rex and eddie Archives - Page 2 of 2

Little Free Library – take a book, give a book

By Sean Cameron | June 8, 2015

I take a lot of walks in my neighbourhood and in the last couple of years I’ve noticed small little house-shaped boxes on a stilt in people’s gardens. It’s not a birdhouse or a shrine, but a house of books – a Little Free Library – placed near the street so a passerby can take a look, grab a book, and return a different book.

Little Free Library is a non-profit organisation that supports people installing mini libraries on their lawn to share books with the community. Some buy official Little Free Library units but anyone can make their own and register it with the Little Free Library organisation to be added to the official map.

There are dozens of these libraries within a 10-mile radius of my home and I always take a look inside. While editing my novel Catchee Monkey: A Rex & Eddie Mystery I found a book on copyediting in a local LFL. I took the book home and used it as a guide while finishing Catchee Monkey.

This month I decided it was time I gave a book to the Little Free Library so I dropped off a couple of copies of Catchee Monkey, one at the LFL I got my copyediting book from and another local LFL I like. I also inserted a Strange Paul postcard which my artist friend Ben Cameron asked me to leave around Los Angeles. Check out his Etsy store.

I hope the Little Free Library trend continues to grow. Owners talk about how installing one connected them with their neighbours and brought a collection of new books to their front door. Of course, there are some spoil-sports who call in complaints and misuse zoning laws to remove the libraries, but hopefully common sense will win out. As soon as I have a front garden, I plan on getting a Free Little Library myself.

NaNoWriMo – the results

By Sean Cameron | November 26, 2014

This November I took part in NaNoWriMo, or National November Writing Month. The goal was to write 50,000 words in a month, which works out at 1667 words a day for 30 days. I’ve never written that consistently before. In fact I’ve collected data from the last six months and even thought I’d set the goal to write 1000 words a day on average I’d write 15 days a month and no more than five days in a row.

This month I did 50,000 in 25 days, 25 days in a row. Every day out of the last 25 I’ve written between 1000 and 5000 a day, and average of 2000 a day. You may have noticed I’ve said every day a lot. This is exciting to me.

In fact, daily writing has become such a habit I get antsy if I haven’t done my 1000 words yet. My original plan for NaNoWriMo was to get the writing out of the way so I could take the Thankgiving weekend off, but now I feel the need to keep this daily 1000 words going. I’ve completed Rex & Eddie 2’s first draft now so I guess tomorrow I’ll write Rex & Eddie 3. I’m gonna keep it slow and not do too much more than 1000 words a day as I don’t want to run out of steam.

Here’s my states from the NaNoWritMo site:

Things I learnt:

1) I can build healthy habits.

2) By getting ahead on the good days I can give myself some leeway later on.

3) Going to events with other writers on the same quest really empowered me. There was something about the energy of 30 people in a room tapping away that fed me. Support is important.

NaNoWriMo 2014

By Sean Cameron | October 31, 2014

This month I will be taking part in National Novel Writing Month or #NaNoWriMo. I’m gonna write the first draft of the sequel to Catchee Monkey: A Rex & Eddie Mystery, and it will be 50,000 words (gulp). Below is the contract I signed with myself to keep myself accountable, which came from the book No Plot No Problem by Chris Baty. I’m all ready to go having spent the last two weeks working on the outline, and re-designing my office into a creative space I actually want to be in.

See you in December!

THE MONTH-LONG NOVELIST AGREEMENT AND STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDING

I hereby pledge my intent to write a 50,000-word novel in one month’s time. By invoking an absurd, month-long deadline on such an enormous undertaking, I understand that notions of “craft”, “brilliance”, and “competency” are to be chucked right out the window, where they will remain, ignored, until they are retrieved for the editing process. I understand that I am a talented person, capable of heroic acts of creativity, and I will give myself enough time over the course of the next month to allow my innate gifts to come to the surface, unmolested by self-doubt, self-criticism, and other acts of self-bullying.

During the month ahead, I realize I will produce clunky dialogue, clichéd characters, and deeply flawed plots. I agree that all of these things will be left in my rough draft, to be corrected and/or excised at a later point. I understand my right to withhold my manuscript from all readers until I deem it completed. I also acknowledge my right as author to substantially inflate both the quality of the rough draft and the rigors of the writing process should such inflation prove useful in garnering me respect and attention, or freedom from participation in onerous household chores.

I acknowledge that the month-long, 50,000-word deadline I set for myself is absolute and unchangeable, and that any failure to meet the deadline, or any effort on my part to move the deadline once the adventure has begun, will invite well-deserved mockery from friends and family. I also acknowledge that, upon successful completion of the stated noveling objective, I am entitled to a period of gleeful celebration and revelry, the duration and intensity of which may preclude me from participating fully in workplace activities for days, if not weeks, afterward.

*****

A signed copy of this contract is on my wall right next my computer.