*Google Voicemail transcribes your messages and then sends you a text of that voicemail. It’s awesome!

Turns out that a woman named Rita was recruiting for the Focus Rally America and I had already made it to the next round of interviews/casting calls. That’s right, Jeff Cutler in Ford’s version of the Amazing Race. Can you imagine that?

Neither could I. So I called Rita today and found out it was all real. Ford is putting together a five-week show on Hulu, supported by social media, where teams of two will drive somewhere and do something (details to come I hope). The winning team will get $100,000 and a pair of 2012 Ford Foci (Focuses?). What’s not to love?

Do you want in? Are you in Boston? Then come to the Vault Room at McFadden’s on 148 State Street next Wednesday, October 20, from 5-8PM. The casting crew will be interviewing teams of two for the show.

Sounds exciting to me. Now I’ve got to find out who my second driver – or naviguesser – will be. Any ideas?

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Post tags: focus rally, Ford, Jeff Cutler

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I can’t put into words – maybe because I’ve used so many in the past three weeks – how great this feels and how energizing this task has been.

Thanks for your support and I welcome anyone to tackle this challenge next year.

Now I’m off to put some content – not the novel, just content that’s been sitting in the back of my mind – onto the 14 blogs I had chugging alone happily until the novel took over my fingers.

Keep reading!

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Post tags: Fiction, Jeff Cutler, memoir, nanowrimo, novel, seven sisters

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The exercise was part of the NaNoWriMo event coming up in less than 15 days. That’s right, National Novel-writing Month is November.

Part of my anxiety – aside from the actual word-count issue – is topic. I’m a font of silly ideas, smart commentary and unique introspective conversation starters. But that’s where it ends.

The stuff I usually write are concise and powerful 600-775 word diatribes. How can I hope to create characters, plot, description and wild action in chunks of 650 words? Further, how will I paste the whole thing together well enough to entice a major agent or publisher to take a flyer on my project?

It can’t be that hard, can it?

I mean, at every Tweet-up, cocktail party, family gathering and trip to the dentist, people bludgeon me with their ideas for books once they learn that I’m a professional writer.

Sure, I get paid to write and have done so since the days of green screens and mimeograph machines. But that doesn’t mean I’m a modern-day literary Midas.

Just look back over this rant and count the number of times I’ve used a hyphenated descriptor. That’s amateur hour, but you must concede me the errors in style as I’m trying to pound out the characters.

Nimble fingers are necessary. Just like a toy boat will tangle your tongue, you should try writing alliteration always. Or don’t.

How many words is that? 900? Not even?

C’mon. I’m going to have to do twice this amount AND make it tell a story. I think what I need is some acid. Or at least a lucid dream.

Thank god it’s Friday and I won’t have to think about this heinous challenge until Monday when I’ll be limbering up my fingers again.

What?

NaNoWriMo requires you to write EVERY day of the week? That means my trip to NYC mid-month will include some frantic banging of the keys.

And TurkeyDay will make me look like Mike Felger in a previous life. Anti-social wanker with his laptop at every family event. But it’s for the greater good.

And whatever I end up with next month better be good. And it better be greater than this collection of words.

Every day.

All month long.

Until I reach 50,000 words.

Yikes.

Keep reading…I’ll keep typing.

*Leave your thoughts on NaNoWriMo in the comments. And let me know if you’d like me to dump my daily words right here on the blog. It will give you a chance to see the novel as it travels along a path from concept to abysmal reality.

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Post tags: Felger, Fiction, Jeff Cutler, nanowrimo, november, procrastinate, sham, writing contest

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When editors ask you to peruse a handful of issues to figure out their style, they mean it. But it’s time well-spent. So far I have a much better grasp of what types of features, columns and fillers go where. It’s also helped me generate article ideas for other markets.

As your teachers told you, READ!

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The rest of the week is brainstorming and query letters to different publications. Updates will be posted here.

AND, with today being CONTEST WEDNESDAY, I have located a contest or two to enter. But each requires a longer piece of writing so I’ll start crafting those for submission either next week or the week after.

Got brainstorms yourself? Send them here in the comments. Thanks!

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