Whole Lotta Writing: Marathons and ROW80 - Plus Usborne's Anniversary, Reisa Stone, and the Hockey Night in Canada SongQuest

otta writing happening, and NaNoWriMo isn't even here yet!

First up, there's a writers' marathon taking place on the Forum!

We're going to have three rounds I think, as as sort of warm-up to NaNo; first round is 11 to 13 October.

"The idea is to set aside all non-essential activities and spend the time writing instead. Feel free to set your own goals -- word count, pages, number of hours, number of scenes written -- whatever works best for you. A specific goal is not required, though.

Each mini-marathon will have its own thread, where you can briefly post progress reports and itsy-bitsy snippets of something you wrote during the marathon, if you like. The marathon will begin in October 11 at 12:01 am (00:01 if you're on a 24-hour clock) local time. That means your local time. And that also means that members will not all be on the same clock together, but that's OK, even though it means our down-under members will start sooner than the rest of us."

Also, this week marks the start of the final round of A Round of Words in Eighty Days for this year, which happens to be the third year of ROW80 and so this is the twelfth round overall.

Looking back to the very first round in January 2011, here's what I had to say:

"Your goal, whatever it is, should be MEASURABLE.
Your goal should be broken down into chunks.
You should make a post on your blog clearly stating your goals and linking to it in the Round of Words Linky Tool list.

My measurable goals is to get closer and closer to a final draft. I can edit about 800 words in one day (based on how I did last week), so in 80 days, I should be able to do half my novel!

Chunks: Okay, for the next two weeks, my specific goals are to edit three snips so well that I can post them in the Toolbox and Exercises on the forum, and have a snip left over for broadcasting on my blog and on Facebook."

I'd forgotten about the chunk idea, and I really like the way I phrased the editing process - fixing the story so that it's in a fit state to be shared with others.

So my measurable goals for this round are to:

1. Finish typing up Captive of the Sea in October
2. Draft the Alice and George story during NaNoWriMo
3. Do more research

Broken down into chunks this means I will:

1. Type 700-1000 words per day on Captive of the Sea, except during marathon weekends when I hope to get a lot more done!

2. Write at least 1667 (the NaNo bare minimum) every day in November

3. Search for research materials on Google (especially the Paston letters from the 15th Century and books published c. 1910-1913, as well as newspaper archives for those years) and splurge on some Folio Society books, especially this one:

Speaking of publishers, Usborne Publishing is celebrating its 40th anniversary!

I remember reading some of their history and science compilations as a kid, as well as this book on Greek myths by Evslin, Evslin, and Hoopes:

Usborne have got lots of fun stuff for kids and teachers on their website, and for readers too!

I like these bookmarks:

And don't forget, Neil Gaiman's All Hallow's Read is coming!

"All Hallow's Read is a Hallowe'en tradition. It's simply that in the week of Hallowe'en, or on the night itself, you give someone a scary book."

You have until Friday to enter the art contest!

In non-Hallowe'en book news, author Reisa Stone has two new stories, "Breathe" and "I'll See You", published in the latest Chicken Soup book, Miraculous Messages From Heaven. I love Reisa's message for her books: "I hope they'll inspire you to understand that love never dies."

Now for some musical stuff!

 Hockey Night in Canada on CBC (which is, I guess, the Canadian equivalent of the BBC, as in it's a state-owned channel) is running a contest!

"Hockey Night in Canada Song Quest is on the hunt for songs that celebrate what hockey is about: teamwork, commitment, hard work and going for the goal."

Whisky Trench Riders have two awesome songs in the contest!

Fire of Winter

Canadianthem

Please like/vote/share the word, if you can! The best is to play and like directly through the SongQuest profile pages (you don't have to log in, except through Facebook) so that all votes get recorded. Thanks for your help!

If we reach 100 plays on each song within the next two weeks, I'll do a book giveaway!

not one of these but something equally good!

Are you looking forward to Hallowe'en?

Have you changed your writing goals recently?