1. It's been ten years since you started Nanowrimo. Eleven years ago, what would you have pictured yourself doing in the year 2010?Oh man. Either working as a freelance music writer (which I'd just started doing in 1999) or living, destitute and alone, in a Central Valley hobo jungle.
2. Does your family participate in Nanowrimo? Do they support the madness?
They are very supportive of the madness! In the early days of NaNoWriMo, my family loaned me the money I needed to launch NaNo. So in a very real way, the event wouldn't exist without them. But no matter how much I try to encourage or guilt them into writing a novel in November, they won't do it. I'm not giving up.
3. What's the staple food in headquarters during ramp-up to November?
It's a steady diet of Atlas Coffee (a Seattle coffee importer run by a NaNoWriMo participant who is nice enough to send us 10 pounds of high-octane beans every year), burritos, and a tooth-threatening amount of candy from staff member (and candy blogger) Cybele May. We pretty much exist in an all-dessert-all-the-time mode from November 1 onward.
4. Besides November (natch), what's your favorite month?
I'm also very fond of April, when Script Frenzy rolls around. I think I have a problem with downtime.
5. MAC or PC?
PC. I covet Macs, but PCs are cheaper and make more sense to my brain.
Bonus round (if you feel like playing, no worries if you don't) -- worst dream you ever had about Nanowrimo:
I sadly have bad dreams every single night of October and November about NaNoWriMo. Usually about emails and missed deadlines. Last night's dream was that a staff member was celebrating her one-year anniversary with us, and I'd told everyone in the office we were having a party. Then I got so busy trying to write a Week Two pep talk that I forgot about the party, and everyone was sad.
Chris Baty is the original founder of NaNoWriMo, and as per his NaNo bio, he is "seriously going to rock it this November."
6 comments:
oh, great questions Rachael, you asked exactly what I wanted to know about Chris and didn't even know I wanted to know about Chris! I'm going to have a burrito and Halloween candy for lunch in his honor. There aren't many people I idolize but....well....I might idolize CB just a little bit :)
Chris--
Thanks for having the vision to start NaNo.... This year I am going to win.
I promise.
What a cool guest appearance! If you read these comments, Chris, thanks for starting NaNoWriMo! It's one of the things that keeps me sane (I know it sounds weird, but it's true!)
Yay Chris Baty! I finally participated in NaNo last year, after saying I would for YEARS.
This is going to sound cheesy, but NaNo literally changed my life. It showed me what's possible if you really work at it, and gave me the courage to start shifting my career in the direction of freelance writing. Which I now, a year later, do on a full-time basis.
Hah. Very nice, very nice. <3 Chris Baty and the wonderful thing you have done with Nanowrimo. You've brought a lot of great people together and you've changed a lot of lives in very real ways.
Wow! Great questions! Thanks, I loved it. Happy writing everybody :)
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