Toronto NaNo

*Tap tap tap* Is this on? *Feedback* I’ll figure out how to use this eventually…

Hello! I hope your journey with the Starship Tonano has gone well. I don’t doubt you have experienced some turbulence over the month, but don’t worry. We can soon celebrate all of the words we have written!

We can’t yet yell, “Land Ahoy!” but we’re getting close. We’re still a few days from making our final approach, and that means there is still time to get those words in!

As a region, we have produced over 21,000,000 words! That’s right! 21 MILLION! No wonder this ship has been running so smoothly! The Captains are very happy! We’re also still mid-war with the Starship, Vancowrimo, so keep those words coming! The ship that has more fuel left in its tank wins! Good luck to all of us!

There are still opportunities to meet with your fellow Tonano shipmates. Join us for EFAD on Friday, November 25th at the Davisville Starbucks; at the Queen and Ossington Starbucks on Monday, November 28th; on Tuesday, November 29th for the Bathurst-Steeles write-in, and at the Final Write-in at the Starbucks at Yonge and King on November 30th. You can find all the information for these write-ins on the forums here: http://nanowrimo.org/regions/canada-ontario-toronto

And don’t forget about our Return to Land Party (aka the TGIO) on December 1st! You can also find information on that through the forum link above. After all of our hard work, we need to refuel ourselves!

See you on the rounds, and keep up those words!

Happy Writing!
The Fleet of the Starship Tonano

Yes, you’re reading this right! The Star Ship Tonano is undergoing some last minute preparations before it takes off for Quadrant NaNoWriMo-2016. Have you powered up your personal communication devices yet? Are you preparing everything for your journey, or are you just going to come aboard and see what happens? Either way, you’re in for a great trip filled with writing, laughter, and Pumpkin Spice everything!

However, before we take off for this month-long adventure together, there are a few last-minute technical details the Captains (ML) need to sort out. The annual system wipe is scheduled to occur within the next few days, so keep an eye on the the NaNoWriMo website for that. Once everything has relaunched, details for upcoming events will be posted so you can begin planning your pre-journey days.

If you can’t wait to start the journey, drop by the Davisville Starbucks every Friday for EFAD from 6:30pm until 11:00pm. You can use these to start planning, or to get to know your fellow Tonano shipmates before you embark. The details for these are posted on the Tonano Facebook Page. (Unless the host forgets, which does, occasionally, happen.) You can also check out the page for other NaNo related things.

The captains can’t wait for this year’s journey to begin, and we can’t wait to meet as many of you as we can!

Happy Writing!
Your Captains (ML Team)

As another NaNoWriMo draws to a close it’s time again to thank the wonderful people who help make our community such a wonderful and welcoming place to write.

For his sterling work wrangling Wrimos at our most crowded location this year Andrew has truly earned the title of King of King. It wasn’t easy to sort out the many satellite colonies that took over every available space at Starbucks, but Andrew handled it with true zen.

Our online home wouldn’t be the beautifully crazy place it is without Bunnyhero, our very own Lord of the Chat. Particularly since this year ToNaNo has been saddled with an ML who is continually baffled by the speed of the chat room, Bunny has been truly invaluable in keeping chat a fun and safe place to be.

Speaking of chat, special thanks go to CheekyStoat for jumping into the fray to keep us safe from spammers at all hours. For their courage in the face of trolls they are awarded the honor of Last Minute Lifesaver.

Of course it wouldn’t be ToNaNo without our resident Word Fairy, Daeja. Her inspirational words and boundless enthusiasm drove many of our word counts to new heights. She’s also done a sensational job of managing the regional Twitter account this year.

Returning to run our teen event were the redoubtable Sunny and Franci. Balancing modding and school is no easy feat, but they managed it handily, and are hereby granted the Teen Spirit award. Their event may not have had the highest attendance, but I think it may have been the one I got the most words written at.

She may have been frolicking with wizards and manatees for the first part of November, but Elizabeth was an invaluable help in keeping us going during the Overnighter, and helping us celebrate in style at the TGIO. Sorting out sleep deprived Wrimos takes the skill of a true Mischief Manager.

And finally, from the Cemetery Walk through to the TGIO, no other mod has made it to as many write-ins and events as the ever valiant LoP. Accompanied by her faithful owl Perry she spent the month making sure Wrimos both in person and in chat had an amazing time. She has more than earned  the title of Wonderful Wizard of Mods.

November is zooming by and we’re now officially in the home stretch of NaNoWriMo 2015.

Whether you’re flying high and ready to sprint to the finish, or if feel like you’re struggling up hill all the way: KEEP WRITING! Come the end of November you’ll be glad you did.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to get a lot written and have amazing amounts of fun at the same time join us for the annual ToNaNo Overnighter. RSVPs are required for this event, so please make sure click on the link to let us know you’re coming.

Our regular writing sessions on Mondays at King and Fridays at Davisville also continue every week of November.

Finally, keep your eyes on the forums for details coming soon about a brand new online writing marathon on November 28. You wont’ want to miss it.

