2025 Winter Potluck and Blind Book Exchange Recap

Image: Polly Esther on the left with four smaller holiday Sockmonkeys next to her and Pierson the Sock dog on the right next to a plastic tote with notebooks in it. A roll of blue tickets sits on the table in front of them and a gray backpack sits on the table behind them.

Hello Sockmonkeys!

December was so busy around here and January has had some interesting schedule changes as well, so I'm just getting to this update post. Sorry about that!

Our yearly December Potluck tradition was attended by a small but lively group of writers. We had a good time chatting and catching up in between enjoying plates of the delicious food that was provided by those in attendance. There is a recipe at the end of this post for any who might like to try it!

Image: A table with a green striped Sockmonkey bucket in the upper right corner with wrapped books, including one in a paper bag, surrounding it.

As is our tradition, about halfway through the event, everyone listened for their ticket number to be called for their turn to choose one of the wrapped books based solely on the description written on it. There were a few extra, so some people were drawn a second time and went home with two books. Once everyone had their books, we all opened them and began sharing what we'd gotten with the group. This also led to some interesting discussions about the books themselves and how they found their way onto the exchange table. I do hope everyone is enjoying their selections!

Image: A page of lined steno paper with a handwritten recipe on it.

Everyone enjoyed Jen's minestrone and she very graciously agreed to share the recipe with any who wanted it. (The pasta was kept separate, so if one were gluten free or low carb, I suppose you could do the same if needed.)

Here is a typed version of the recipe, for ease of reference:

Minestrone - Jen (jexx30)

2 ribs celery, diced

1 med onion, diced

2 carrots, diced

--- Saute in olive oil 5 mins

Garlic, minced

1 diced zucchini

1 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp Italian herbs

---Add to pan and saute until fragrant

3 C(ups) chicken stock - Deglaze pan

1 can tomato sauce

1 can beans w/juice

1 bay leaf

1 parmesan rind

Whack it in a crock pot for a while

Add cooked ditalini if you like.

Thank you for bringing this to the potluck and for sharing the recipe with everyone. (I actually need to make some soon!)

Now that this is all caught up, I'll quickly let you know that our 1st Quarter Social and Potluck has been scheduled for Saturday, March 7th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. More details to come in a separate post soon!

Polly Esther and Pierson visit Gig Harbor for the first time

 

Polly Esther and Pierson on a stick in a bed of rocks in front of the Blue and white Gig Harbor Pierce County Library sign.

Polly Esther and Pierson in front of some of the lovely shrubs outside the library.

I meant to post this on the blog earlier, but didn't get to it (although I did commemorate the event on our Instagram the day it happened).

The next to last in person write-in of November 2023 was at the Gig Harbor Library, a location that hasn't seen a Sockmonkey write-in since before I became a Municipal Liaison. It was a lovely day out, which made it a nice day for such a long drive and a nice day to get some photos of our mascots visiting a new location for the first time.

It was an interesting location and I like that the courtyard in front of the library has two round metal tables with matching benches, so writing could be done outside in warmer weather.

I met a very nice Sockmonkey writer at this write-in. It's possible that so few of the people who signed up showed up because it was the last Saturday of the month right after Thanksgiving, so I may try again and pick a different date in the future. We'll have to see how scheduling goes with other locations.

Just thought I'd post this quick update to add more of our mascots' adventures to our official regional records.

The 2019 Midway Pie Day and Mug Exchange!

Well, I posted the update on the forums first, inside a post created by XwordslingerX, so some of these pictures will be familiar if you've looked at that one, but some will not.  (I also believe that, eventually, some of the posts on the forums will be archived, so it may not be viewable at that point, but, for now, it is, and it's also able to accept any additions from writers who attended, if they care to share them.)  The picture above is of the NaNoWriMo shield shrink tags I made that were labeled and dated for our 2019 Pie Day as a fun little reminder of the event.  Each person who attended received one (although someone dropped theirs, so if you were there and find you are missing your tag, please reach out and I'll find a way to get it to you) and now I find myself thinking about what I might come up with for future Pie Days.  We'll see.

Polly Esther and Pierson greeted writers as they arrived.  They were also next to the cards we had on hand for people to sign in order to help our region thank the Come Write In locations who had signed up with NaNoWriMo and offered us writing spaces this year.

People were able to drop off their wrapped mugs near the entrance.  This is what the grouping looked like (I think not all of the mugs were present at this point, but this is most of them) prior to the actual exchange.  All of the fun wrapping paper and bags made it really tough to choose for many participants!  We did the exchange sort of White Elephant style.  Everyone was given a ticket, which was pulled randomly from the ticket can, in order to determine turns.  They then were allowed to choose if they wanted to pick from the pile or steal someone else's mug.  If a mug was taken twice, it was then "stuck" with the third person to have chosen it - which did happen with the Elephant mug.  The first person to be picked had a choice at the end if they wanted to steal or stay with what they received in the beginning, since they didn't have that option to start with, but they decided not to steal from anyone.

This year, we needed two tables for food, instead of just one!  There were so many delicious things to choose from and everyone enjoyed grazing throughout the duration of the write in.  Thank you to everyone who brought an item or two to share!

                                                

                               
Here are some picture of our room full of writers, busily working away.  Congratulations to @Pranbran, who reached 50K during the write in!  We all took a moment to cheer for her and then continued writing.  Everyone was able to get at least 1000 words (or more) written during the write in, even with all of that food and the mug exchange as distractions.  It was really fun seeing some familiar faces as well as meeting some new writers, whether this was the first time I met them this NaNo or I had met them at a previous write-in this year.  This seems like it will be a fun halfway through NaNoWriMo tradition to continue - and many seemed to agree that they'd enjoy it if that happened.

