The Writing Center

I just read this story about an interesting twist on Twitter — Quillpill, which though still in private beta is available by invitation at Techcrunch. It apparently is a new way for all would-be-novelists-if-I-only-had-the-time to write their novels…you simply write it 140 characters at a time, from your cell phone, whenever and wherever.

It sounds like lots of fun, except for two things: while it’s free now, a paid subscription is planned; plus the fact that while I appreciate the 140-character limit for the sake of concision, I wouldn’t necessarily want the world to see my first drafts of much of anything, even if it’s only 140 characters long.

But it’ll be interesting to see where this goes … Quillpill founders were inspired by the popularity of mobile publishing in Japan, where books written on cell phones have sold hundreds of thousands of copies — and some have gone on to become bestsellers in print.

Many of you may remember last year’s debate over David Sedaris’s work — fact or fiction? — an all-too-familiar debate these days for memoirists. Being a stickler for 100% truth in nonfiction (and feeling like the only one on the planet), I got a kick out of New York Magazine’s blurb on the subject, which notes that Barnes & Noble lists Sedaris’s new collection on its FICTION bestseller list (also noting that having sold more than twenty thousand copies of the book in its first week, Sedaris probably isn’t complaining).

Sedaris has recently labeled his work “97%” true, which to me isn’t nonfiction — but at least he’s admitting that he embellishes and invents. Which most of his readers already know (and likely don’t mind).

I just discovered Word Spy, a web site “devoted to lexpionage, the sleuthing of new words and phrases.” Words featured here are new terms that have been legitimized a bit through multiple appearances in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources.

Some of the words and terms are hardly new — the publishing section lists such familiar terms as “backstory” and “chick lit” — but others in this section were a nice surprise, like “me-moir” (a memoir that is exceptionally self-centered) and “shnovel” (a self-help book disguised as a novel).

Overall, it’s lots of fun, and it’s a great way to fill up a few moments of “microboredom” (boredom caused by having nothing to do over a short period of time). Enjoy.