It’s time to start writing!  I wish you many happy words now and in the weeks to come.

If you weren’t able to make it to the Kick Off on the 30th here’s the low down on some of the exciting things happening in November.

Passports are back! You can collect one from myself or one of our fantastic mods at write-ins and events. You can use your passport to keep track of your NaNo achievements and to be eligible to win a prize at the TGIO.

The gauntlet has been thrown down for our 2015 Word War with the Edmowrimo Literary Ninjas. You can sign up to join the battle on team ToNaNo DinoPirate by posting in this thread. Whichever region writes the most in November will win bragging rights and fame forever.

Keep an eye on our Regional Forum for all sorts of upcoming events. You can also feel free to host your own write-ins if you feel like getting together for a date/time/part of town where we don’t have something already scheduled.

Now that you’ve all hopefully had time to recover from your turkey comas hopefully you’re starting to get excited for NaNoWriMo 2015!

Our forums are now live. How many pages will we get the introduction thread up to this year? Come introduce yourselves and make me scramble to write replies to all of you 🙂

On the forums you’ll find info on our first two events:

Cemetery Walk on October 24 at 2pm – Come walk through Mount Pleasant Cemetery, get some ideas for your novel, and meet some other Toronto Wrimos.

Kick Off Party on October 30 at 7pm  – Launch NaNo 2015 in style at Pauper’s Pub. This is a great way to meet (or catch up) with friends and get the inside scoop on what’s coming up in November.

Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get back to frantically planning my own novel, which currently appears to have three nameless characters and no plot.

September is upon us and, despite what the meteorologists would have you believe it always feels like the beginning of fall to me. With the beginning of fall come returns to school, work, activities, and most importantly thoughts of NaNoWriMo.

Planning is well underway for this year’s event in Toronto, and you can expect more updates as we get closer to November. The annual “forum wipe” is scheduled for early October, after which our forums will start to get active and you’ll be able to find more information on some of the events we have planned for your delectation and delight.

If you’re desperate for ToNaNo fun before October feel free to swing by our official Facebook group. That’s where our off-season write-ins usually get organized.

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of new and familiar faces soon

Your ML

How’s it going, wrimo?

Is your word count soaring so high you can barely see it up there in the clouds? If so, congratulations. You’ve worked hard and maybe had a bit of luck, and you’re well on your way to a November that’s successful not just for the purple Winner bar, but also because you’ve done something you probably didn’t think was possible. Maybe you’ve won before, but this year is different because life threw different challenges your way and still you’ve found time and energy and ideas to write big. Keep up it, stretch your goals, stretch yourself. Aim for the stars! (I don’t hold with this shoot for the moon, if you miss you’ll land among the stars nonsense. The stars are further away than the moon If you miss the moon, you’ll land among satellites and space waste. Shoot for the stars. They are prettier and there are more of them.)

Is your word count floundering? Are you struggling to find time to write among the rest of life’s demands? Or ideas amongst the mire of inner editor and self-doubt? Or energy because you’re sick, or working too hard, or just burning the candle at both ends and in the middle too? Don’t panic. Even if you stop now, you’ve probably written more words this month than you otherwise would have, and that makes you a winner too. Really, it does – NaNoWriMo is only a challenge against yourself and you just beat your none-nanoing self! But anyway, you’re not going to stop now. We’re not even halfway there yet. There’s plenty of time to catch up, or at least to write more. Review your targets, set yourself something stretching but achievable whether that’s 50,000 or 5,000 words and then GO GO GO. Tonano is behind you. If it helps, head over to our chatroom for some real-time motivation from fellow wrimos. If it doesn’t, ignore chat and get back to writing. You can do this, and when you do, we’ll be there to pat you on the back!

Or are you like me? Little Miss (or Mr, Dr, whatever) On Par? We, my friends, are the plodders. But you’ve read about the tortoise and the hare. You know that plodding is nothing to be ashamed of. We’ll win, just like the Soarers and we’ll beat our non-nanoing selves just like the Flounderers. Keep plodding on, keep hammering out those 1667 words and maybe a few extras on a good day, and we’ll drag ourselves across the finish line at 11.59pm on November 30th with a smile on our faces and our shells still firmly attached.

This is NaNoWriMo, people, we will ALL win in our own ways, we will ALL support each other to the end, and we can ALL celebrate at the TGIO on 1st December.

OK, it’s November. Let’s write!

But also, don’t forget to come to write-ins on Mondays at Yonge / King Starbucks, 6pm and on Fridays at either Davisville or Runnymede Starbucks, 7pm.

We’re also hoping to have some “hosted” write-ins his year, but details are still TBC. At the very least, mark your calendars for 10pm on Wednesday 12th at Indigo’s Eaton Centre store.

Now, let’s write*!

(Please note, the writer of this post, Elmo, has about as much chance of writing over this weekend, as of having the Pope round to tea. She’s organising a birthday party, failing to bake (let alone decorate) a cake for said party, and doing a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t writing-conducive. She’ll catch you up on Monday. Hopefully. If she’s not dealing with a toddler on a post-party sugar-hangover.)