Sockmonkey 4th Quarter Potluck and Mini Preptober Invite 2025

Image: Dark blue sky background with a few yellow stars in the middle and lighter blue clouds at the bottom. PC Sockmonkey Writer 4th Quarter Potluck! is at the top. Text at the bottom in black reads: Sign up form links and more info can be found on our blog. Image in the center looks like a torn out sheet of lined paper with the PCSockmonkey Writers logo in the bottom center and the words "Whether you're writing, editing, plotting or letting a story sit for a bit, please join us so we can connect." above it in black. Upper left corner of the paper a yellow box with the words We're trying something new and this is our fourth in 2025! Right corner of the paper has a red paper clip. Lower left corner has an open book and lower right corner has a two tone ballpoint pen.

Hello again, Sockmonkeys!

I know the last one was only a month ago, but, due to the other special events we like to hold as a group at the end of each year, October is the only month for this. It also works as a mini Preptober, for any who plan to start a new novel or project this November. There was only one library room available for the time frames we usually aim for, so I signed up and it is reserved for the event. I hope you'll stop in and say hello if your schedule allows.

Whether you're able to bring food or a drink to share or not, please RSVP on this Google form to let us know you plan to attend and use this potluck form to let us know the general food item(s) you're thinking of bringing if you're able to do so. (If you have any problems accessing or responding to the forms, please e-mail or message me and let me know and I'll try to get that fixed ASAP.)

 

You're welcome to join us whether you're able to attend the entire time or not, so I hope you'll join us!

 

Event Details:

 

What: 4th Quarter Sockmonkey Writer Potluck and Mini Preptober Get Together

Where: Sumner Pierce County Library Meeting Room

When: Sunday, October 26th, 2025

Time: 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. 

If you have any questions, feel free to put them in the RSVP form or send an email to PCSockmonkeywriters(at)gmail.com and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

 

3rd Quarter Potluck Update plus Future Event Announcements

Image: An off-white background with assorted fall leaves and plant matter scattered on it. A blurred leaf shape is in the middled with the words "Sockmonkey Writers 3rd Quarter Potluck Update" on it in white. There is a yellow rectangle in the upper right corner that reads "Plus upcoming event dates!" in black. The PCSockmonkey Writers Est 2009 logo with Polly Esther and Pierson is in the lower left-hand corner.

Hello Sockmonkeys!

It's hard to believe it's October already. How is it October?

In any case, there are more event posts and other things in the works, but first, time to do a quick update on our most recent potluck event.

Image: A white wall, with a white board on it that has Sockmonkey Quarterly Potluck Autumn 2025 written on it, behind a table of food that is close to the right corner of the room. Closer to the camera on the left side of the photo is one of the Sockmonkey writers who was in attendance wearing a purple shirt and holding Polly Esther and Pierson in her arms.

We had a small group at this gathering, probably due to both other events elsewhere in the region as well as the late notice to the group, but we had plenty of good food and drinks. The librarians at the Graham library were very helpful and we even had a surprise visit from a library patron who chatted with us from the doorway when he heard part of our conversation. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it felt like the two hours was over far too quickly.

Image: Polly Esther on the left and Pierson on the right with a Sockmonkey bucket full of mini Sockmonkeys in disarray in it between the two of them sitting on a wooden stand with the words "Thank You" in white visible beneath them.

Our mascots enjoyed themselves during their jaunt to the library, as can be seen in the above photos. While they haven't been able to see quite as many Sockmonkey writers as they would have liked, they understand that these quarterly potlucks are a new thing to the group and it may take time for Sockmonkey writers to add them to their calendars and join us.

That said, while the full details for each event will be coming out in separate posts, in order to give everyone a bit more notice about what's happening now that I could finally reserve a room for the final event, here are the dates and times for the last three events of 2025:

• Sockmonkey 4th Quarter and Preptober Potluck - Sunday, Oct 26th, 2025 2 - 4 p.m.
• Midway Pie Day Potluck and Mug Exchange - Saturday, Nov 15th, 2025 1 - 3 p.m.
• Winter Potluck and Blind Book Exchange - Saturday, Dec 6th, 2025 1 - 3 p.m.

I hope you'll mark your calendars and plan to attend at least one, if not more, of our ending events for this year.

Looking forward to see you soon!

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.

Some Writerly Resources

For those of you who weren't able to attend last year's NaNo Kickoff and Preptober Workshop, this post will house some of the writing related links that were shared during the event.  (It also serves as a way of saving them for future reference, since the NaNo Forums are wiped each year.)  I also decided it would be a good thing to share as part of the ongoing Tuesday link roundup posts that were originally on this blog.

Something writers often hear about when preparing to publish a novel is that they need a logline.  What is a logline?  A very short description of the plot of your story that is meant to help hook an editor or reader as part of your elevator pitch.  This exercise was adapted from one on www.bryndonovan.com - and for more information on writing loglines, please see the link at the bottom of the exercises.  Click here if you'd like to view the exercise and/or download and print it. We all attempted the exercise and some of us shared our rewritten loglines out loud at the workshop.

The picture at the top of the post was contributed to by people who attended the workshop. It shows a list of some sites related to planning and/or brainstorming.  They are:

• Coggle.it - This is an online mindmapping site. It is free and can be used for collaborative projects. You can brainstorm characters, character relationships, plot ideas, settings, it's really up to you - and the Coggles you create can be printed out, so you can refer to them when you're offline or lose internet access.
• Idea Engine Worksheet by EA Deverell
• How to Write a Book Now's Plot Outline
• Well-storied
• World Building June on Tumblr

Feel free to use whatever works for you and don't worry about the rest.  Adapt as needed to find whatever helps you tell the story you want to tell.

Also from Bryndonovan.com was a printed version of her "One Index Card" plotting method.  This can be used by those who don't like to plot or as a starting springboard to more in-depth plotting.  The group had fun creating a number of these cooperatively and hearing the strange plots that resulted.

This double-sided Character profile sheet was shared by xwordslingerx as she talked about creating characters.  It is simple, has doodle boxes, and you are free to fill it out as much or as little as you like for any of your characters. (It's also good to have one on hand to write down any details you come up with AS you write - so you don't forget about them later!)

Do any of you use any of these sites or resources already?  Do you have similar links you'd like to share with us?  We will have more posts like this one, but please, feel free to comment and leave some of your favorite writing resource sites and they can be added to a future post.