i09's sponsoring a writing contest!

io9's Environmental Writing Contest

Details are at the link - be sure to check it out, the prize is pretty awesome!  And don't be scared by "environmental" - they want stories about environmental disaster.  Let us know if you submit a story!

Obsolete English Words

Neatorama linked to an article of 20 obsolete English words that should make a comeback. What do you think?

Here's an especially fitting excerpt from the list:

16. Scriptitation

Noun – A 17th-century word meaning “continual writing” – Matadorians taking part in this year’s National Novel Writing Month are getting good practice at scriptitation!

Check out the others!

Write-in

New Location!  This week's write-in will be held at Cosi in the Reston Town Center, at 7pm.

Check out Authonomy - A writing focused social network

Another of Lifehacker's writing articles this week features the site Authonomy, where you can apparently interact with other writers and have the possibility of getting your work noticed and published.

I haven't checked out the site yet, so I'd be interested in people's comments if they do.  It sounds like a pretty good concept, just not sure I'd like it in practice.

Read more about it at Lifehacker

Here's a cool site to check out - New Cover is a blog showcasing re-designed book covers.  Once a book is read, a new design is created and posted.  There are some cool ones, I kind of like the set that was done for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (a book I would like to read someday).

Are there any other books you've envisioned with different covers?  Overall I don't usually think of redesigning books, but I have a say a good cover can make all the difference in getting me to actually look at a book.

Write-in 11/10/10

Tonight's write-in will be at the Reston Panera, 7pm per usual.

Next week we may suggest a new place, so be sure to check here!

Lifehacker: Writing about writing

Lifehacker is featuring articles on writing this week, and with it being the middle of NaNo, I thought I'd share some of them with you.

First up they ask about your favorite notebook.  Sometimes pen and paper win out over technology.  I know there are times when I prefer to write oldschool.

What's Your Favorite Notebook?


The second one I'll link today is about setting up a writing system. They mention a program called Simplenote, which might be worth checking out.

Set Up a Writing System that Stays Out of Your Way

Write-in 11/3/10

7pm Reston Panera

Hope to see you there! 

Character names fixed!

All right, the link to the character names sheet is fixed, as well as the link to the critique questionnaire. Please let me know if you find any other broken links or images.  When I switched it over to blogger some of the stuff got messed up, so let me know and I can fix it!

Character Names link

The Character names link on the resources page isn't working currently.  I'll try to look at that tonight and get it fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Happy Nano!

Well, Nano has officially begun!  I hope you all are doing well and enjoying writing your novels.  Good luck crossing the 50,000 mark.

Hopefully I'll see you all at some of the write-ins. Be sure to check the calendar for all the local happenings.