Textnovel

March 30, 2009

Textnovel

Yes, I know it has been awhile.

Hi.

Within this time period, I have not been working on much, as I was dealing with death.  However, it became apparent to me that writing can and always will be, cathartic.  So, like a big strangle to the heart muscle -

The first thing I would like to talk about is the entity called Textnovel .  I was first asked to take part of this as a way to get more people to a newby site, by the founder Stan Soper.  He also encouraged me to take part in their $1,000.00 prize. This sounds like a load of shit, because really … who is going to pay us idiot writers a whole grand just for our silly ideas?   I, however, being the optimist that I am, took part in their first contest and sadly, lost.  You can find my entry here.

The basics on the contest is that you harangue everyone you know to “vote” for you on the site (voting is basically clicking a little ‘thumbs up’ icon at the top of the story page.  You do have to sign up at the site to do this.  However, I pretty much never get e-mails from Textnovel, so don’t worry about Spam.  Then the stories with the largest amounts of ‘thumbs up’ points goes to a Editorial Advisory Board, who vote on their favorite story and whoever gets the most votes, wins.  Pretty simple.

As many of you may know, I have a love/hate relationship with this site for many reasons, but have decided to write their again, because – why not?  Even if you don’t win a damn thing … you get your work out there to a new audience!

I can guarantee you that this is 100% legit and you DO get a grand (the winner actually put up a screen shot on her Facebook of the check, as no one believed her.  I have spoken with her at length, and she is a good sort, and I am very happy for her for winning.)  You also get ol’ Stan to work as your “agent” of some kind (if he wants to) for a whole year.  As far as I can tell, the winner has had a lot of offers from her book.

As you can see from the site, these are Cell Phone Novels.  Which generally means people can download your story and read it on their cell phone or whatever mobile device they have.  Pretty wicked (though I never used this option, as my cell phone is an old grand daddy that would not be able to handle this.)  However, you are completely open to writing a ‘normal sized’ novel as well, as Stan is also looking for ‘real’ book length literature.

Recently, as I said, I realized that writing could be the most cathartic thing for me in this situation.  So, I started a new novel (hopefully MUCH better than my original, which ended up as a crazy blood bath).  My new story is

To Those Of You Who Have Never Been Afraid .

I am only on chapter four, so be patient!  I am working up to some good stuff about ol’ Connie and David!  Anyway, if any of you out there were ever considering taking your writing “further,” sign up for Textnovel.  It is a really easy way to get your work out there and possibly win a grand!  Or, if you do not want to do that, vote for my story!  I only have a couple of months left to finish this thing, so any help is definitely LOVED.

Be sure to leave me a comment if you start up your own novel there, so I can read it and give it a thumbs up as well!

Much love,

H.

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