Here's a handout for NaNoWriMo, originally put together for those attending the kick-off meetings in Birmingham.

This was part planning tool, part keepsake, and part something to let the MLs relax at the meet-ups, so we didn't have to worry if we don't get through everything we wanted to say!

Each year we make a few small changes here and there, updating the list of useful websites a bit, for example.

Anyone's free to download a copy, whether that's for NaNoWriMo or just for writing a novel at any time of the year, and even if they aren't from Birmingham.

There are three versions. One is A4-sized, for printing out to make a magazine-sized thing. The secondis also for printing to A4, but with two pages to a sheet, to create an A5 booklet. The third version is Letter-sized, for our friends in the US.

In each case, print the odd pages first, then feed the paper back in and print the even ones in the appropriate order.

These are all pdfs. You can click on the links to open them within your browser, but it's usually more convenient to right click on them and save them to your hard drive, and then open them there.

A4 version, for printing to A4 paper and then stapling at the left hand side.

A5 booklet, for printing to A4 paper and then stapling in the middle.

Letter-sized (US) version, for printing to Letter paper and then stapling at the left hand side.

And for anyone who needs it, here's a copy of Erik Benson's NaNoWriMo scorecard, updated for 2007.

---

Note for MLs: if you want to use this for your events, please just go ahead. If you want to create your own version inspired by it, again, no problem! If you want to use pages from this one, just slot the appropriate pages from the pdf into yours (or slot your own pdf pages into this one).

But it's probably not worth asking if I can send you the original files for editing - for one thing they're in Quark so you probably won't be able to use them. Also, though I wouldn't mind you adding photos of your own local group, your ML email address, your own advice etc, be warned that I have got a bit grumpy in the past with MLs who wanted to (for example) remove the references to kabbadi and Sir Walter Scott…

---

I wrote my 2007 and 2008 novels using yWriter, from Spacejock Software. It's brilliant, free, and written by a NaNoWriMo participant (Simon Haynes), who uses it himself to write a novel every year and perpetually tweaks it to improve his writing experience. As a result, it's updated pretty frequently, so it could well be up to version 5 by the time you read this! The best thing about it, for me, is that instead of doing my planning, writing and notes in three or four different places, I can do it all in one place. You can use the program to build the entire structure of your novel before even writing a word, and then move scenes around just as you please. It's also possible (and easy) to transfer the program and all its files onto a USB stick, letting you plug in and write on whichever computer you find yourself.

I use the same programmer's ySync for backing up files and yPlay for playing music – his website is definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

---