The Fight to Write Conference

The first Disresponsible Nodpot Writers Conference will take place this Saturday, 10th March, in Dublin. The inaugural conference is entitled The Fight To Write. Guest speakers include current DNOTY, Mungo, former DNOTY Iseult as well as Nodpot of the month Valerie and Chairtoy Marvin.

The morning will consist of talks -

1. How to use humour in writing
2. The joy of rewriting
3. Writing is easy
4. Turning negatives into positives

the afternoon with be split into readings given by the guest authors as well as a workshop on motivation.

The conference is open to all Nodpots.

Blog Update

Hello again, I am sorry that I have been so neglectful of this blog (and more importantly, the Nodpot website) for the last while, but I hope to get back to blogging regularly this month and keep you updated.

Things to watch out for in the coming week: -

1. News on the forthcoming Nodpot meeting
2. The current Nodpot points accumulated by the members so far this year
3. More items about the Month of Valerie

Marvin,
Chairtoy

The Month of Valerie

March is the month of Valerie and I hope it will prove to be a good month for her. Lots of productive writing and maybe some good writing news as well.

Enjoy your month, Valpot, love all the Nodpots

Happy Birthday Blueberry

9 years old today. Happy birthday Blue, from all the Nodpots.

Month of Blueberry

February is the month of Blueberry. Blueberry has been a Nodpot since he first arrived in Theotokos in 1998. Some people believe he found his way to the house just to become a Nodpot. In recent years he hasn't attended so many meetings because they were held away from the house. Blueberry is one of the official Nodpot mascots. Until last June he shared his post with his best friend, Muffin. Blueberry, like all the Nodpots, mourned Muffin's passing, but his doing his best to keep up his role as mascot.

In non Nodpot business, Blueberry has starred on stage and screen in 'The Watch', A Curly's tale of Interior Terrors and in 'The Diary of Anne Frank' on Dundalk stage.

Blueberry's birthday is this Thursday, 8th February. He will be nine years old. He hopes to celebrate his month by having lots of fun and cuddles and attending another Nodpot meeting, if possible.

NODPOT MASCOT

Rusty has been a mascot for the Disresponsible Nodpots since Muffin died last June. I want to thank Rusty for filling in this important role and for all his support of the Nodpots over the last few months.

Marvin,
Chairtoy

1st DN meeting of the Year

You may have heard the rumours, but I can now confirm that the first Nodpot meeting of 2007 was held in Blackrock on Sunday 21st and that all Nodpots attended (a first in many years, not counting the DNOTY nights). The meeting was very productive and I am pleased with how all the Nodpots are progressing through the months. I hope to have the news page of the website updated by the end of the week with more details of the meeting.

Marvie

Chairtoy

Marvin's words of the day

When writing your novel or short story, try to write each sentence as close to the finished product as you can get it. Rewrite each paragraph as many times as you need until you have perfected it. This will help save time when you come to edit your work.

Marvin's words of the day

When you have completed your novel or short story, put it away for a at least a couple of days before you do anything with it. Read a book, start on another project or go on a holiday, but drive your finished product from your mind. Then, in a few days time, return with a fresh mind to your completed manuscript and read through it. Only now should you contemplate editing or rewriting.

Marvin's words of the day

When editing your novel, start reading it from the end forward, or start at the end of chapters and work your way back to the beginning. That way you won't be getting lost in the story and will be able to keep your mind fresh for noticing spelling, grammar and punctuation errors as well as missing words.

Marvin's words for the day

When editing your novel or short story, you can easily get lost in the minutiae of detail. Don't forget the big picture though. Write out flash cards of the themes, tones and character developments that you want to keep an eye on as you edit, and refer to them along the path.

MONTH OF PARSLEY

Because this is the Year of the Nodpots, each month has been assigned a different Nodpot who will be honoured during their month. The first month belongs to PARSLEY, lion and Treasurer extraordinaire. He has been Treasurer of the Nodpots since the very first meeting, way back in July 1997, and he hasn't put a paw wrong since then. With subscriptions to collect, funds to manage and (occasionally) monies to pay out, Parsley handles everything with his usual gentlemanly aplomb. He has embraced the age of technology and runs spreadsheets to keep track of the accounts. He has even been known to email Nodpots for their subscription money! His paw is very firmly on the pulse and his support and devotion to the Nodpots is unfailing in the extreme.

Nodpot of the Year

As the world and his mother must know by now, Mungo is Disresponsible Nodpot of the Year 2006. All the Nodpots are very happy for him in his success, however the time has come for the hard work to begin on the road to Disresponsible Nodpot of the Year 2007. Who will it be? To be eligible for nomination, and therefore to voting, you must earn Nodpot points. These are awarded throughout the year for completing different activities. Points are awarded for writing, reading, submitting, getting published and for various other reasons. Points are calculated from the beginning of each January to the end of the points period, which is usually late November, early December, when the voting takes place. The point system from last year has changed and the new point system will be discussed and implemented at the first DN meeting of 2007. Check back here after the meeting to find out what was decided.

D.N POINTS, THE ONLY POINTS YOU WANT TO GET!

Happy (belated) New Year

It is a new year and a new era for the Nodpots. Last year, Mungo won the Disresponsible Nodpot of the Year but now the race has started again to see who will be DNOTY 2007. Since January 1st, those eligible to receive Nodpot points (aka members of the D.N's) will be able to do so by writing, reading, submitting, publishing and generally all works to advance writing and the D.N's. 2007 is also the Year of the Nodpots (for those who didn't know) running from 1st January 2007 to 27th July 2008 (our 11th anniversary). If you think it is strange that the Year of the Nodpots runs for 19 months, than don't worry - it is disresponsible - and disresponsiblity is what we are all about!

This year I hope to have the website up and running, as well as keep this blog regularly up dated. It is the ONLY OFFICIAL NODPOT blog on the net, so don't let other blogs fool you. If you have any news, questions or stories you would like to tell the Nodpots, please let me know.

Until the next post, you can get more nodpot fixes from the links on the side of the page or from the official Nodpot website (still in construction) and remember to keep checking back here to get more up dates STRAIGHT FROM THE CHAIRTOY'S MOUTH!

Marvin

Chairtoy