Hey! Running Pencil Guy! Welcome back! How are things going for you? I see by the official-looking seal that you are now an entire decade old! That is awesome!

So why the troubled face?

Are you telling me that people are showing up, creating awesome author profiles, chatting it up in the forums and yet have not figured out how to choose and affiliate with a home region? For shame! Let's see what we can do to remedy this situation...

First, I suppose a discussion of what affiliation and home regions are all about is in order, starting with a brief examination of that high and mighty order of cat herders known as the Municipal Liaisons (MLs). These folks are those sainted few who arrange write-ins, get free swag from the OLL, send out pep talks, moderate forums, and otherwise make helpful nuisances of themselves on your behalf. These folks do whatever they can to assist you in hammering out your fifty-thousand words. The problem is, unless you choose a home region and affiliate they will never know who you are! How sad is that? There they sit with their NaNo swag and nobody to give it to! They spend hours carefully tailoring inspiring pep talks and then have nobody to email them to!

In addition, let us never forget that NaNoWriMo is all about the word count. When you choose a home region, your fabulous word count gets automatically added to the entire region's collective word count. Large word counts make your ML very happy, and make your region look really cool!

Can you see how important it to choose your home region? Can you see why Running Pencil Guy is so concerned? Let’s help him out by finding you a home. Shall we?

OK, so you have probably figured this out already. But just to be sure we are on the same page of music, go to www.nanowrimo.org and click "User Login." If you don’t have a login, click "Sign Up Now!" and create your profile. (Sorry, no instructions for that part. We trust you to figure it out.)

Step 2 - Click "My Regions"

Now that you are logged in, you should be looking at your "My NaNoWriMo" page. (No, you won't have a cute little doggy like mine on yours. I know, you are jealous. Go find your own cute little doggy.)

This page is your starting point for all things NaNo, and you have quite a few options to customize it and make it feel all homey.

(Don't ask about my novel's title; You don't want to know.)

(Besides, its a working title.)

(I don't *know* how the weasels die yet. Leave me alone! Can we get back to the instructions?)

Click the little red linky over there on the left that says: "My Regions". Go ahead.

(I don't *know* why they steal souls! It's just what they do all right? sheesh!)

Step 3 - Find your Region

Since NaNoWriMo is a wildly popular global phenomenon, there are a LOT of regions to choose from! Who knew that people in "Africa : Tanzania" would be insane enough to write a novel in thirty days? But apparently they are!

Don't let that massive list of regions discourage you! The wonderful genii (pronounced JEEN-EE-EYE - its the plural of Genius, isn't it? Of course it is. Don't bother me with trifles!) at the Office of Letters and Light anticipated this situation. See that handy little space beneath the words: "Search for a group by name"? Go ahead, type in the name of your state, country, or sector of the galaxy. (I am typing Texas, just as an example. You can play along if you want. I don't mind.)

Now you have narrowed down your humungous, phobia-inspiring list of regions to those that match your search terms, right? If you got a little orange box and the words "No Groups," not to worry. Perhaps there isn't a region yet with the search term you used. Broaden your search. Instead of searching for a city, try a state. Instead of a state, try a province, country, or hemisphere. Worst case scenario, just scroll through that humungous list and pick your regions out by hand. It's not impossible. Trust me!

Below, you can see the results of my Texas search. The name of the region is on the left in red, then the number of current members, then a clever slogan, and then the word "Join" in red.

Click the "Join" linky and go on to the next step. (For purposes of this tutorial, I will be clicking the Amarillo link. You can too, if you want to follow along. But it looks the same no matter what region you choose. You should probably choose a region that you REALLY want to join.)

Step 5 - Confirm that you really, purposefully, consciously, actually do want to join that region.

This step is ensures you can reconsider your region joining if you want. This is kind of tricky, so pay careful attention to this step! If you are sure you want to join, click "Join". If you are suddenly having second thoughts about joining this particular region, click "Cancel". (Well, not as tricky as I made it sound, but you looked like you were falling asleep on me.)

After you click "Join" you will be returned to your region search results and see a message indicating that you joined the region.

You will also notice that the red "Join" has disappeared from that region, because you have joined it. Nifty eh?

You can join as many regions as you want and nobody from the Office of Letters and Light Enforcement Division will come busting down the door to arrest you. In fact, it is fun to read pep talks and announcements from MLs all over the world. I have joined regions in just about every place I have ever lived (including South Korea – South Korean Wrimos rock!) But you can have only one home region.

Now that you have joined some regions, you have almost finished your task. Only one step remains, and it is our main purpose today. You need to choose a Home Region.

Now, some of you are saying: "Why do I have to choose a Home Region? Why can't I keep my location a secret?" Others are saying: "What color does a Smurf turn if you choke it?"

Unfortunately, I can only answer the first question. And the answer is simply: You Don't. The OL&L Enforcement division does NOT patrol the forums closing accounts of folks without a Home Region. You are free to be homeless if you so choose. But if you want to be kept up to date on NaNo events in your local area, and if you want your word count to be included in your regional total, you must choose a home.

Onward and Homeward we go! Click the blue boxy looking thingy (geeks would call it a tab - you can call it anything you like, except Edward -they tend to get touchy about that...) to go to the Home Region page. You can see my home region page below.

Notice the different regions I have joined? Notice also the round circle thingy that you can click and put a dot in? You are only allotted one "Dot" for this page. If you click in another circle, Miss Dot disappears from the first circle before reappearing on the new one.

Once little Miss Dot is resting comfortably beside the region you want to set as your Home, click the "Set Home Region" button at the bottom of the list. The page will refresh, and you will see...

...the same exact page.

Really. There is a confirmation page for joining a region, but when you set your Home Region, there are no confirmations, no fireworks, no sirens. You just come back to the same page, and there is Miss Dot, reclining in her circle and looking coy.

Don't worry about it! You now have a home. Know how I know? If you were still homeless, Miss Dot would be hanging out in the circle next to "No Home Region". Makes it simple right? Here is what it looks like both before and after you click "Set Home Region".

So there you go. The entire process for joining regions and selecting a Home. If you have any questions, just stop by the forums and ask. Someone there will be happy to help you out. Heck, someone might even know the answer to your Smurf question. You never know...