Some (Potentially Interesting) Updates

So a couple things have recently happened for me and I feel like they should probably be shared with you guys.

The first is that the webcomic Cyanide & Happiness is launching a show. For those of you who have not heard of C&H, check them out here. They are absolutely hilarious and their show should be amazing. They have already made a few shorts over the last few years that are worthy of literally rolling on the floor laughing. They have decided to launch their show through funding on Kickstarter and hae already made their base goal! Additional funding never hurts, and if they get enough additional funding, they will offer even more episodes and shorts. If you like their work and are willing to throw them a few bucks, check out their Kickstarter here.

I recently stumbled across a website called 750 Words. The basic idea of the site is that every writer needs a way to get rid of all of the random thoughts that pop up before any real writing can begin. A normal page in a novel is approximately 250 words (more for description heavy pages, less for dialogue) and having to write at least 3 pages of stuff forces you to dig a little deeper than just the surface level distractions and forces you to actually dig down to the underlying imagination which will then allow you to actually write more effectively.
I was a little skeptical at first, and since the site is shortly switching over to a pay site, I was definitely not going to join simply to pay to write when I can write for free with the same outcome. I began trying out the exercise this week, and although I have not had time to write much since I have had a very busy week at work, I have been able to get through the 750 words every day and have actually even come up with some interesting ideas during the writing. The 750 words isn't meant to be cohesive in any way, and it's not meant to be shared with anyone. It's just a way to get your ideas out and the creative juices flowing. I have been feeling pretty unimaginative recently, and writing those 3 pages a day has really helped keep me on the right track.

The last update I have for you guys is something that I'm actually very excited about. Recently, I was involved in a Word Master Challenge to write the worst possible intro to a book. If you haven't seen my entry, here it is. I got a couple of comments on it saying that I should try to actually make it into a real book (without the hilariously bad writing of course). While at first I just laughed to myself and dismissed the idea, it stayed in the back of my mind and nagged at me. No matter how hard I tried to forget about the idea, it kept coming back, asking me to take it seriously. I eventually got fed up and decided that I would actually listen to its pleas and it turns out, there is a decent premise hidden behind the insane ramblings of a toddler on a sugar high.
When considering actually writing the book, however, I decided that it was not likely going to be feasible. I already have a major project that has been going on for years and is not going to come to a close any time soon. I'd rather not be distracted by another project, especially since I've actually been making decent progress on it recently. I was pretty bummed out, but shortly after realizing I couldn't write the book on a normal schedule, I stumbled across the National Novel Writing Month website. Being realtively new to the writing community, I had never really heard about it beyond blurbs on TV that I had completely ignored, but it immediately intrigued me. Here was a chance to actually write a book in a condensed timeframe and therefore not distract myself from my main project too much. It seemed perfect.
After doing some more research on the site and going through the "who the hell can write a novel in a freaking month?" phase, I decided that it could definitely live up to expectations assuming I could stick with it. As such, I am currently planning on writing a book based off of my joke intro and will hopefully have a rough draft by the end of November!

So with that, I bid you adieu until I once again think of something interesting enough to share (it may be a while, I'm not that interesting). As always, I'm interested in any thoughts you may have. What do you think of how Kickstarter is changing business? How do you motivate yourself when the ideas just won't come? Think you can write a novel in a month? Why don't beavers tapdance? Any thoughts on anything are more than welcome.