Let’s all say it: Thank goodness it’s over!

And congratulations to all of us, purple bars or blue, who joined NaNoWriMo this year.

For those of you who won: Congratulations, but if you’re serious about getting your novel published, you should know that this is just the beginning! December is for finishing your novel–if you haven’t yet–then you’ll need to stick it in a cool dark place for a few months to let it marinated before going in for the edit.

For those of you who didn’t win: Don’t feel bad! Just because you weren’t able to channel your inner Judd or Juddess, it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad writer or that you don’t have what it takes. Just keep on going, and don’t stop til you have a novel you are happy with. And don’t forget, 2013 offers a new chance at that purple bar!

So now it’s time to celebrate the end of a month of craziness!

Here are the details for this year’s THANK GOODNESS IT’S OVER PARTY, which takes place today!

WHEN? 3:00-6:00 PM, December 1
WHERE? Figaro, Emerald Avenue, Ortigas
SORRY, WHERE? Click here to go to the Facebook event page for more details
HUH? Click here to view a map

Wondering what you’ll get out of attending the party?

• The chance to meet and congratulate (or commiserate with) other WriMos
• Information about the next steps for your novel–like editing and publishing it!
• Stickers and other goodies, including writer-friendly prizes

Also, for those of you who are wondering, attending the TGIO is 100% free, but we’ve booked a room that has a consumable rate of P3,000, so if you do order drinks or food, please pay for what you order, as we MLs will be paying the balance.

Cheers, and see you there!

Purplyana (Liana)
Co-ML for Asia :: Philippines

What do you know, we’re on Week 4. Look at that, we’re almost about to…end?

Okay, that was a lame attempt at a rhyme. But yes, look, we are at Week 4, and I am also having a hard time believing this. I have just managed to hit quota, but I feel like I’m still a long way off to the end. I’m sure some of you feel the same way, especially if you are lagging behind. But don’t lose hope! There is still time! We cannot give up! We can still get to 50k!

I will keep this announcement short and sweet, because you know, we need all the writing time we can get.

Word War Wednesday 4
November 23, 2011
9:00-11:00pm
Pinoywrimos chat room

We are now at our fourth Word War Wednesday! If you want some competition and a serious word count boost, come join us at the word war! Top Word Warriors for the year will get a prize during TGIO. You can check our 2011 Scoreboard here. ut even if you don’t get to be a Top Word Warrior, you still get a word count boost. — so really, it’s a win win situation.

Ortigas Write-In
November 26, 2011, 3:00-6:00PM
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Robinson’s Galleria
RSVP: Facebook / Thread

It’s time for our last official write-in for the year, and this time we’re going to the place where we had our first kick-off party ever, CBTL in Galleria. Bring your favorite writing gadget and all that and join the writing. Stickers will be available, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, drop by!

And, one last thing. I’d like to take this moment to say (belated) Happy ML Appreciation to my co-ML, Purplyana/Liana! Allow me to be a bit cheesy — it’s been more fun being an ML now that I am not alone. Yay to you fellow Mother Hen!

Keep on writing everyone! We are almost there! Onward!

Don’t you just love this date? How many of you included 11/11/11 in your novel today?

First off: look, Pinoywrimos are in the news! Thanks to Fiona Escandor and SunStar for the feature.

We’re slowly reaching the middle of the month, and at this time, people either blaze to the finish or end up lagging behind. If you’re one of the latter, well, we’re here to cheer you on and help you get to the finish line. Hopefully, more region events will help!

11/11/11 Challenge
There has been a very enthusiastic response over the 11/11/11 Challenge — thank you! Don’t forget — stop writing by 11:11pm tonight and send your manuscript before 11:59pm today to get a chance to win the prize!

Trinoma Write-In
November 12, 2011, 3-6pm
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf – Trinoma

Some of the QC people their own write-in this weekend, too! If you’re from QC and would like to meet some of the other Pinoywrimos, drop by at CBTL Trinoma from 3:00-6:00pm. Check out this thread for more info.

Midway Bash: Karaoke Night
November 12, 2011, 7:00-11:00pm
The Avids Restobar, Metrowalk
RSVP: Facebook / Thread

If you joined the 11/11/11 challenge, or if you’re coming from the write-in, we hope this has helped boost your word count! As a reward, let’s take a break and have fun during the region’s Midway Bash! Food and drinks are consumable at the karaoke place. Contributions to help pay for the room are very, very welcome.

Oh, and even if you didn’t exactly meet your quota, you can still go to the Midway Bash.

And that is it! Apologies for sort of spamming your NaNoMail inboxes — you should be used to it by now, especially during November. Keep on writing, everyone! It’s about to get really, really interesting.

Hi, everyone!

