Donation Weekend and other HQ events

A more extensive email with all the details went out earlier today, but FYI, Donation Weekend is happening November 4-5 (in North America—exact dates may vary depending on where you are in the world, made extra confusing because much of North America also changes their clocks that weekend.)  

We've also updated the HQ Events page with a number of additional live events (some of which are hosted by YOU, thank you to everyone who submitted those!) including a series of short November 1st events with a whole bunch of awesome author guests that Marya has dubbed the "Write-Together-A-Thon." (I'm going to be writing with my friend Jasmine Guillory, come join us!)

ML Write-Ins

We've now got four ML write-ins scheduled! I'll share times here in Pacific, but if you click through to the thread, it should convert all the time zones for you.

• November 16th, 9AM-1PM Pacific
• November 16th, 7PM-9PM Pacific
• November 24th (aka Black Friday), 12PM-2PM Pacific
• November 28th, 3PM-5PM Pacific

November HQ email schedule

I had a few requests for the HQ email schedule in November! It's not set in stone, plus some of the goal-connected emails are automated. With those disclaimers out of the way, here is the current email schedule in case you like to plan around that with your regional messages. (You're not obligated to do anything with this info—you don't have to work around our schedule at all, some MLs just like to know.) All dates are based in North America so may tip over into the next day for some of you.

• November 1-3: Emails on these days that go out to targeted groups (visited the site but didn't set a goal, set a goal but haven't entered a word count yet, etc.) 
• November 4-5: Donation Weekend emails (multiple per day with assorted reminders and announcements)
• Monday November 6: Store email (merch, etc)
• Tuesday November 7: General engagement email for NaNo participants
• Wednesday November 10: Store email 
• Tuesday November 14: General engagement email for NaNo participants
• Wednesday November 15: Not an email, but Shelby is planning a one-off fundraiser on this day that she is very excited about, so stay tuned for more on that
• Thursday November 16: Sponsor offers email 
• Friday November 17: Store email
• Tuesday November 21: General engagement email for NaNo participants
• Friday November 24: Store email
• Tuesday November 28: Engagement email

Remember the last minute newbies!

One last thing I want to remind you of that we always have to remind ourselves of: tens of thousands of people will sign up for NaNoWriMo for the first time in the last few days of October and first few days of November, and they will not have enjoyed your carefully planned out strategies for gently introducing them to your region and NaNoWriMo as a whole.

You don't have to cater to them, but it can go a long way to acknowledge them, welcome them, encourage them, and point them to where they can ask questions and find support on this adventure. Not every regional message needs to be an introductory one, but a nod to their presence can go a long way.

We're getting into the crunch time here, so let's go over the most crucial things to do in the next week even if you can't get to everything you wanted to. It's time to triage and prioritize!

• Confirm all November events and ensure they're added to your regional events tab
   
• Approve all appropriate events that have been submitted to your region—if events in your region have been pending for a while and are events that I would approve in a region without an ML, I may go in and approve them in the coming days just because we're so close to the wire, just FYI
   
• Remind people in the regional chat where they can find event information and community conversation
   
• Send a regional message with an overview of what to expect in November and where they can find more information about regional events and community conversation
   
• Review any ML emails that you missed

Frequently used ML links

ML Support Hub
ML Forums
Join the ML Discord
ML Facebook group
New ML Training Google Classroom
ML workshop information