m. c. de marco

Drumroll please.... On October 7 at 10 AM Pacific, we are merging the user databases of the old and new websites in preparation for Monday's launch. (Ten Ten! Fist pump!)

That is a fancy way of saying that if you update your profile, novel info, or user settings after 10 AM Pacific on Friday, your changes won't show up when the site launches on Monday.

This weekend, you can still access the site, the forums, and your profile. But that profile info will have already migrated over to the shiny new site for safekeeping.

You also still have the weekend to save old NaNoMail and any forums threads you don't wish to lose.

Now go make all those changes to your profile you've been dying to make! Because after 10 AM tomorrow, it's "pencils down" for the rest of the weekend when it comes to updating your profile.

Have a great weekend! We'll be here putting the final flourishes on NaNoWriMo.org 2011, baby.

Flourishing,

Lindsey

As you well know, we're relaunching NaNoWriMo.org on October 10. (Ten Ten!)

In the meantime, the Young Writers Program Director Chris Angotti pulled the curtains back with a flourish over on the YWP website. (Ten Three!)

And the Donation Station and Store is now restocked with 2011 merchandise, much of which bears timeless quotes by NaNoWriMo founder Chris Baty.

The store now sports a sweet messenger bag (you heard me!), a polo shirt (wassup, casual Fridays?), journal, travel mug, and so much more. (Key chains! Sticker packs! New donor goodies!)

And that's not even all. We're still waiting for a USB bracelet (2 GB, y'all), a pullover sweatshirt, and the noveling workbook, Ready, Set, Novel! by Chris Baty, Tavia, and yours truly!

Epic times in the store. Epic times in NaNoLand!

Before Monday, October 10, please remember to back up any NaNoMail and forums posts that you don't want to lose in the relaunch.

For my part, I feel the need to go strut around the office in my new polo shirt.

Strutting,

Lindsey

Campers far and wide, can you hear the cow bell clanging, summoning you to the main hall? We have a very important announcement, and a favor to ask of you.

The Camp NaNoWriMo 2011 Participant Survey is ready and waiting for your feedback. We are so curious to learn more about your experience at Camp NaNoWriMo, and we'll use your input (yours!) to make next year's sessions even better.

To thank you for your participation in this important project, we're giving away three Camp NaNoWriMo Care Packages to randomly selected survey participants.

Please fill out the survey by October 31, and then stay tuned for the drawing results on November 1!

You may now resume your regularly scheduled September.

Lindsey

The end of September is a big deal around here for so many reasons.

To name a few: we're stacking up the new merchandise in our warehouse and entering it into our online store; putting the finishing touches on all 2011 web badge and certificate designs; holding packing nights to prepare free resource kits for classrooms, bookstores, and libraries; signing up the 2011 team of Municipal Liaisons…

Oh, and relaunching NaNoWriMo.org on a new framework. There's that, too.

This September, we're also saying "Bon Voyage" with so many thanks to Tupelo Hassman, while welcoming Tim Kim, former intern and new Office Captain, to the OLL family.

Learn more about Tupe's plans (book tour!) and Tim's background (David Beckham makes a cameo) over on the blog.

Tim, we are so thrilled to have you. And Tupelo, we already miss you so.

Between the changing leaves, the shorter days, the new beginnings, and all these hellos and goodbyes, I am getting quite misty-eyed!

Off to forage for a hanky,
Lindsey

Howdy, weekend Wrimos!

We've got some important news about the NaNoWriMo.org rebuild and relaunch rolling out to your inboxes. In case you miss the email, it's also posted on the site.

Read up on the plan for NaNoWriMo's 2011 unveiling!

Community Liaison Sarah also offered me a virtual cupcake to remind you that applications to become a Municipal Liaison for the 2011 event close on Monday. Those participants who have already applied for the post will hear from Sarah next week.

Wiping virtual icing off my face,

Lindsey

Take a peek inside the 2011 YWP classroom kits!

It's that time again! Once a year, all of our little electronic house elves scurry around our beloved, but cluttered website, with their little brooms, mobs, trash bins, earth movers and dump trucks to clean things up and prepare for the launch of the next NaNoWriMo season. It's what the YWP kids call the Great White Wipe!

What does this mean to you, you ask?

It means that the forums will disappear… all the threads that have accumulated over the past year will vanish, to be filed away and eventually posted in the site archives. Your novel info will be scrubbed clean, old NaNo-mails will be removed, and you will be presented with a clean slate for the next event!

Thing we will save:

1. Your author info
2. Your user settings
3. NaNoMail less than one year old

Things that will be wiped:

1. Your novel info
2. All threads in the forum
3. All NaNoMail more than one year old

If there's something you don't want to lose anywhere, go ahead and save a copy, even if it's something we normally save. As anyone who works in IT can tell you, accidents happen, so BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, then head on down to the Tech Help forum where your friendly neighborhood moderators will answer the best they can.

