Calling All Brigadiers

NaNoWriMo 2016 is coming up, and the Typewriter Brigade is slinking out of hibernation in true chaotic fashion. This year's topic is set up here in the "Technology" forum (irony noted.)

If you've ever wanted to try your hand at writing a novel, NaNoWriMo is a high-velocity, low-expectations way to jump in. As you might guess, the Typewriter Brigade is a subculture unto itself, with many familiar names from around the Typosphere, plus a few new crazies that manage to get ensnared by our wit, charm, and tiny helpful rhinosceri.



We can't promise fame, fortune, or (alas) a future living easy on royalty payments, but we can provide a month of entertainment, amusement, and convivial companionship as we all attempt to squeeze 50,000 words of vaguely readable fiction out of our brains in 30 all-too-short days.
 



Check your machines carefully: you might just have a rhino of your own that wants to come out and play this November...

The Rhinos are back! The Rhinos are back!

Pour the coffee and get a fresh ribbon, for the NaNoWriMo Typewriter Brigade has risen again for 2014. C'mon over and join us for a month of noisemaking, won't you?

What Does the Rhino Say?

Another NaNoWriMo is in the box/bag/container of your choice and the Typewriter Brigade came out in force this year with typebars swinging. For the stats wonks in the room, here's NaNoWriMo 2013, by the numbers. Remember that the Brigade has an open-door policy to membership, mainly because the Rhino ate the door. If you so much as look at the topic, you're considered a Brigadier for the year.

All figures are as of December 6, 2013, as of my highly-scientific copy-and-paste of the forum text...

• Total novelists posting in the topic: 77
• Total "fans" posting (did not set up a novel): 8
• Total posts in the Brigade topic: 1,202
• Occurrences of the word "rhino" in the post bodies: 148
  
• Post count that used to break the forums: 250
• Total words written by Brigade novelists in 2013: 2,973,180
• Approximate number of double-spaced pages @ 250 words/page: 11,900
• Average number of words per Brigade novelist: 38,613
• Median number of words per Brigade novelist: 50,062
• Most words written in 2013 by a single Brigadier: 112,140
• Number of Brigadiers that exceeded 100,000 words in 2013: 3
• Total number of winners (met or exceeded 50,000 words): 46
• Narrowest win margin, in words: 0
• Percentage of Brigade winners: 59.74%

Personally, I think that last stat is a little wrong, since you're all winners in my book. Trying to squeeze the time and motivation to draft a novel in a month is challenge enough. Rocking it old school automatically wins you non-redeemable Bonus Points. In short:

Well done, Brigadiers! 

For more than a few of us in the 'sphere, the Brigade was the gateway drug to getting into typewriters and retrotech in general, and despite the cries of "hipster!" and the usual level of mockery and disbelief that Brigadiers had to face this year, I'd say we kicked some serious rhino hindquarters. Same time next year?

He's Back...

It's the Rhino-Signal! Brigadiers, assemble!