i09's sponsoring a writing contest!

io9's Environmental Writing Contest

Details are at the link - be sure to check it out, the prize is pretty awesome!  And don't be scared by "environmental" - they want stories about environmental disaster.  Let us know if you submit a story!

Obsolete English Words

Neatorama linked to an article of 20 obsolete English words that should make a comeback. What do you think?

Here's an especially fitting excerpt from the list:

16. Scriptitation

Noun – A 17th-century word meaning “continual writing” – Matadorians taking part in this year’s National Novel Writing Month are getting good practice at scriptitation!

Check out the others!

Write-in

New Location!  This week's write-in will be held at Cosi in the Reston Town Center, at 7pm.

Check out Authonomy - A writing focused social network

Another of Lifehacker's writing articles this week features the site Authonomy, where you can apparently interact with other writers and have the possibility of getting your work noticed and published.

I haven't checked out the site yet, so I'd be interested in people's comments if they do.  It sounds like a pretty good concept, just not sure I'd like it in practice.

Read more about it at Lifehacker

Here's a cool site to check out - New Cover is a blog showcasing re-designed book covers.  Once a book is read, a new design is created and posted.  There are some cool ones, I kind of like the set that was done for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (a book I would like to read someday).

Are there any other books you've envisioned with different covers?  Overall I don't usually think of redesigning books, but I have a say a good cover can make all the difference in getting me to actually look at a book.

Write-in 11/10/10

Tonight's write-in will be at the Reston Panera, 7pm per usual.

Next week we may suggest a new place, so be sure to check here!

Lifehacker: Writing about writing

Lifehacker is featuring articles on writing this week, and with it being the middle of NaNo, I thought I'd share some of them with you.

First up they ask about your favorite notebook.  Sometimes pen and paper win out over technology.  I know there are times when I prefer to write oldschool.

What's Your Favorite Notebook?


The second one I'll link today is about setting up a writing system. They mention a program called Simplenote, which might be worth checking out.

Set Up a Writing System that Stays Out of Your Way

Write-in 11/3/10

7pm Reston Panera

Hope to see you there! 

Character names fixed!

All right, the link to the character names sheet is fixed, as well as the link to the critique questionnaire. Please let me know if you find any other broken links or images.  When I switched it over to blogger some of the stuff got messed up, so let me know and I can fix it!

Character Names link

The Character names link on the resources page isn't working currently.  I'll try to look at that tonight and get it fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Happy Nano!

Well, Nano has officially begun!  I hope you all are doing well and enjoying writing your novels.  Good luck crossing the 50,000 mark.

Hopefully I'll see you all at some of the write-ins. Be sure to check the calendar for all the local happenings.

The 50 Most Hated Characters in Literary History

Found this article via Neatorama and thought it'd be fun to share. Some of these names I'm in complete agreement with (such as Holden Caulfield), and some I'm not so happy to see on here (Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books and I happen to like Mr. Rochester, even with his flaws).

3.) Holden Caulfield

Catcher in the Rye

Author: J.D. Salinger

As with many of literature’s most hated characters, some have an equally ardent cult following as well. Such is the case with Holden Caulfield, whose negative attitude and isolation simultaneously attracts and repels with very few readers walking away feeling lukewarm. His status as an unreliable narrator does him no favors when it comes to general audiences.

23.) Edward Rochester

Jane Eyre

Author: Charlotte Brontë

As one of the quintessential brooding men of Victorian literature, Edward Rochester enjoys his fair share of fans. However, modern audiences are turned off by his callous, dishonest treatment of the titular heroine. Though leaving Bertha in the attic and causing her to mentally deteriorate even faster makes for an even more appalling offense.

The 50 Most Hated Characters in Literary History

Out of Print Clothing

Classic book covers combined with t-shirts and sweatshirts = Awesomeness! Check it out. So far I'm really digging the Pride and Prejudice and The Bell Jar women's shirts. Some other titles include Moby Dick, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Out of Print Clothing

The famous writing advice that could seriously mess up your game

I found this article from i09 interesting, and thought I'd share.

You can learn an amazing amount about how to write science fiction from reading Robert A. Heinlein. But his most often quoted bit of writing advice won't help you at all. If anything, it'll mess you up.

The famous writing advice that could seriously mess up your game

Write-in

October 20, 2010
Reston Town Center Panera
7:00pm

Goodies page not working

Hello all!  I realized that the images on the goodies page aren't working.  I'm trying to figure out how to fix it, and hopefully will have the icons and wallpaper back up soon (although the wallpaper is a little out of date now).  :)

Thanks!

Write-in!

Wednesday, October 13th
7:00pm
Reston Town Center Panera

10/6/10 Write-In - Cancelled

Due to almost half our group being out of town we're going to cancel tomorrow night's write-in.  Look for us to get together again on the 13th! 

Write-in 9/22/10

Tonight's write-in will be held at PotBelly in the Reston Town Center! 

7pm.

Hope to see you there!

Weekly Write-Ins!

Hello all!  Sadly I missed last night's write-in, but I had an out of town friend in town.  So, according to my source there was talk of a weekly write-in.  I propose we go for this!  So if you're not busy on Wednesday night, come join us!  The location will most likely be at the Reston Town Center Panera, but that is subject to change (especially if we want a different view).  I'll try to keep nanostew.net updated with locations and what not, especially if anything changes.

Wednesday nights
7:00pm (feel free to come earlier or later)
Reston Panera (unless otherwise noted)

I'll plan on being there next week!  And knowing me I'll bring a book and not work on anything nano related whatsoever! 

Write-in

Come on out for a write-in!  We're gearing up to start planning for the Nano 2010 season and wanted to get started early.  Join us for help with your story ideas, or just plain old hanging out.  Don't feel like writing?  Feel free to bring a book (you need to do some research, right?).  Hope to see you there!  (Although I may end up not making it).

September 15th
7:00pm
Reston Town Center Panera

A New Look...

Welcome to the new and improved NanoStew.net!  I decided to spruce it up a bit and turned the blog aspect of it into the entire site.  It will be a lot easier to update now, and hopefully nicer for visitors too.  Please let me know what you think.