This Saturday, September 29, the National Novel Writing Month is being celebrated in San Francisco at The Bindery at 4 pm. I’ll be one of the guest speakers.
This announcement is quoted from the official invitation:
The Kick-Off will include a raffle, guest speakers, lots of hanging out and camaraderie. We look forward to talking with you and hearing about your projects. It is always fun for us to meet before Nano gets started – make some new friends, get some writing buddies, meet the fine folks you will be writing with in November! Remember, even if you are shy, we don’t bite. Just find local liaisons Rachel or Barrington and they will help you meet your compatriots, if you need help with introductions. RSVP here so we know how much snacky stuff to get. We will also go through rules and region-specific write-in stuff, as well as reveal our super-fantastic-like-whoa Thank Goodness It’s Over venue.
Official Nanowrimo Business:
You can now create your novel on the website, if you are ready to do so.
Forums are heating up, so if you feel like chatting with like-minded people on the internet, have we got some forums for you!
The Nano store has some cute new stuff if you feel like getting anything or making a donation.
Kick-Off Business:
We’ve gotten some lovely raffle prizes (some donated, so we’ll have some thank you cards at Kick-Off if anyone cares to sign them!) for people to win. Raffle tickets are only $5 each and all proceeds will go towards regional expenses during Nano as well as towards things for TGIO. If there are funds left over after TGIO, we will donate them to Nano in the name of our fabulous region.
Raffle prizes so far:
Autographed copy of Pep Talks for Writers, by our very own Grant Faulkner (Thanks, Grant!)
10 Tote bags from Green Apple Books (we might put things in them, not sure yet!), donated by the good folks at Green Apple (Big thanks!)
A $25 dollar gift certificate to Christopher’s Books in Potrero Hill (Thanks, Christopher’s!)
An assortment of books donated by Chronicle Books, one of our favorite local book publishers! Huge thanks, Chronicle Books! (writerly books, really lovely ones!)
This year’s official Nanowrimo poster (so cute!)
“Writer’s Emergency Kits” – a mug, tea or coffee, and some chocolate, for emergency use only!
5 Gorgeous fountain pens, handpicked by Barrington (And he’s a man of taste, so… Just saying!)
A copy of Brenda Ueland’s If You Want To Write (this book helped me while I was getting my MFA in writing)
Some books donated by our friends at Stripe
Some books donated by our very generous guest speaker writers
Here is the list of guest speakers:
Judith Janeway is the award-winning author of four novels. Her lifelong love of mystery and suspense infuses her recent works, The Magician’s Daughter and the psychological thriller, Odds of Dying. The Street Artist, a piece of flash fiction, won the Orlando Prize and was published in the Los Angeles Review. Judith also has a short story, Get A Life, in the forthcoming Sisters in Crime anthology, Fault Lines. Website: JudithJaneway.com Instagram: @judithjanewayauthor Twitter: @judithjaneway
S.G. Browne is the author of the novels Breathers, Fated, Lucky Bastard, Big Egos, and Less Than Hero, as well as the short story collection Shooting Monkeys in a Barrel and the heartwarming holiday novella I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus. He’s an ice cream connoisseur, Guinness aficionado, cat enthusiast, and a sucker for It’s a Wonderful Life. You can learn more about his writing at www.sgbrowne.com.
Loren Rhoads is the author or editor of 11 books, including 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, the succubus novel Lost Angels, and a space opera trilogy called In the Wake of the Templars. This is her 15th year doing Nanowrimo — and her fourth year hosting Nanowrimo write-ins at Borderlands Bookstore. Her home is lorenrhoads.com.
Keith White’s fondness for Detective fiction (suspense/mystery) and historical supernatural thrillers is evident in the 5 novels he has written. Three of his novels, The Missing Target, Town of No Exit, and Dark Reckoning have all received favorable reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s weekly reviewers. Town of no Exit was a semi finalist in last year’s Book Life Prize for Fiction by Publishers Weekly. Since 2001, he’s taught creative writing and self-defense as a volunteer teacher during the school year to 4th and 5th graders at an elementary school in San Francisco. He also never has, and never will, eat a banana.
