Tallahassee NaNoWriMo Kick-Off Dinner

The cool table of young, hip writers.
Needless to say, I wasn't one of them.

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"At risk of sounding foully pompous, I think that writers' groups are probably very useful at the beginning of a writer's career." 

-  Bernard Cornwell

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This past weekend, the Big Bend area of the NaNoWriMo held their 2012 Kick-off Dinner, and I promised to tell you all about it if I went. Well I went, so grab a cup of coffee and hurry back and I'll fill your heads with a tale of writer bonding and merriment entitled, Dinner at the Steel City Saloon. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

A Friday night and I had gotten off to a late start as it was. Stopped in traffic, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I squinted past the car ahead and saw blue lights assisting an accident outside the Fairgrounds. Afternoon traffic hour-glassed and barely moved, trickling down to one lane, then slowly spreading back out to two. Dang! This was the last thing I needed. 

It was already time for the event to begin with the rest of downtown to maneuver, however, if I knew writers as well as I thought I knew them, dinner would be late, too. A traffic cop waved me to an open lane and zipping past, I left my patience and tread marks at the scene of the fender-bender. Thirty minutes later, I pulled into the overflow lot of Ray’s Steel City Saloon and made my way to the back patio — time to meet my NaNoWriMo cohorts.

More of the young and the hip.
Very Kerouac, I must say.

A bubbly personality in a red dress and black witch’s hat be-bopped around the room making sure everyone was comfortable. “You must be Maggie,” I said.

“Yes … yes … grab a seat anywhere.” We scanned the sea of shiny faces. 'Anywhere' was a problem, for it appeared our lanai was packed to the gills with no room for another sardine. “There’s one…I think,” she wondered aloud, pointing to an extra chair in the far corner of the area.

Filtering through the crowd, I nodded, smiled, and exchanged niceties along the way, squeezing between the tables to reach my chair. When I plopped down and turned to my dinner companions, it dawned on me why this seat was still open. 

The setting sun was a blinding torch that needed a welder's mask! So for the next half-hour, Dia, the poor girl in the corner to my right, and I sat with our faces down, sunglasses on, and hands shielding our eyes like we were famous, trying to remain incognito. Luckily we had Vikki to keep the conversation lively. Tired of fighting the sun, I grabbed my camera and meandered through the crowd taking pictures.

Everybody, this is Dia.
Dia, everybody.

After a few candids, I headed over to the first row, full of young academics. I gathered this was the cool table. “Photo Op! Something for the blog. How’s everybody doing? Ever been in the NaNo before?” 

Crickets.  Hellerrr…is this thing on? 

Now, I realize as writers we are solitary creatures, but this felt strangely like the scene where Lindsey Lohan first met The Plastics in Mean Girls. Everybody just turned and stared, looking at me like I was crazy. Click! It made a great picture. I noticed they loosened up a little when the food came.

John, the other half of Vikki, below,
 and Maggie, our Municipal Liaison.

A couple more crowd shots and I returned to my side of the patio…you know, where the band and chess club sat. Actually, we had a blast over there, and with Vikki taking the lead, never lacked for stimulating conversation. 

Vikki is the creative force behind the husband and wife team of Victoria and John Woodward, penning her pages in longhand before John edits and transcribes to digital. Between bites of my Rabbi Reuben sandwich, I learned they released a book, Terra Luna (The Return of Fiorgaels), “an epic urban contemporary fantasy and paranormal romance,” their business card read. It’s available on Kindle, if you want to take a look.

The bubbly personality I met when first arriving was Maggie, our fearless Municipal Liaison, who did an excellent job coordinating the night’s festivities. Dolled out in red, she topped her coif with a whimsical hat in the spirit of the holiday ahead, which later became The Sorting Hat for the party’s closing raffle.

Vikki is the creative force behind
the husband and wife writing team.

Dia was a quiet little church mouse, but oh-so-delightful when she did pipe in; her words, such a treat, would pull me close to capture the soft-spoken wisdoms. She participated in the NaPoWriMo back in April and knows a little of what to expect. 

As do Jory and Brian, who rounded out our table. Both are in their sophomore years of NaNo, with Brian’s outline tapping out at 25,000 last year. Quite an accomplishment in its own right — a little novella to publish — but he hopes to double it and reach the 50K this outing.

Jory and Brian are confident that this
is the year they'll break 50,000.

Over dinner and drinks a composition book had been passed around with each Wrimo (as I learned we’re called) taking the previous sentence and adding their own to it. Since there was a decent showing of Wrimos, a hilarious forty sentence short story about a fanged, drooling, seven-foot dust-bunny-from-hell came out of the mix. A lack of imagination never presented this gang of wordsmiths a problem.

The lovely Tracy writes Fantasy novels.

At evening’s end, I said my goodbyes, grabbed my welcome kit of a notebook, pen, bookmark and other writer knick-knacks, and drove the dark roads home, now clear and inviting. Write-ins are scheduled for the upcoming month on Saturdays, and I promised to try to make at least one of them. 

Brian also added that after November there was a group that continued to meet, and although I loved the camaraderie and dynamics when bouncing thoughts around with my peers, distance and other responsibilities played against me.  I'd have to think long and hard on that one. By 9:00 I was home, invigorated with renewed energy for the month ahead. It was a great night.

Has your local group thrown an event like this? I’d love to hear about it and how you feel about writers’ groups. For me, I like the spawning of ideas that comes from gathering with like-minded individuals, but when all is said and done, the writing only happens when I’m alone in my quiet space.

NaNoWriMo Parting Gifts.
(Computer sold separately)

Which brings to mind a closing quote for this installment of Sunday Inspirations, also by Bernard Cornwell.

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Writing is a solitary occupation.

- Bernard Cornwell

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Good luck to all you Wrimos out there!

(Oh, and if you’re wondering what 1667 words looks like…
add 539 more to this)

Peace,

ML