NaNoWriMo is Coming!

Sounds like the name of a Stan Lee monster from the 50s, but it is actually National Novel Writing Month and I have decided to give it a try this year. I just finished up the F2K writing course online and a lot of the people there are now moving on to NaNo, which I had never heard of before. It takes place from November 1 to November 30 and to participate all you have to do is, 1) sign up at www.nanowrimo.org and 2) write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

This is not a finished novel, this is a rough, unedited first draft. In fact, editing is frowned upon as it usually results in less words and as it is you have to average 1,667 words a day for 30 days in order to "win" the contest. No one reads your novel, so you are on the honor system here, though you do have to upload it at the end of the month so the words can be counted by the nanowrimo software. If you do "win" your prize is a 50,000+ word novel and a PDF certificate proclaiming your victory over procrastination and writer's block.

According to the big clock on nanowrimo we have 10 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes and some change before the big event begins. Anyone want to join in the, uh, fun?

But What About the Other Guys?

Well, they got Kadafi. That only leaves Gaddafi, Gadhafi, Kaddafi and Qadhafi still out there causing trouble.

The Big "Easy"

Walter Mosley about to sign a copy of an Easy Rawlins novel for me.

It appears that NBC is bringing Walter Mosley's Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins to TV, and I'm not sure how I fell about that. I have loved every one of the "colorful" Easy Rawlins books, from The Devil in the Blue Dress to Blonde Faith, but how well will Easy translate to TV? The thing I loved about the books was the unique look into the world of a black man living in Los Angeles from 1948 to 1968, a time of massive social upheaval, some of which I lived through, but none of it as a black man. NBC says the TV show, co-written by Mosley, will take place in the 1960s, surely a time of social unrest, but a big part of Easy's transformation takes place in an earlier, and less forgiving time. I guess we will have to see.