NaNoWriMo 2010

It's that time of year again! Time to temporarily abandon your social life, skip sleeping late on a weekend, and trade your usual hobbies for the adventure of composing a 50,000 word novel in one month.

For those of you who don't remember last year's NaNoWriMo blog post, National Novel Writing Month runs from November 1st-30th, and is a self-proclaimed "fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing" and "thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon!" Unlike any other writing you (or anyone) has probably ever done, NaNoWriMo encourages quantity...just quantity, and that's it. It's not about producing a work of quality (and really, how could it be with just a month to complete so much?), so you can use the opportunity to just be free, write whatever you feel like writing, and know that we're all producing ridiculously bad works of literature together - that's part of the fun!

Sound like something you'd like to try? This will be my fifth year embarking on the challenging and really kind of silly journey and I'm getting myself ready by trying to plot out different kinds of turns for my story to take. To be honest, it's looking like it might be a pretty mundane story - but hey, it doesn't matter! Knowing that you just wrote a whole novel, no matter how terrible, is an AWESOME feeling!

So do you want to sign up? Check out the Official National Novel Writing Website for more information.

Good luck writers!

Exciting New for Rick Riordan Fans

Hey Percy Jackson fans! We've got some exciting news! First, if you haven't heard yet, the arrival of the first book in Rick Riordan's newest Heroes of the Olympus series - The Lost Hero comes out on Tuesday, October 12! If you're eagerly awaiting the day, put a copy on old now!

And for those of you who canNOT get enough of Rick Riordan's fabulously adventurous writing, there's a very special event going on Tuesday night, the night the book comes out! You can be a part of the largest demigod gathering in history! Rick Riordan will be broadcasting live from Camp Half-Blood! Be sure to register for this FREE live webcast as soon as possible! It will be held on October 12th (7pm Eastern, 6pm Central, 5pm Mountain, 4pm Pacific). To register, visit camphalfblood.com.

Want to know what the book is about ahead of time? Here's a quote from the official Heroes of the Olympus website on what the first book is all about:

After saving Olympus from the evil Titan lord, Kronos, Percy and friends have rebuilt their beloved Camp Half-Blood, where the next generation of demigods must now prepare for a chilling prophecy of their own:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Now, in a brand-new series from blockbuster best-selling author Rick Riordan, fans return to the world of Camp Half-Blood. Here, a new group of heroes will inherit a quest. But to survive the journey, they'll need the help of some familiar demigods.

Exciting stuff! Enjoy!