NaNoWriMo

So continuing the theme of doing too many things at one time, I wondered how many people are considering writing a novel in November?

Come on, surely you can fit it in!!!!

Seriously, it's a great project. I know lots of people who swear by it, not least as a kickstart to their sluggish creativity. Kay Sexton reminded me about it with this post on her blog, which explains it all much better than I can.

And in case you were wondering, we are not doing another round of Your Messages this November. However the prompts are still up there, if you want to see if you can write a completely new response for yourself. (ps and if you have a comment up there, and would like it removed, maybe to rework for publication etc, do get in touch - we certainly wouldn't want to hold back any of your excellent work from finding new homes.)

Yes, we have a winner ...

... or two.

Lynne and I have chosen two writers to get a selection of our books in this November's Your Messages project.

Running the Messages project this year reminded me all over again why I liked working with someone else so much - when it works you can both manage to make the other think in new ways. It's one of the joys of collaboration, you don't get two separate strands - you get a third new one, which spills back to your own process, making it stronger.

And congratulations to Kathryn and Jacqui. Their pieces are very worthy examples of just how strong it can be when you spin off from someone else's words.

The whole project is worth a look though. It's up for a while, although individual authors may remove their pieces to use elsewhere because there are literally hundreds that deserve to be developed and sent off elsewhere.

It's been great fun - and inspirational for Lynne and me too. Thank you everyone from here who took part. And if you miss it, you can always buy the original book for Christmas inspiration!

I love your messages ....

If you haven't already, do take a minute to whizz over to the Your Messages website and have a look at some of the responses that are going up. I think they are really really good, and how Lynne and I are going to pick just one, I just don't know. Luckily she normally agrees with everything I say (hahahahaha)....

Your messages ....

So we start today. Come and play.

It's back ... and it's even more lean, mean, intense ...

The Your Messages project was definitely a highlight for me last year.

So how could we not do something again this November?

Trouble was, what? Lynne and I knew we couldn't do it exactly the same all over again - not least because we worked out we read nearly three times the equivalent of War and Peace, however wonderful it was!

BUT we have worked something out. Come and join us on the Your Messages website, and keep November 1st in your diary.

Here are the details:

Every day during the month of November 2008 we will post a writing prompt of exactly 30 words and you’re invited to respond, via the comments box, with your own original piece of writing which may be either exactly 30 words or 300 words long.

At the end of the month we’ll be choosing one response as the overall prize-winner (although we may well comment on one or two others as well) and the writer of that piece will receive signed copies of our books: Leading the Dance, Learning How to Fall, Something Beginning With and The Oven House.

And how will we make our decision from so much fine writing? Here are a few things to bear in mind:

1.There should be some kind of link to the prompt, e.g. theme, image, word or phrase
2.It should be a stand-alone piece of writing.
3.It has to be brilliant! :-)))

We look forward to meeting up with as many old and new ‘Messagers’ as possible online from 1st November.

Your Messages trailer...

Look, Your Messages has made You Tube, thanks to the amazing Jamieson


And my writing prompt for today is ... it could only have one ending ...

Your Messages Round Up

There are posts about the Your Messages launch here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. I am sure there are even a few more I've missed so do please let me know, but in the meantime, I'm happy - just clicking back through all these and thinking how a little idea Lynne and I had about doing some writing together grew into this amazing project with such amazing people taking part.

And as announced at the launch, Jamieson Wolf put his message into a podcast so he could take part with all of us. It's here.

What exactly did we do before the internet? Hmmmm...

And the writing prompt for today is ... inheriting someone else's dreams ...

What a party!

Cakes, good readings, books, wine, laughs ... what more could you want? Last night's launch of the Your Messages book exceeded every expectation Lynne and I had - and if you want to know how the glass of champagne sneaked its way into the photos above, well, yes, we did take ourselves off for a glass (or two) before just to celebrate and still our quaking nerves! We needn't have bothered - I don't think Lynne and I stopped smiling the whole evening, champagne or no champagne.

Thank you everyone who took part, who bought a book (we raised nearly £500 for the Kids Company) and more importantly, to everyone who joined in the project from the beginning. We've kept the website up because we think ALL the work is of such a high quality. As always, the choice is not necessarily 'the best' but what fits together and gives a good mix. The book is, in my mind, the perfect reflection of what happened in November - I can't stop reading it and see a new line that makes me stop and pause every time -

I was born an unreliable narrator .... Son, find me in black and white ....The hardness had affected every inch of her .... She was licked. Top to toe, ear to hip, nipple to calf ....Abel Houseman took the pictures (and wishes he hadn't because the Bride's Mother is a cow...

Sometimes you get lucky. And that's what last night felt for me. Lucky to be a part of it all.

It's all about YOUR MESSAGES!

How very very beautiful is this ....?



A copy, hot off the press, of the Your Messages book, which contains a selection from the November collaborative project, Your Messages. I haven't been able to stop reading them - they're fantastic, and it's going to be a great evening tomorrow night meeting many of these writers personally. The strange thing is that I feel I know some of them already through the pieces they contributed throughout November, so it's going to be interesting to see if I've got it right.

And what's more - all the profits from the Your Messages book go to the charity, Kids Company. Think I'm proudest of that than anything else.

Because it's going to be a busy few days, here's a list of the prompts I'll be working with ...

Wednesday ... just like your mother...
Thursday ... It's no joke ...
Friday ... Fear me ...

