfectly honest, most of those were books I read for school. There were a few titles I am so ashamed I haven’t read (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Slaughterhouse Five, A Clockwork Orange, 1984) that I almost didn’t post this list, but I figured it would be a good catalyst for discussion. So here is my literary shame. Also, I didn’t count the ones I have only seen the movie of (Lord of the Rings, Never Let Me Go, etc).

    How many have you read on this list? Why do you think we often shy away from these classics? How important is it that we read them? Let me know in the comments!

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  7. Why NaNoWriMo is Important to Me

    October 2, 2013 ♥ Posted in: Geek Events, Journal, Writing by Kristina Horner

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    This will be my eighth year participating in NaNoWriMo. I sort of can’t believe it. I remember so vividly how I found out about it and honestly, it feels like no time has passed… but in fact, seven novels worth of time have passed since that day (and here I am mentally preparing for number eight).

    I was at home in my bedroom at my parent’s house. This is really embarrassing to admit, but I had this “friend” on AIM that I had never spoken with, but kept her on my buddy list because I thought her away messages and buddy profile were funny. I don’t even entirely remember, but I think she was a fanfiction author I had admired but never worked up the courage to say hello to. It was 2005; I was 17 years old, give me a break. Around the time of November, her away messages starting referencing this project she was working on, something called NaNoWriMo. After a few days my curiosity got the best of me and I finally clicked the link.

    What I found on the other end quite literally changed my life.

    I wrote a lot of fanfiction in middle school and high school. I had always loved writing, and fanfiction seemed like the only way to get other people interested in reading your words. People love hearing about what new capers Harry, Ron and Hermione got themselves into – so I wrote my crappy fanfiction – and people read it. It was a beautiful thing. But as I got older, I didn’t just want to use other people’s characters. I tried my foray into fictionpress.com (fanfiction.net’s sister site for original works) and people just didn’t care. It was disheartening. It made me want to stop writing.

    But then I found NaNoWriMo. A site dedicated to encouraging writers to do what they were meant to do: WRITE. Constantly. For a whole month.

    I will preface this by saying that even after seven novel attempts, I still haven’t shared much of my work with any other living, breathing humans – but that wasn’t the point of NaNoWriMo for me. While I craved the comments and feedback on my fanfiction, NaNoWriMo made writing a whole new animal for me… rather than a solitary task I did alone in my bedroom against the protest of my mom who wanted me to come out and actually interact with people sometimes. Suddenly NaNoWriMo gave me not only a supportive community of other writers to talk with and gain encouragement from, but it managed to somehow turn my favorite lonely solo activity into a sport. One where people root for each other!

    It’s been such a positive force in my life, even when it means I am ignoring plans with friends, falling behind in TV shows, or working myself into a stupor. It’s the kind of exhaustion you earn after a job well done, and I look forward to it year after year. I learned that writing is much less about those immediate comments you receive on fanfiction.net, but about cultivating the skills required to take on such a gargantuan task on your own. About learning discipline, and powering through something even when it seems impossible, and how good it feels when inspiration truly hits.

    I recommend NaNoWriMo to anyone who has ever had even the smalled nugget of an idea for a story in their brains. If you want to follow my progress in the coming months, here’s my profile. And if you’re at all interested in helping out the nonprofit behind this wonderful event, I’m raising money for their annual gala on my personal fundraising page here.

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