Behind the wheel of the bookmobile is a multi-media and documentary film project by Tom Corwin that follows a classic bookmobile across country on back roads with acclaimed authors taking turns at the wheel.  At each stop the bookmobile’s doors will open inviting the public in to take their choice of digital and analog titles in exchange for interviews about books that have changed their lives.

Head over there now and hear Dan Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) talk about growing up with a love for books.

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Behind the wheel of the bookmobile

Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series, has been awarded a knighthood.

Brilliant!

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Sir Terry!

A few bits & pieces from around the traps…

The Book Design Review has a list of favourite book covers of 2008, including one that nearly gave me vertigo:

Book Patrol has a post about some fascinating book-related art by Marina Camargo.

The appropriately named Bookshelf blog continues to post a fascinating collection of interesting bookshelves. This one caught my eye today. Probably not quite to my taste in terms of style, but I kind of liked the function.

Last but not least, DailyWritingTips attempt to cheer up rejected authors by listing how many times some famous books were rejected.

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Assorted linkage

Today begins the month of December. That means last night I should have finished my 50,000 word NaNoWriMo novel. Truth is, I got about 19,000 words into my novel a couple of weeks ago but ran out of steam. Such is life.
The experience was great and I highly recommend it to anyone who has a bit of an urge to write. Now that the pressure to write so much every day has gone, I may set myself a lesser weekly target to continue my story.
Congratulations to all who finished, especially one of my “recruits”, LibrarianIdol. Congratulations also to all who gave it a shot, like Gizo.
We will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

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NaNoWriMo – the aftermath

Tomorrow is November 1st. The day I begin following through on my somewhat rash decision to sign up for NaNoWriMo this year. 1667 words. That what I need to produce tomorrow.

I am looking forward to it. I am also somewhat scared about the prospect. Gizo and Librarian Idol have also signed up for NaNo and made this public on ReadingHacks, so pop by and wish them luck too.

So those of you who love to read, this month remember those of us having a shot at seeing what it’s like on the other side of the printed page.

Wish us luck.

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NaNoWriMo tomorrow

We’ve all read writers’ descriptions of their typical day. Things like “I always write 1000 words per day”, or, “I start at 6 am and am done by 12″, but I’ve always wondered how honest they are.

At last, Maureen Johnson has told it like it really is and described a no-holds barred detailed account of a typical day in the life of a young adult author. I have no reason to doubt its honesty.

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A day in the life of Maureen Johnson

My encouragement yesterday has led to Andrew of Librarian Idol signing up for NaNoWriMo.

I’m now working on getting Gizo fired up too.

Everyone else – come on, get on board. And if you won’t listen to me, maybe you’ll listen to Shirley…

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More NaNoWriMo – get on board!

Do you think you have a novel inside you, and are looking for a way to remove it without surgery?

Is your career as a best-selling author in need of a kick start?

Can you write 1667 words on November 1st?

Can you write another 1667 words on November 2nd?

Can you write yet another 1667 words on November 3rd?

Can you keep doing this for 30 days?

Do you have nothing better to do in November?

Perhaps you should consider signing up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

The basic idea with NaNoWriMo is that you sign up and try to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. This basically means churning out 50,000 words without worrying too much about editing and proof reading. It’s more of a way to get you moving and producing something. Of course you could just do this by yourself in any 30 day period, but there’s something about knowing that thousands of other people are in the same boat. It also means you can effectively “out” yourself and let people know what you are doing so there is the fear of shame and failure if you fall behind. Also the opportunity for encouragement, of course.

If you’re interested, pop over to NaNoWriMo.org, have a look around, and maybe even sign up.

I tried last year and only managed a few thousand words, giving up by about November 10th. Barring a last minute change of heart, I’m all set to have another go this year. You can follow my progress under the user name gonty. I might even add a little widget to the sidebar here that gives my wordcount.

If you feel like joining me, go on and sign up and let me know in the comments below.

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NaNoWriMo

Crime Fiction Dossier has stories from a long list of writers about how they came to be published.

I haven’t read them all yet, but most appear to support the argument that writers don’t become successful overnight.

Except for Lawrence Block. He is first on the list, and this is his story:

“My first novel was written in two or three weeks and sold to the first publisher who saw it.”

[via Sydney Writers' Centre blog]

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Writers tell their success stories