What is NaNoWriMo?
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts today, November 1. Basically, people pledge to write a novel (50,000 words) in a single month. I'm not participating this year, but I have in the past. (You can read my entry from 2009 for a little more background.) I recommend it, not because you'll have anything worth publishing at the end, but because there is something positive about writing every day. I honestly never knew I could write so many words before I did NaNoWriMo. If publishing is your goal, you'll have a nice start at a first draft after NaNoWriMo that you can later shape into something worth submitting.
I created this Ask Me About My Book Keychain when thinking about my writer friends. If you're currently writing a book, it's hard not to talk about the
process. If you've just published your book, then you're consumed by
all the marketing activities that you need to do to get the word out
about your book. No matter what, asking about a writer's book is guaranteed to start a conversation.
By the way, I just shipped some key chains to the Ugly Glass shop in Independence, Missouri, so if you're in that area, you can go see them in person.
But What About My Book?
Recently a customer asked whether I could hand stamp a book title and ISBN on a custom key chain. The answer is yes (mostly). There are limits to the number of words I can fit on a piece of metal that is a little bigger than one inch in size (slightly larger than a U.S. quarter). If you're writing The Incredible Magical Adventures of The Great Princess Elizabeth Margaret Allison Smith with the Long, Curly Golden Hair and Her Striped Tabby Cat, Rex, I'm sorry. You might want to think about retitling your book Yo, Princess!
Bonus Quirky Spelling Fact: This is a tidbit for my word geek readers. Key chain and keychain are both accepted spellings of the word, although my blog editing software hates keychain.
Other popular terms for
this item include: key ring, key holder, key tag, and key fob. So, there you go. More than you ever wanted to know!