- Heather / Dragonchilde

Poor old number 13. So many people are afraid of it that it has its own (super-cool) phobia name: Triskaidekaphobia. (I should warn you: that’s one of those Wikipedia pages that links to seven zillion other cool Wikipedia pages and suddenly it’s 45 minutes later and you have no idea how you ended up reading about the Royal Family of Luxembourg.)

No more! We’re taking back 13! This year is the 13th NaNoWriMo, and it’s going to be the best ever. To celebrate the 13th NaNoWriMo as well as give the much-maligned number 13 some love, we’re having a sale! Every t-shirt in our store is now just $13. Now’s your chance to fill out your wardrobe, and you know what that means: less laundry required in November. This is a limited-time offer, so hurry and make your purchases before the sale ends next Thursday!

Plus, while you’re over in the store, you can scope out the 2011 Donor Goodies. That is one enticing selection of loot, I’ll tell you what.

To sum up: you get awesome shirts and the opportunity to avoid the washing machine for even longer in November, we get space for our amazing new merchandise (coming October 1!), and we’re all talking about how much we love 13. Everybody wins!

Wondering if it’s obvious I dislike doing laundry,

Sarah

We often hear from folks who love us (we love you, too!) but can’t afford to donate even though they want to support us. There are a lot of things you can do to help (like come to the Write-a-thon!), many of which you can check out on the Donating When Broke page, but one of the big ones is setting up a sponsorship page where friends and family can donate on your behalf.

Not only does this mean helping the Office of Letters and Light bring the joy of NaNoWriMo to communities and classrooms all over the world, but you also get all the donor goodies for the total amount you raise! That means if Great-Aunt Mildred gives you $50 (she always did love your stories), that cute guy at work sponsors you for $20, and your mom chips in $30, you’ve raised $100 for OLL and you’ll get all the goodies at the $100 donor level. Not to mention maybe a date with the cute guy.* What’s not to like?

You can learn more about how it works on our Get Sponsored page, then zip over to set up a page through our sponsorship portal on StayClassy. There’s a sneak peek of one of the $25 donor goodies there too, and it is pretty nifty.

*Date with that cute guy is not a donor goody,

Sarah

Stay tuned for more NaNoVideos coming your way!

Holy cats, Wrimos, it’s September! How did that happen? NaNoWriMo is practically next week! That means we’re kicking things into high gear around the office, and a lot of exciting things are going to be coming your way.

One of those exciting things? The 2011 Night of Writing Dangerously. Our annual noir-themed fundraising gala will be held on November 20 in the beautiful Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown San Francisco. It’s our fifth annual event, and my friends, it is going to be legendary.

Sign-ups are open now, and the 250 coveted seats are going to fill up fast. Set yourself up with a sponsorship page and start those fundraising engines! You’ll need to raise $250 to attend ($350 if you want to bring a guest), and in exchange, you will be wined, dined, candied, prized, encouraged, cookied, sprinted, and just all together delighted and dazzled.

Plus, this is your chance to shake that scoundrel Chris Baty’s hand before he goes on the lam to be a wildly successful writer. And you even get to take him home with you! In the form of our crazy stylish 2011 Night of Writing Dangerously poster, that is. Not Actual Chris Baty.

Read all about the event here, then hustle on over to StayClassy to start fundraising today. We want to see you there!

Wondering if Chris Baty is too tall for lams,

Sarah

This isn't a nerdy ad in the personals... it's the truth!

As many of you know, we're in the process of rebuilding NaNoWriMo.org on Rails. Which means we have a lot of features and functionality that need testing.

That's where YOU come in!

If you're interested in becoming a (valiant, treasured, beloved) beta tester for the new-and improved NaNoWriMo, learn all about it in the forums!

If you'd like to volunteer your time and talents to NaNoWriMo, but site testing isn't your thing, applications for new Municipal Liaisons have just opened up as well!

There are plenty of ways to earn our undying adoration...

Looking forward to testing the hee-haw out of our new site with you!

Lindsey

Do you love NaNoWriMo? Do you long to plan events for excitable Wrimos? Do you enjoy waving the pom-poms and cracking the whip to inspire writers in your region? Do you have the right mix of patience, enthusiasm, and a little bit of nuttiness to add another thing to your November to-do list?

If so, your destiny has just presented itself. You, my friend, were meant to be a NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison.

You can read about what the job involves, check if your region is looking for an ML or a co-ML, and find the link to the application over on the Becoming an ML page. I’m sitting by my computer in a tizzy, waiting for you to wow me, so hop to it!

Tizzy!

Sarah

Calling all Municipal Liaisons! It’s your last chance to let us know that you want to come back this year. Returning ML forms are due by Saturday, August 20, and if you haven’t filled yours out yet, hop on over to the ML forum to grab the link.

If you’re hoping to join the illustrious ranks of Municipal Liaison-dom this year, you’ll get your chance soon. Once we’ve sorted out the returning forms, we’ll share a list of regions that have MLs and you can find out if your region is in need of some leadership and cat herding! Keep your eyes peeled right here in Breaking News.

On second thought, please don’t peel your eyes. That expression is gross. Let’s just say keep an eye out.

