Writing Dangerously

I just had the best day I've had this month, perhaps even this year.

But I'd like to fill in a few gaps.

I slowly got better and better as LISA went on, but I never fully recovered, and by the end of the conference I was resigned to my fate of being sick upon landing in San Francisco.

Despite that, I did have a great time at the conference. It was a huge learning experience hearing from experts in my particular profession, and I've taken a lot out of it. It was also good to meet different people in similar positions.

I arrived in San Francisco late on Friday and was picked up from the airport by my cousin Mike. After having some awesome chicken wings that I had experienced the pleasure of tasting the last time I was in San Francisco, we went out and partied all night.

I didn't sleep until 4am, which was not ideal for...

The Night of Writing Dangerously

It started off with a huge headache at 8am, woken up by the roadworks outside. I knew that things could only get better. (And they did.)

The day was unusually warm for this time of year. San Francisco must have known that I was coming. I decided to take advantage of this fact by skateboarding along the waterfront with my new longboard from San Diego. I made it all the way to the Bay Bridge before turning back. It was sweet.

After I got home, I prepared for the impending write-a-thon and then began the short (ok, 20 minutes, so not that short) walk over to the SomArts Center where the event was being held.

I was immediately impressed by the fact that Chris Baty, the man responsible for starting all of this insanity, greeted everybody at the door as they entered. I was a bit starstruck and fumbled my words, but managed to say a quick hi before grabbing my raffle tickets for the night.

The tables started filling (I had one person on my table with over 73000 words already) and the liquids (some alcoholic) started flowing, and people began writing.

Eventually it came time for Chris's speech about the history of NaNoWriMo and how it had come so far from being a small project between friends to being an international phenomenon. I did my hardest to hold back the tears. I'm such a softie when it comes to emotional or inspiration speeches, and this was both. Chris Baty is one of my heroes.

After Chris was done with his speech, everybody got back to writing. Prizes were drawn and photos were taken (mine were particularly awesome), and eventually it was time for the event to draw to a close. It was a sad moment because it was one of those things I felt I could have enjoyed had it gone for the whole day. Alas, it was not to be.

We all packed up and said our goodbyes to the new friends that we met, and I went and talked to Chris to say thanks to him for being crazy enough to start NaNoWriMo. He was a bit amazed that I was from Australia, but probably not as amazed as I was at being there.

That was it for the Night of Writing Dangerously. It was my first, and I sure hope it's not my last. I doubt I'll be able to go every year, but it's something that I'd love to do again some time in the future.

In terms of word count, I passed the 40k mark during the write-a-thon, which was a nice milestone to reach during such a cool event.

Time to put this thing on cruise control until the finish line. 50k is so close that I can taste it.