It is officially 12:00am November 1st in parts of Australia. Australians, you may now begin !!!

If you haven't already done so, make sure to go to your user profile and set the clock for your correct time zone.

We are just a few hours away, over here on the west coast from officially declaring this playwrighting party open. At 12:01, San Francisco time, I will open my playwrighting template and write at the top NaPlWriMo 2008. We'll see what I do after that but at least I will have begun !

Welcome to all of you who are already here and to these of you who are just now joining us. If you think you can write 75 pages of script by the end of November, it is not too late to join !

This year, we have a few official bloggers who will be blogging their process live on the site. Joshua Conkel, N.Y Playwright extraordinaire is our 2008 forums moderator and if you haven't yet met him, head to the forums and introduce yourself and your play. For these of you who are used to script frenzy or nanowrimo, we do things a bit differently around here, but I think you'll find yourself right at home and amongst a fun nurturing community.

I will let our official bloggers introduce themselves as they post and it should be very helpful and fun listening to these NaPlWriMo pros share their tips, tools and struggles as weeks go by.

If you are experiencing doubt and fear at the moment, let yourself be spooked and remember that courage is simply acting in spite of fear. No one is asking you to succeed or be brilliant. We're just asking you to put words on a page and let us know you're doing it. Look at it this way : if you write 2 1/2 pages a day you can win NaPlWriMo. This is a breeze compared to 50 000 words on a novel and 100 000 people are doing it ! When the clock turns to 12:00am, wherever you are, turn your computer on, grab your favorite pen and write 2 1/2 pages.

If you need a jumping off point, this thread in the Forums has some great ideas and suggestions.

Please make sure you review The Rules of the Rhino.

I am thrilled to have you all here. It is an honor to spend November in your company.

Happy Playwrighting !

Dorothy Lemoult

Naplwrimo Conspiratrice