The rise of cell-phone novels

Dana Goodyear's article on cell-phone novels in The New Yorker brings up age-old questions about high vs. low art, but it also demonstrates that high-tech convenience can make it easier, psychologically, for someone to write a novel. To a writer like me who struggles mightily to escape his perfectionist tendencies and actually write, the cell-phone novel makes sense, if not as a genre than certainly as a way of making writing both more accessible and less high-pressure. (Shades of NaNoWriMo, come to think of it.) Blogging, which has an air of informality that opening a blank Word document does not, is a pretty good way for nervous writers to make the leap on a regular basis, but the article's image of a depressed young woman lying in bed on her side, typing away, really drives the point home. Now there just needs to be a J-Horror movie about a cell-phone novel that kills you seven days after you read it.

Yep, it's NaNoWriMo time again

Heaven help us all. I've got 1,719 words so far. Let's see if I can win my third consecutive year!

I am a winner

If you squint really hard...

The guy on the right whose name you can't make out is Nicholas Brendon, also known as Xander from Buffy. I'm particularly pleased with Saget and Spader. You know I'm about ready to head back home when I start doing this to pass the time. Or perhaps you know that I'm almost 3,000 words behind on my NaNoWriMo novel.

NaNoWriMo begins!

Yes, National Novel Writing Month has begun, and I've dutifully written my first 1,800 words, though I can't access the site because, hey, it's the first day and everyone is trying to do the same thing. That's okay, though. My plan this year is to use last year's writing pattern -- around 1,700 words a day, and not too much above or below the magic number. My goal is to write nearly every day, so writing becomes a natural part of each day and it feels weird when I don't do it. I'm excited that at least two friends who completed novels last year are giving it a try again this time. And if you're reading this and hadn't considered the possibility... it's not too late! The weekend is nearly upon us, which means ample time for catching up.

Got some cool links from friends today, including Japander, an invaluable collection of Asian ads made by American celebrities to make a quick buck where (they presumably hope) no one who regularly pays attention to them will notice their work. And from pandering to pandas: Emily sent me this link to a story about bears whose affection knows almost no bounds. (The link seems to be acting up; see if it loads on your computer, and if not, let me know.) And then there's this amazing array of sidewalk-art optical illusions.

I'm pretty enamored of the Capitol Hill blog these days (see sidebar link), and a recent post hit particularly close to home -- kind of literally. Believe it or not, nearly a week after its arrival at the bus stop, the chair is still there. Except that now it has a tiny (empty) Jaegermeister bottle adorning its comfy cushion.

I'm taking guitar lessons, by the way. It's reminding me how much a person has to practice just to be decent at an instrument. I haven't played any instrument since high school (oboe), and even then, under the pressure of band class and various solo and ensemble festivals, I was a rather woeful non-practicer. Hopefully I can solidify my knowledge of the mystical G, D, and C chords this week, and can also practice my scales and the four-string figure that starts Iron & Wine's "Naked As We Came," which is my first melodic assignment. In case you're interested, here's my teacher.