NaNoWriMo meet-n-greet
I went to my first NaNoWriMo meet-n-greet on Saturday afternoon. It was scheduled for an hour, and I ended up staying for three.
It was rather interesting… my big reluctance was that I would have to admit I want to write "speculative fiction" (fantasy, scifi, horror, etc). I was the last to introduce myself, and by the time my introduction came up, my fears were completely alleviated; every single person there was writing SF.
I was also worried I'd be the oldest person there. And while the majority of participants there were in their first year of college (having done NaNo for two or three years in high school), I certainly wasn't the oldest.
It was fun. I didn't have a great deal to say with the whole group, as a core making up over half have been doing this together for a few years and it was kind of hard to get a word in over the chattering college girls. But after a couple hours, most of them cleared out and I found myself discussing writing and a few authors with just two of them for another hour. It was a fun discussion, and I'm looking forward to getting started on my book and meeting up with folks for weekly "write-ins"… we meet at a coffee shop and write together for moral support.
I think that's an important part of this process. I won't be able to finish if I don't have someone putting pressure on me to stick with it. And it helps a lot if those someones are in the same boat, sticking with it with me.