crimsonlight_4ef2e - France (south of).

Thanks for the reply. I hope we'll have some great discussion. This is not going to be an easy read...

Thank you for adding me. This is exciting.

Is the book club still open to newcomers? Is there any "master thread" somewhere with rules regarding to its proper functioning that aforementioned newcomers should read?

Give it a try, indeed! What do you have to loose, anyway?

You're welcome! My Nano name is Damnatio Memoriae, add me as a writing buddy if you so wish.

There's also CampNano in summer and spring. It's usually more laid-back and you get to set up your own wordcount goal.

I'm going to participate this year. I did it last year as well and it was a lot of fun.

To answer your "How do you go about it?" question: I'm doing the whole planning/outline the story/taking notes about characters and setting thing on a mighty piece of software called Scrivener. Scrivener is available on Windows, Mac and Linux (beta version, completely free). It really helps you to organize your writing! There's a free 30-days trial and it's really easy to export your work at the end of it if you're not convinced. I do my writing itself on FocusWriter, a minimal, distraction-free, highly-customizable, feature-rich text editor. It's completely free and available on all platforms. Lastly, I use DropBox to sync and save my writing between all my devices and in the cloud. It's very useful as it will always keep a copy of both files in case of major differences between two sync. DropBox's basic plan gives you 2GB of storage for free, and it also allows you to access your document on your Android or iOS phone. (I also use a spreadsheet to keep track of my wordcount, but you can find hundred of those on the web.)

As far as pieces of advice go, there are countless of them on the Nano forums, so my biggest tip would be: sign up on the website and read the forum! You'll probably find a forum for your very own region, where other crazy-minded writing people organize write-ins and other various nano-related events.

Depending on your style, you may fall into one of three categories:

- a plotter (someone who outlines and prepares the hell out of their work before starting to write on November 1st, who has all their characters described, all their scenes planned, and so on)

- a pantser (from the phrase "flying by the seats of one's pants": you haven't prepared anything and you just start writing whatever comes to mind on November 1st)

- a mix of the two above (most people).

The NaNo forums cater to all three. You may want to read all the resources you can find for the next couple of days - after all, you still have a solid three weeks before November.

If you have questions, feel free to ask them!

Write, write, don't stop, and don't edit is exactly the spirit behind NaNo! :D

This looks quite effective. I'm going to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.

Quite unsurprisingly, I come from Reddit. I found out through an r/AskReddit or a r/BestOf post, I think - something about what may make Reddit quality content decline, and some people were asking about alternatives among which Hubski was mentioned.

I quite like it here. The design, the wheel system, the quality comment culture. It does feel like I don't fit in, though, but that's just my depreciating self talking. :p

Carrots can stand not being refrigerated for a while. You prepare them a bit in advance - peel them and cut them into easily edible sticks. Wrap them in foil paper, and there you go! Not messy, not noisy, and quite healthy.

Apples are also pretty neat, but can get a bit messier if they are juicy. Bananas are great too.

You're right. I stand corrected and will try not to post such low-quality content next time.

I come from a small village in Provence, in southeastern France. It has to be my favourite part of the world. Sunshines all year round on the quietly growing fields. Wheat and vineyards, colourful wild flowers, an everlasting blue skies...

Road into the countryside. Own shot, March 2012.

View along the way, vineyards and villas. Own shot, March 2012.

Field, flower and tree, right before my parents' gate. Own shot, March 2013.

View from my window in the morning. Own shot, date unknown.

Two sunsets taken with a potato. Own shot, September 2013.

This is my garden of Eden, where I go back as often as I can. But I am now living with my boyfriend and our cat in a lovely city named Valence, south of Lyons. It still has the distinct, laid-back southern vibe, but I do miss the countryside.

General view of the main street. Copyright DefiImmobilier, date unknown.

St John Baptist's Church - I live almost in front of it. It's lovely and you can't say no to the plead of the organ in the evening. Copyright Wikipedia, date unknown.

The cathedral. Copyright Wikipedia, date unknown.

The heart of the city, the Champs de Mars. Where music is played and balls are held in the summer nights. Copyright Wikipedia, date unknown.

Right after the Champs, the park. It's delightful, fresh and overcrowded when the weather's right. Copyright FranceThisWay, date unknown. At the very back of the picture, on the mountain, one can try and distinguish...

Crussol castle! My favourite place here. A medieval castle, occupied from the XIth to the XVth century, deserted but never taken. It silently keeps watch on the city and is the "mothercastle" of my renactment's troup. Own shot, June 2013.

Is it?

I thought that it sparked an interesting discussion about how women could/should manage their image in the entertainment industry. I felt that Amanda Palmer's addition was quite thoughtful and welcomed as well, and so I deemed interesting to show Cyrus' reaction to the letters.

(But then, I happen to be interested in women's image and place in the society, and very much into O'Connor's and Palmer's music, so surely that biased my point of view).

Indie games soundtracks. They put me quite in the zone for writing and daydreaming.

Horatio Nullbuilt from Primordia. Dark, ambient, dystopian future where humanity has left robots to fend for themselves. I can hear the gears grinding.

Juchu from Botanicula. Crazy and cute adventures of five insect friends on a tree. Original and most pleasing.

Organon from Deponia. The hilarious tale of an-anti hero in a dystopian, Gunm-like universe. Have you ever brewed battery juice to make coffee?

Milky Way from Faster Than Light. I can't get the game to run on my PC but the soundtrack is awesome.

Cat from Minecraft. This game is addicting, it really is.

On a quite different level, Flogging Molly's Speed of Darkness and A Prayer for Me in Silence are quite the thing, too.