News plus a Story Challenge

Haven't blogged in a while, but I have an alibi. On Friday the Thirteenth, while in the midst of an intense writing week with some writing colleagues, I underwent emergency surgery to clear an intestinal blockage. I don't recommend this for other writers—it interferes enormously with your writing plans.

But, while flat on my back in a hospital a thousand miles from home, I received this note from Jeff Bowen, President & Publisher of USABookNews.com:

Congratulations!

Your title "Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method" has placed as a "Finalist" in the "Business: Writing/Publishing" category.

Your title will be listed live on USABookNews.com for 5 months starting November 1, 2006. A complete list of winners and finalists in each category can be found at: http://www.usabooknews.com/bestbooksawards2006.html

A major publicity campaign announcing the award results is already underway and will continue throughout the holidays. We also encourage you to promote your award to all of your media and company contacts.


A Lesson

So, here I am, promoting my award on my blog. It felt good to receive the letter, but if I could trade it in and get my intestines back, I would do so in a minute. Lesson: keep your writing in proportion.

Short-Short Stories

Speaking of proportion, here's another way to look at the question of writing speed. Instead of writing more words per minute, you can write fewer words. To illustrate, here are some 6-word stories from some very recognizable names. Some of them very
funny.

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html

Challenge

How about writing some 6-word stories? It's great practice for your wordsmithing. Here's one for me:

One-week novel attempt. One less bowel.