Free shrimp dinner

Free shrimp dinner is a thread at the NaNoWriMo forums. It appears to have begun in 2005, a year after the Helpful Orgs and Sites forum description was edited to read, "A map of the parts of the world where amateur novelists are loved, admired, and given free shrimp dinners." Wrimo QueenOfIrises posted:
::This is a useful forum, of course; I'm just wondering when (and where!) the free dinners come. And who loves an amateur, because editors certainly don't. Tell me?
::Come to think of it, if the laws of physics prohibit free lunches, it sounds as though there are definitely such phenomena as free breakfasts and dinners.QueenOfIrises. "free shrimp dinners?" 2005 NaNoWriMo forums, October 10, 2005. Retrieved June 27, 2010. </blockquote>
While the responses were mostly supportive, the thread died within two weeks. The topic didn't come up again until 2008, despite the forum description remaining unchanged. In 2008, Tower_Keeper posted a thread about free shrimp dinners to the same forum, which was well-received. This thread was reposted in 2009.Tower_Keeper. "Free Shrimp Dinner." 2009 NaNoWriMo forums, October 5, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2010. .
On page two of the thread, Lady-of-the-Lord2 stepped up and began to make the free shrimp dinners a reality.
::*coughs* my hand slowly rises, "I am willing to send out a few gift cards to various U.S. big name grocery stores, like Wal*Mart, to a few Nano winners" it could be a nice Christmas gift, but I could ONLY give to 5....like $10, that should be enough for a small package of frozen shrimp.
::(I am not a big name author, or anything, I just REALLY like to give stuff away) ^_^Lady-of-the-Lord2. "RE:Free Shrimp Dinner." 2009 NaNoWriMo forums, October 12, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2010. .</blockquote>
She later clarified that she would give free shrimp dinners (or shrimp-free dinners) to five NaNo winners in the thread in December.Lady-of-the-Lord2. "RE:Free Shrimp Dinner." 2009 NaNoWriMo forums, October 17, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2010. .
Then Leo Fair started investigating free shrimp dinners and was successful.
::This goes down as the silliest thing I have ever done for NaNoWriMo, possibly in my life, but it worked! ^_^
::I was looking around for free shrimp dinners from loyalty program signups or seafood restaurant gift card giveaways to link last week and noticed ("noticed" here means dug around on their site) Captain D's had a link to a donation request form on their "Talk to Us" page, so I thought, "Why not? The worst they can do is say no." So I explained our cause/silliness and sent them a link to this thread, and they agreed to send us 10 coupons for free shrimp dinners, which arrived in the mail today! They're good for a free dinner or platter and a free drink, so if you don't like shrimp, you could still use it on their fish or chicken platters.[...]
::P.S. I put the name of our organization as "Speed Novelists for Shrimp" XDLeo Fair. "RE:Free Shrimp Dinner." 2009 NaNoWriMo forums, October 26, 2009. Retrieved June 27, 2010. </blockquote>
The shrimp dinners have been claimed, but to this day the movement continues, with a new thread popping up every year. A website got built, though it appears to be down as of August 2013.
==References==
==External Links==
* 2005 Free Shrimp Dinner thread
* 2010 Free Shrimp Dinner thread
* Free shrimp for writers website (from the Wayback Machine)
Category:NaNoWriMo forum threads
Category:NaNoWriMo terms