"And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." -- Matthew 19:17

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HEP CAT

Christian rock pioneers Terry Taylor, Rob Watson and Dave Ravenhave created the soundtrack for the Nickelodean show "Catscratch." The new Nicktoon, created by Doug TenNapel, is a light-hearted adaptation of his graphic novel Gear.

Find out more about "Catscratch" (including a preview, games and more) at the official Nickelodeon site. Find out more about Doug TenNapel at his official site. Visit Terry Taylor at MySpace.

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A NOVEL IN A MONTH

Today is the first day of National Novel Writing Month 2005 -- or, as insiders call it, "NaNoWriMo." As described on the official site, the deal is to begin writing November 1, and write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

We have called upon a few friends who went through this last year. Yesterday, we heard from J. Mark Bertrand (who blogs at www.jmarkbertrand.com), and tomorrow we will hear from Kevin Hendricks (who has several blogs at www.MonkeyOuttaNowhere.com/ ).

Today, we get sage words from Chris Mikesell (who blogs at mikesell.blogspot.com)

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CHRIS MIKESELL

1) What was the result of your participation in NaNoWriMo 2004?

CM: A joyous bundle/steaming pile of 74,000 words. The novel wasn't entirely coherent, nor was it complete in the sense of all subplots tied up, but it was a wonderfully crappy first draft.

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2) Did you meet your expectations?

Yes. But my expectations were low.

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3) Are you going to take the challenge again this year?

Not a novel from scratch, but I will be continuing to revise last year's novel as part of Dee Stewart's Halo's Eve project.

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4) Based on your experiences last year, what one piece of advice would you say every writer MUST do to succeed this year?

Accounability. Be part of a NaNo community, either a local chapter or the online forums (though the forums suck up writing time). An alternative would be to have bunch of people (friends/coworkers) keeping tabs on your writing and encouraging you to keep at it (and ready to ridicule you if you fail).

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5) What one thing did you learn from experienced that every writer must NOT do this year?

An overabundance of fast food is bad. My "write a word, eat a chip" policy last year was woefully misguided.

Some fast food is good, but don't go crazy with it.

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BONUS: Any other bits of advice for those doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year?

There are ready-made Excel spreadsheets out there to help you track your progress. The one I used also let you rank your emotional status; when things bogged down in week 3 for me, it helped to remember that the outlook wasn't always so bleak, that there had been days I missed quota but still felt optimistic.

More NaNoWriMo observation/advice on my writing blog: w-i-p.blogspot.com/2005/10/too-big-to-kill.html.

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Chris Well is the author of the suspense thriller Forgiving Solomon Long (Harvest House). Find him online at StudioWell.