The Not-So-Great Blogger Challenge

Via Irish Red's blog, I discovered this interesting challenge. Although intrigued, I am somewhat terrified by the notion of writing a 50,000 word novel in only a month's time. I can barely string two or three cogent thoughts together so the thought of pulling together many chapters of god knows what in such a short period of time is rather daunting.

But I like the idea; the idea of being forcibly creative under the gun. So I have come up with my own writer's challenge open to anyone and everyone. Consider it a cheap amalgamtion of National Novel Writing Month and the Project Greenlight auditions. Later today I will post one sentence. One opening sentence as great as Melville or Dickens could have ever penned, and from there I will write some rambling fictional very-short-story/post. I have no idea what the sentance will be or what I will write about. And there is no pre-determined length that said story needs to be. It will be posted by Tuesday afternoon~ish and I encourage others to try their hand and participate.

I think that one of things that draws people to this medium is that perhaps, as writers, our "skills" are better suited to the essay and short form. Here is our chance to be fictionally creative within our respective wheelhouses. You know, I don't think Dickens had any idea where his stories were going when he wrote them in installments. He just kept spinning his yarns and after 30 or so chapters he had a Great Expectations. Who knows, this could be the first chapter of your own Bleak House. That book made no damn sense to me but I am told -- by people much, much, much smarter than me -- that it is brilliant. So there you go.

Stay tuned...