May 2009 Archives

everyone wants
me to ashamed
of my
relationship with kale.

Maybe it's because it's
considered to be
closer to wild cabbage than
most domesticated forms?

People need to
get
over that.

Now that we've moved the creativity interviews over to about-creativity.com, my plan is to post brief excerpts here, both to share favorite bits, and to let folks know when new interviews go live.

The most recent interview was with Chris Baty, founder of National Novel Writing Month, an extraordinary site, community, and annual event that exhorts people to write a 50,000 word novel over the course of November.

Baty's been doing this for years now, and I wanted to find out what he's learned from getting hundreds of thousands of people to tackle a creative project of that scale Here's a bit of his answer:

"Part of National Novel Writing Month's success, the reason so many people keep doing it, is that it's an event. I didn't study English in college. I always loved books. I loved writing. But I'm an anthropology major, and I didn't come at this from the position of an aspiring novelist who really was frustrated by the realities in the publishing market so I made my own world. It was really just like, "Man, books are so cool, and wouldn't it be cool to write a book?" And because of that, there isn't this unnecessary stultifying reverence for the literary art form.

I see novels as an enormous, exciting puzzle or something similar to the local middle school basketball court where you can go up on Saturday with your friends and have a great day losing yourself in this game and the thrill of competition. Novel writing is the best video game on the planet, one that requires so many different aspects of your imagination and so many different aspects of your life management skills. It really takes a lot of focus and discipline. The creative side of it is just one component."

Congrats, ye mighty 'marching band! It's the final week and this week's page count target is pretty straightforward -- we're racing toward the back cover.

When you've finished and posted your closing comment, be sure to drop me a note at "poetry at cecilvortex dot com" with your shipping address to stake your claim on a custom magnet (not actually guaranteed but likely) to pull loose paper toward fridge doors.

Big thanks to you all for taking this ride. I'll confess that I get a huge kick out these 'marches, and I hope youse do too. See ya round the next bend in the trail....
-Cecil

...in which I forgo all attempts at pith to focus instead on (1) timely posting! and (2) correct categorizing! I'm still reading, enjoying, trailing behind. Hope to meet you at the finish line, perhaps while you're all packing up your cars and/or napping under trees.....

Next Wednesday: Let's catch up for at the end of Book Twelve, Chapter 8, along with the "indisputable one!"

(which is to say: please use this thread for comments on pages 0-715; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o' day Tuesday)

Welcome to Week 12 and my first best opportunity to make good on last week's pledge to be late- nae-more. Let me also declare general amnesty to anyone who didn't have a chance to comment last week. There was hardly enough time to get the keyboard, and yet somehow, astonishingly, 17 of you did. I think, by the way, this is a Deathmarch record -- I can't recall this many marchers making it this close to the end afore. Speaking of which.....

Next Wednesday: Let's meet up at the end of Book Twelve, Chapter 1 (just a little bit less than 100 pages from the finish line), where they're being "called up one by one."

(which is to say: please use this thread for comments on pages 0-662; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by end o' day Tuesday)

I had a great day today reading 60 pages, and I'm still 30 pages behind the last target! But I pledge this to ye, my deathmarching pals: You've all been wildly patient with me, even a certain Old Man. From here on out, particularly as we close in on the conclusion, I'll put the good of the many above the few, and most especially the one, which means posting on Wednesday, whether I'm with the pack or miles behind.

As regards the text, I'm in the happy-reader camp -- really enjoyed Dmitri's inquisition, all the lovely spins and dips his mind does when his mouth is moving. And the boys section is off to a wonderful start. Kolya walking down the street, messing with everyone he passes, that was an extra pure joy.

Next Wednesday: Let's meet up at the end of Book Eleven, Chapter 6, where he's making "his way to Smerdyakov again."

(which is to say: please use this thread for comments on pages 0-612; aim to finish reading that section and shout out here by, dareIsay, the end o' day Tuesday)