Compensations

There are lots of compensations for being home, including, HURRAH HURRAH HURRAH, these - I actually cheered out loud when I saw them in the shops on my first morning back:



..and the Your Messages party next week - I can't wait to meet all the people who took part and trying to work out names and faces (sorry about the morning shake here, shouldn't have had that second cup of coffee!):



... and Duffy. Where did she spring from though - suddenly she's everywhere, it's as if Britain had a Duffy transplant while I was away.



And my writing prompt for today is ... a love letter to a household object ...

Kids Company and Your Messages

Really pleased to be able to confirm that Kids Company are our chosen charity for Your Messages. This makes me really happy - just hope we sell lots of books for them.

Here's a bit about the charity, but do visit their website too.


Kids Company

Kids Company was founded by Camila Batmanghelidjh in 1996 to provide for children and young people experiencing significant psychosocial difficulties due to the absence of a functioning parent or carer, which can often have a very negative impact on their ability to access education, health, housing, and meaningful employment. It currently supports 11,925 clients.

The organisation has a multi-disciplinary team working at street level delivering a preventative and reparative therapeutic service to children.

95% of the children refer themselves or their peers to our services, which are delivered through three key channels: 33 schools across London, a drop in centre in South London and a post-16 educational site.
Kids Company aims to promote and support emotional well-being. It assumes that the healing process for these young people is only possible in the context of sustained relationships, and strives to provide each of its clients with practical and emotional help they need.
Kids Company has already made a huge difference to the lives of thousands of kids thanks to the support of all our friends and benefactors over the past eleven years. But there's more to be done and more kids who need their childhood back.

Filling Up

I'm working my way through the Your Messages responses in order to choose some favourites for the book we're producing. It's a privilege - they are so funny, and good, and moving (sometimes within the same 300 word piece!) Best of all is following the work of individual writers through the thirty day process. I think, in every case, the work gets better and better as the month progresses which brings me back to how important it is to write something every day. Several of the emails Lynne and I received from those involved in the project mentioned how the writers were using it as a warm up - some were writing something immediately, others were mulling an idea throughout the day before their writing time in the evening, but in every case it seemed that the writing created more writing.

I remember feeling frightened that my ideas for things to write about might run out. But it does seem to work the other way - the more I do, the more I want to do. If I'm only writing once a week then I feel I have to write something REALLY good, which freezes me before I even pick up a pencil. So we're going to do a writing marathon in my writing class this morning. I'm flexing my muscles already.

And the writing prompt I'm going to start with comes from the first two lines from one of Michael Laskey's poems, and it is this:

It's something I like you to find
me doing when you come home;**

**And the answer - for those of you with dirty minds - is piano practice!

Hey cupcake, how are you doing?

(cartoon from the wonderful Harold's Planet)

What's not to like about cupcakes? I made my first batch for possibly years the other day and it was pure pleasure - not least because I'd forgotten how much fun icing is to plan, to scrape on, to decorate after, and to look at (and to just dip your little finger into when it's on the cake and try to get a taste without anyone noticing the mark). Admittedly Nigella Lawson is a problem. 'Oooo, you've been reading Nigella,' some nameless-never-to-be-offered-cupcakes-again-person said when I handed him the plate. I really really hate it when people claim ownership by stamping their names on things which should be universal, as Nigella Lawson seems to have done with cupcakes. In fact, this is probably one of the reasons why I'm developing an itch against academics. They say something completely obvious to the rest of us, write it again and again, albeit in slightly different ways in a book or a paper, and suddenly it is 'their theory' and you can't mention it again without quoting their name. Anyway, she (NL, not the particular academic I have in mind) has done the same with denim jackets - has anyone else noticed that no one with dark hair can ever wear a denim jacket again without people saying 'Ooo Nigella,' in silly voices. It's just not fair. But back to cupcakes, mine were delicious and made us all very happy and I'm still clearing up the hundreds and thousands that didn't make the final jump on to the top of the icing, albeit very slowly with a wetted fingertip so I can savour them more.

And I'm going to do a writing prompt today - and that is SCRAPING THE LAST ICING FROM THE BOWL.

ps don't forget Your Messages for daily November pleasure. The responses are absolutely amazing. I don't fancy the chances of Lynne and I choosing thirty without coming to blows as to which we'll be forced to leave out.

Your Messages!

When Lynne and I started our Messages project, it was never intended for publication but just something we thought would be fun. The book was an absolute bonus, and now it's reprinted we wanted to do something that would get some of that fun back again. So....

.... from November 1st, we will be putting up a different messages from the book on a daily basis for thirty days and asking anyone who wants to respond to that message in the same way Lynne and I did orginally. It can be through a word, a feel, a theme, but the responses have to be exactly 300 words long. These responses go in the comments section of the blog and once November is finished, then we will pick out our favourite thirty responses and these will be published in a YOUR MESSAGES booklet and we're going to have a party in London to celebrate with lots of wine and canapes and puddings. (Er, that is right, isn't it, Anthony?) Anyway, all the proceeds for the book (yes, I'm afraid you won't get paid but you do get those puddings) will go to charity. We've picked one and will be announcing shortly.

So far, a surprising number of people have signed up to do all thirty responses. I am, for sure, but there are some exciting writing names doing it too. However you can dip in and out of the project as you want. Come and see us at Your Messages, and bookmark us for November. Treat it as a writing workout. It may even help you fit into that special dress come Christmas.