We’ll be having an 11-11-11 Challenge to celebrate this awesome date!

Here’s what you need to know:

THE CHALLENGE

It’s simple. Write 11,111 words between 12:00 AM and 11:11 PM Philippine time on November 11, 2011. First person to hit 11,111 wins. If no one hits the magic number, the prize will go to the person who gets the closest.

THE PRIZE

We’ll be giving away a copy of Ready, Set, Novel! A Noveling Journal! See details here: http://www.bookdepository.com/Ready-Set-Novel-Noveling-Jounal-Tavia-Stewart-Streit/9781452101729

We’ll be using Book Depository, so even those who aren’t in Metro Manila can join this contest!

HOW IT WORKS

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Reply to this thread indicating your intention to join the challenge: http://new.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/asia-philippines/threads/31747

2. Before you start the challenge, e-mail a copy of your novel in .RTF or .DOC format to purplyana.pinoywrimos(at)gmail(dot)com. Novels sent in other formats will not qualify. Subject should read “PinoyWrimos 11-11-11 Challenge: [Your NaNo Username]” and you need to provide the following information:

• Your NaNoWriMo Username
• Your Novel’s Title (if there is one)
• Your Full Name (the real one)
• Your Full Address (house number, street, barangay or subdivision, city or municipality, zip code, etc.)
• Your Mobile Number

You MUST send your e-mails BEFORE 11:00 AM on 11-11-11 to qualify.

3. Write your heart out!

4. When you’ve hit 11,111 words on November 11 OR when 11:11 PM hits (whichever is first), reply to your original e-mail and send a copy of your novel (with the text you wrote on 11-11-11 included; file must be in .RTF or .DOC format) to purplyana.pinoywrimos(at)gmail(dot)com. Submissions will be accepted until 11:59 PM of 11-11-11. Any submissions after 12:00 on 11-12-11 will not qualify for the prize.

5. Winner will be announced on this thread and on Facebook. The winner will also receive an e-mail indicating that he or she has won.

Any questions? Hop on over to the official 11-11-11 Challenge thread!

Cheers and good luck!
Purplyana AKA Liana
Co-ML for the Philippines

Well would you look at that. We only have less than 8 hours before the madness starts in our side of the world. I was all set to plan my novel yesterday but real life called once again, so I have almost nothing. But like what we always say: No Plot? No Problem! We can do this!

As per tradition, we will be having our Kick-Off chat tonight so we can all flail our online limbs at the end of our sanity and count down to midnight November 1, where we can start writing our first words for NaNo 2011. Unfortunately, the official chatroom is still under maintenance and probably won’t be up until tomorrow.

But no fear! We have a temporary chatroom set up thanks to tinychat. Just go to http://www.tinychat.com/tinamats (used my tinychat account for tonight, hence the URL), and join the chat! You can use your Twitter or Facebook handles with tinychat, but we’d really appreciate it if you just use your NaNo username so we know who’s who, at least online. Once our official chat room is back, we’ll be going back to the IRC one, but for now we have this.

For the newbies: the kick-off chat is usually where most of the advices and all other craziness starts. If you need names, or places or how to kill some characters, the kick-off chat is a place to ask, too. We’re pretty nice people (and I stress that, so please be nice!), and if you missed the other events we’ve had lately, then you really shouldn’t miss the kick-off chat.

Chat starts at 11:00PM Philippine time, tonight! Well, okay, you can go in earlier, but I don’t think I’ll be there until 10:30ish. Again just go to http://www.tinychat.com/tinamats and start chatting.

See you there!

Missed the Kick-off last Saturday? Well, don’t worry. We still have an event coming up before November is upon us. It is the region’s first ever Plot Party!

Okay it’s not really a party. It just sounds more fun if it is. But this is the time where we can all get down and dirty with our novels. Have plot but not sure about what to do with it? Or do you just have characters but you don’t know what to do with them? Do you only have a first line or a last line? Whether you have a full outline or absolutely no plot at all, come join us at the Plot Party. This is where we will talk about our novels – plots, characters, worlds, or lack thereof – to get our creative juices flowing. Think of it as a workshop of sorts, and a time to get to know other Pinoywrimos in a relaxed and creative environment (we hope, anyway ).

PLOT PARTY
October 29, 2011, 3:00 pm
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Robinson’s Galleria
RSVP (Facebook): click!

If you don’t have Facebook, just post your RSVP in the Plot Party thread in the Regional Lounge.

If you’re not in Manila, we encourage you guys to gather and do something like this, too. It’s pretty much a free-for-all plot discussion and sharing of tips and writing knowledge that we have gathered along the years of attempting to write. We’ll be uploading the notes and other stuff that happens on Saturday on the website (which will be open really soon, promise!) so you still won’t miss out.