Wait, don’t do that either. Who wants the mess of trying to remove an eyeball?

Just watch this space. Soon, I promise!

Kind of grossed out about eyes now,

Sarah

As you've no doubt heard by now, founder and Executive Director of the Office of Letters and Light, Chris Baty, is stepping down in January of 2012.

The search has started in earnest for an Executive Director to run our intrepid ship of creativity. And we need your help!

Please read the job posting and share it with anyone and everyone who might meet these requirements and want to come work with this dedicated (if a bit nutty) team of literary loonies.

Practicing my ED-search face,

Lindsey

Many of you are probably working on revising last year's manuscript... or crafting a new masterpiece over at Camp NaNoWriMo!

No matter what stage of editing, pre-writing, or camper-noveling bliss you may be in, we have two spots to offer in two great StoryWonk workshops that will help you on your way to another month of noveling abandon. These are special pre-Nano classes, with a focus on getting your project ready for November.

If you'd like to throw your name in the hat for the Discovery Writing class, enter your name in the running here by midnight Eastern time on Thursday, August 25.

Or, if you're interested in the StoryWonk Making Magic class, enter your name in the giveaway by the same deadline: midnight Eastern on Thursday, August 25.

The recipients will be selected the following day, August 26.

Here's to getting geared up, ultra-prepared, and ready to go!

Lindsey

August 1 is just around the corner, which means the second session of Camp NaNoWriMo is about to begin. It's another month-long literary extravaganza in the virtual great outdoors!

Who's ready for some noveling in a tent... or a canoe? Near bears, with campfire-toasted writer fuel? Join us for some frenzied writing by flashlight.

And remember, if you have an account here on NaNoWriMo.org, your login information will work for Camp NaNoWrimo as well!

Set your clocks campers. At 12:00:01 AM on the first of August, the adventure begins.

See you there,
Lindsey

In a helpful twist of calendar fate, our inaugural session of Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in the friendliest of noveling setups: the five-weekend month. That’s ten whole days of blissful weekend freedom to take your novel out into the wilderness and achieve feats of word-count greatness.

Not only that, but for those used to NaNoWriMo in November, there is an extra bonus in July: the 31st day. That’s 24 full hours more than you get when you write a novel in November, and I am here to declare that this weekend is going to contain a full magical Narnian day of novel-writing. Let me explain.

Every year in November, some friends and I go on a weekend novel-writing retreat that is very camp-esque. One year, the time change fell on that weekend, which meant we got an extra bonus hour. We declared it the magical Narnian hour, and we all vowed to write as much as humanly possible in that double hour. I think every one of us wrote more in that hour than we had ever done before, and the whole thing felt like we were tricking the universe somehow.

This 31st day feels very much like that. It’s a secret bonus day that you might have forgotten about. And so I challenge all of you to pick a day this weekend and treat it as that magical extra day, and to write more than you’ve ever written in a single day before. This day is a gift from the noveling universe, and you should take advantage of it. I bet you didn’t know your camp cabin led to Narnia.

Who’s in?

Planning word sprints with some new faun friends,

Sarah

Hear ye, hear ye! (I would make a great town crier.) I am here today to tell our superstar Municipal Liaisons to check their email for a link to the Returning ML form! Didn’t get the email? Check your spam folder, and if it’s not there either, pop on over to the Official ML Business forum for the link.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “Self, what is a Municipal Liaison?” Municipal Liaisons (or MLs, if you always seem to misspell “liaison,” like I do) are regional volunteers who organize events and parties for their local NaNoWriMo groups. They also serve as cheerleaders, contacts for local partners like press and libraries, and the bridge between us here at HQ and all you fine participants. Or, if you prefer a shorter explanation, they are the superheroes of the NaNoWriMo world.

We’re making sure all the veteran MLs get a chance to sign back up for this year, but if your region is ML-less or your ML could use an extra hand, new ML applications will be available at the end of August. Until then, you can check out the requirements for the job here and spend the next month practicing how to spell “liaison.”

Off to perfect my town-crier-bell swinging technique,

Sarah

With Camp NaNoWriMo in full swing, it’s easy to get caught up in canoeing and mess hall food fights. (Oh, and that whole novel-writing business.) But while Camp continues through August, we’re also getting ready for the original NaNoWriMo this November!

NaNo 2011 will be the third year for Come Write In: Libraries, our quickly-expanding library partnership program. We’re already hearing from more libraries than ever, and we’re so excited to work with all these new book-y friends!

If you work for a library that would like to host NaNoWriMo events this November, mosey on over to this form and sign up to receive updates about programs, plans, and how to order our free library kits!

If you don’t work for a library but would like some tips on how to get in touch with your friendly local librarian to form a NaNoWriMo partnership, check out our suggestions. And if you’d just like some more information about Come Write In: Libraries, you can read all about it!

Updates on Come Write In: Independent Bookstores will be along shortly, but if you’re hoping to host events in your bookstore, check out the information over here and stay tuned for news on that front.

Dodging flying spaghetti to welcome libraries,

Sarah