12-Word Novels

On The Media, an NPR program I, regretfully, rarely have the chance to listen to, had an excellent contest: write an entire novel in 12 words. A NaNoWriMo project looks like a library of encyclopedias compared to these brief stories. My favorite:

"My sister had written Father's obituary. He is survived by one daughter."
By Brenda J. Wolfe.

You can also see many, many other submissions in the contest's discussion area.

Writing On Tribbles (well, not literally...)

No, putting a pen to the surface of a tribble with most likely result in a gummed-up pen and a cranky tribble. David Gerrold was a budding science-fiction author in the 1960s, who managed to get a foot in the door down at a new show...something like Wagon Train in space or something. That show was Star Trek, and the book The Trouble With Tribbles: The Birth, Sale, and Final Production of One Episode chronicles Gerrold's trials and tribbelations (ha!) on the road to creating one of the more endearing episodes of Trek. It's a pretty much the story every budding screenwriter has, but it's got Trek in it, and it's got tribbles, and, well, that's just fuzzy. The whole book is online, so you can read it at your leisure.

Babalicious Libraries

The Wyoming State Library, in the interest of bringing attention to the libraries in their state, has produced an award-winning ad campaign. My favorite: The sexy-girl-mudflap image (see ex.), adapted to have the busty lady reading a book. That's my kind of gal! That particular image is designed to advertise the Library's free access to the online Chilton library -- an excellent bonus, compared to a lot of other areas. Car repair and chromed babes go hand-in-hand, and books are sexy, you've got to admit it. For the state with the smallest population and a reputation for a cowboy lifestyle, Wyoming's library system does a good job of making themselves useful, resulting in over 8 items checked out per year per capita (ref). I'm sure this is due to the statewide library-card, allowing cardholders to check out books, anywhere -- including colleges -- with their one card. When a state makes their libraries both sexy and accessible, it's no wonder people use them.