UPDATE (10/2/08): So the surge of people visiting the NaNoWriMo website seemed to have caused a hardware failure in one of their databases. Interestingly, it had to happen on October 1, right? Anyway, the NaNo tech people are working on getting the site back up, so I hope it will be up within the day. :) I will keep you guys updated!

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October 1, 2008 means it’s a holiday in the Philippines to respect our Muslim brothers and sisters as they end Ramadan, but this date also means something for the PinoyWrimos.

THE NANOWRIMO WEBSITE IS BACK UP!

Well, okay. I’ll let you in on a little secret. The website has been up since last week, but it wasn’t fully announced. This is for the people who visit to test if there are errors in the site and they could report it, and to lessen the surge of visits on the first day of October. :) I’ve known of it and have been poking around the site for a while, but they asked us not to announce it yet as the staff tries to iron out everything.

And it’s really looking good.

But the point is…THE WEBSITE IS BACK UP! The NaNoWriMo fever starts now!

Returning Wrimos can still log in using their old usernames and passwords. Newbies can now register and start making some noise on the boards. :)

SOME REMINDERS, THOUGH:

  1. Please make sure you make Asia :: Philippines one of your REGION AFFILIATES. You can do so by going to My NaNoWriMo > My Regions. Click on the Regions tab and look for Asia :: Philippines and click on the Join link. This will make the Philippines regional forum show up in your forum list, and would include you in the region’s mailing list.
  2. Not only that, please make sure that you have set your HOME REGION to Asia :: Philippines. After affiliating with the region, go to My NaNoWriMo > My Regions and click on the Home Region tab. Select Asia :: Philippines as your Home Region. This is important to get accurate region stats — the word count that you will enter during November will be counted in with the Philippines’ total word count.

After that, make your presence known at the boards! There’s a wealth of information that can be found at the message boards — from plot ideas to character realism to writing tips. There are also genre lounges, where you can find people who are writing the same genre as you, or groups, where you can find newbies and oldies, writing groups and people who are  younger, same age or older than you. There’s places to find music and technology to use for November, as well as places to rant, to rave and procrastinate. There’s also a new place for the rebellious Wrimos — see there’s no excuse!

But don’t forget to drop by the regional forum and say hi! :)