Muggle 'Til Monday (at least...)

It's July 31st. In the world of all things Potter, this is the holiest of days. It is JK Rowling's birthday, Harry Potter's birthday, and, in 2011, it is the date the first Magical Quill clue was released on Pottermore.com.

I was ready.

I was counting down.

I was armed with a laptop by 11pm on July 30th.

It wasn't enough...

What I hadn't guarded against was my exhaustion and global time zones!

You see, the only information I had was that a clue would be revealed ON July 31st that would enable participants to register early (before October 2011) for Pottermore. There was no discussion of what time that would happen!

I stayed with my laptop until about 3:45am EST, then I decided to sleep until 6am EST/11am BST (I had read in several places about a leak that the clue would be released then). When I woke up, I found the following message on Pottermore.com:

Screen capture from Pottermore.com

I had missed it. The registration was closed! After some investigation, it seems I had missed it by an hour!

Alas, all is not lost!

Getting Into the Pottermore BETA Group

From the Pottermore Insider blog.

There are SEVEN days of Quills, not one, so I still have SIX more to go. As the banner says above:

Those of you who would like the chance to gain early access to Pottermore must find The Magical Quill and then submit their registration details. Each day, from 31 July to 6 August, a clue will be revealed here. Solve the clue and you will be taken to The Magical Quill. Be quick, The Magical Quill won’t be there for long and registration will only be open while spaces are still available each day. [from pottermore.com]

So I'll be trying again Monday. Here's some stuff that I know that will help me (and you too, if you are interested) out:

• The clues will NOT be revealed at the same time each day.
• The clues correspond to the books. So day one's clue was from book one, day two's clue should be from book two, and so on.
• On days 1-3 the clues will be more difficult than on days 4-7.
• The website for early registration is http://quill.pottermore.com/TheAnswerToTheClueOfTheDay For example day one's clue was : How many breeds of owls mentioned in Eeylops Owl sign x 49! Which worked out to be 245. So the registration, while it was open could be found at http://quill.pottermore.com/245
• They are not kidding about the clue not being there for long. According to what I've gathered, the first clue lasted about 20 minutes.

Places To Go For Help/Information

from Pottermore Insider blog.

 Last night, as I was getting ready to sign up (before I fell asleep on the job!), I found a number of resources that were willing to help and share whatever information they had about the process. Here is a short list of the "go to" sources, if you are still a muggle like me:

• Harry Potter For Writers Did a great job last night covering the whole process. I am not sure the blog will continue through the week since they got their quill and their e-mail accepting them into Pottermore, but it's not a bad place to check out to catch up on any clues you may have missed until now.
• Pottermore Insider is the official Pottermore blog. It was started on July 14th and has already had a hidden link to help out faithful fans and kept everyone up to date on this Quill Quest. Note: They will not announce when registration starts, only when it is closed for the day.
• Pottermore on Twitter is helpful to follow the blog above, but they have stated a number of times that no additional clues will be given through this account, as they do not want to give an unfair advantage to proplr on Twitter.
• The Pottermore Help Page This is really probably where you should go first, just to acclimate yourself with the nuts and bolts of the entire operation! 

Worst Case Scenario...

After waking up an hour late and realizing what I had done, I ventured over to my #pottermore twitter stream to see how the twitterverse fared in the Quill Quest. It was such a mixed bag of emotions. There were the celebratory magical ones, the trash-talking "I got in B!tch" types, there were those who would brag about how many different accounts they signed up at once, there were the depressed, the dejected and the truly down-trodden.

I'll admit, when I first wiped the sleep from my eyes and realized how close I was to getting in and I missed it, I was disappointed in myself. It really wasn't until I saw others experiencing the same feelings that I realized how silly we were being. I remembered the power of one little word: yet. I used to tell my students this one all of the time when they would say, "I don't get math." I would correct them and say, "You mean you don't get math YET... it's coming, don't give up!"

Well. I give the same advice to my fellow Muggles 'Til Monday! We are not in Pottermore, that is true, but what we need to say is:

I am not in Pottermore... YET!

Because this project was so beautifully designed that even in your wildest nightmares of not finding a quill or answering all of the clues, we are ALL still welcomed to join Pottermore.com in October 2011!

Until then, I've had my wardrobe stocked with appropriate attire from Hot Topic for years now, no need to fret about my Muggle status!

My first-ever Muggle t-shirt. (There are more now, of course. Thanks Hot Topic!)

Did you attempt the Pottermore Quill Quest on Day 1?

Did you receive your e-mail/find the quill?

Would you rather wait until October 2011 for Pottermore?