For fun, we posed all of the mugs on the table they first sat on when they arrived.  Many also placed their mini Sockmonkey buddies inside of their mugs for the photo op, which was fun!  Below are a few close up pictures of sections of the mugs:

                                        

As a final update to this, I posted the picture on our social media, but I thought it would wrap things up to post a picture of Polly Esther and Pierson with the mug I ended up with, since our as-yet-unnamed Sockmonkey mascot posed with my mug from last year and it seems like a fitting continuation of tradition:

Thank you again to everyone who attended!  You all made this a really enjoyable event.  I hope your writing continues to flow as we near the end of November and that your mug and shrink tag are reminders of your visit with us.

Did you attend Pie Day?  Did you enjoy it?  Any suggestions for future events like this?  Please, let us know in the comments!

Belatedly Posting Links from our Preptober Workshop Event 2019

Okay, I know, the graphic is old, but it is the one I used to announce the Preptober Workshop in the first place, so it seemed like the logical choice to start the post with.  There were 13 people present, many of them faces I hadn't seen at NaNo events in the past (and some who mentioned it was their first time participating in NaNoWriMo).  It was also great to see some writers who are regulars at regional events.

The Welcome PowerPoint Slide

Polly Esther Socks & Pierson at the Welcome Table

Prior to the event, I had put out a survey asking people what they might like covered at a workshop like this one.  I also asked if any other writers might be willing to present a small part of the workshop on a topic of interest to them.  While we couldn't cover everything that was requested in the survey, we touched on a number of topics and many in the room shared their own tips or resources with us as the workshop proceeded.

If you're at all interested in seeing the slides from the overall presentation, you can view them on our Sockmonkey Google Drive by clicking this link.   To read my stream of consciousness explanations of each of the sections I presented (though I went off script many times), you can click here and read them - be aware they're raw and unedited (and a bit rambly).

Thank you to XwordslingerX for presenting some information on Worldbuilding and on Character Creation!  The Character sheet she shared last year (and again this year) can be viewed on our Google Drive if you click here.

Some of the tips given by other writers at the workshop when it comes to Character creation included: An Established Character Mash-up; Fancasting; Asking "What is the change that will happen to the character?" and, as a way of avoiding unnecessary characters or getting bogged down creating too many details for minor characters, "Don't give a minor character a name until they have a motivation/reason for being in the story."

(I apologize, I guess my photo of this section turned out blurry.)  Some of the ideas people shared during our worldbuilding discussion were: "Write so people can see the world without a map" (especially if you don't draw maps...); Use Seasons; Storyboard; Create Promo videos for the lands and remember "Land isn't stagnant, things do change" (so they likely will during the course of your story).

Our discussion of Plot happened in two phases.  The first part was lead by Optimouse (who, I guess I did not get any pictures of during her presentation... sorry!) and was accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation that included humor (and memes).  If you'd like to look through those slides, you can find them on our Google Drive by clicking here.  Also shared was a half sheet sized Plot Mountain worksheet, which you can find on our Google Drive (or if you can't view that or get it to load, a search for Plot Mountain worksheet will likely pull up many options). 

An Example of How to Fill out the Plot Mountain by NurseAngela of Canada

The other part of the discussion dealt with some special types of plotting that were asked about in the survey and covered a bit in my slides and notes (linked above).  And the suggestion given by one of our writers about plot (shown on the picture of the white board) was to ask "Where is the Knife?".  Which is just a way of saying "I put said plot item in, where is it now?" to help you keep track of important plot details as you move through the story.

In discussing making sure your writing and notes are backed up so you don't lose anything during NaNo, especially if you use a typewriter or hand write, the two programs/apps shown above (Scannable and Camscanner) were mentioned.  I don't know if anyone else has any they prefer, but if you do, please share them in the comments for others to try!

Finally, one of the many handouts that was ready at the workshop is one that listed links and resources, some which were mentioned during the presentation and others that were added for additional clarification.  If you'd like to check those links out, you can find them in this document on our Google Drive.

Thank you to everyone who attended!  Your input and participation made this a fun event.  Polly Esther and Pierson were also happy when they were allowed to become temporary members of the typewriter brigade at the end of the Workshop.

Did you enjoy the workshop, if you attended?  Would you like us to hold more Preptober workshops in the future?  Please, let us know in the comments.

Introductions Are In Order (The Sockmonkey Saga Continues!)

If you're new to the region, you may not know the story of our mascot, Sockmonkey.  The story, as of the end of last NaNoWriMo, can be found on our About SockMonkey Writers page.  We ended two rounds of voting with a tie.  It was a tie between the same two names - Polly Esther Socks, submitted by notagain and Pierson submitted by missmobtown.

I had announced that, if the second round of voting was a tie, I would just roll a die and randomly choose one to be our mascot's new name.  Unfortunately, I found that I just couldn't let the choice be determined randomly, because I liked both names (one for its humor and the other because it represented our county) and they seemed to fit.  After a bit of searching, I came across another solution that involves both names.

I bought a lovely outfit for Sockmonkey and adopted a Sockdog friend, allowing us to have Polly Esther Socks and Pierson!

My daughter volunteered to draw a graphical icon of the two of them together that I could use on our social sites, which you can see above.  Their images will be gradually replacing the ones already present in our online spaces.  We may also do some regional fundraisers (to help offset the costs of room rental and other event expenses) involving our newly named mascots in the future.

Whether you suggested a name, voted in person or online or any combination of the three, thank you for participating in naming our regional mascots!  If you'd like to meet them and have your picture taken with them (possibly to share on our regional social media), please come to any event I'm hosting this November - they'll be waiting. 

*Whoops!  I guess I posted the wrong link for our About page in the text.  I just edited it to change that.  Sorry for the confusion.