Annuncio

Close to a year ago, in mid-January, I made the decision to get published in 2009. At this point, that probably won't happen, but that's another story, and I don't regret it. But at that time I started canvassing everyone I knew, looking for an "in" with the publishing industry. One of my old high school classmates actually had a book published (there's a link to his website on the right - Leveraged Sellout.) Anyway he recommended building a platform, i.e. this blog.

I didn't think much of that advice at the time - in fact, I thought it was a shitty cop-out. Time, though, has made me realize it was the best advice I ever got, even if this blog never becomes a major platform. A funny thing happened while I was putting together my blog. I started to read other people's blogs. Turns out there's this whole community of writers, agents, publishers, all that jazz online. There's so much free, good advice out there it's almost hard not to become a better writer.

And just last week (and with incredible luck in timing, as it turns out) I stumbled across this little gem:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

So, get this. You join this group and you write an entire (short) novel in November. 50,000 words between 12:01 am November 1st and 11:59 pm November 30. The onus is on you of course to do the work, but the motivation and the community of thousands rooting for you is out there.

So, I'm going to do it this year. That's right, 50,000 words in 30 days. I'm announcing this now for two reasons. First, because anyone that hasn't come across this contest yet has about a week to get their shit together if they want to participate. Second, because if you tell people about it, there's a lot more pressure to complete it.

So, since, as you know, The Last War is a completed manuscript that I am burning, updates will continue through November. However, I will be working my ass off on a new novel during that time, so Sunday updates may be a little lacking, or may consist of updates on the National Novel Writing Month contest. Wish me luck, and let me know if you, too are joining. My handle is Redleg over on that site, too.