Writer and illustrator Colleen Doran, whose credits include her creator-owned comic-book series entitled A Distant Soil, is participating in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write a 50,000-word novel in one month. You can sponsor her by hopping over to her blog; donations will go to the Office of Letters and Light, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity. Your donations to the Office of Letters and Light pay for NaNoWriMo’s youth and adult novel-writing programs, as well as the Office of Letters and Light’s operating expenses.

Someone named Laurie Sutton posted a suggestion in one of Colleen’s threads: maybe a few of us could do our own little mini-contest. A light-bulb appeared over my head (yes, an actual light-bulb — very odd, but also useful: I used it to replace one of the light-bulbs in my kitchen). I thought, “Why don’t I offer to host this informal mini-contest and throw my own hat into the ring?”

Colleen kindly let me use her blog to announce this, and I’ve already had a few takers. Colleen herself then said she would join us. I am told she did this because she thought it would be funny to see a grown man wet his pants. Well, I showed her, you know — I didn’t wet my pants. I had an anxiety-induced vomit instead. In your face, Colleen!

OK, seriously, here’s what I propose: if you’re working on a creative project that involves storytelling, set a quantifiable goal for what you’re going to accomplish between Nov. 1 and Nov. 30 and announce it in this thread. If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, you already know what to do: write a 50,000-word novel by the end of November. If you’re doing something else, set a goal that is challenging but attainable, and again: QUANTIFIABLE. I will then post weekly “checkpoints” asking all comers to leave comments letting us know how much progress they’ve made against their goal. Those “checkpoint” threads will also serve as an opportunity for us to motivate and support each other.

As the unofficial ringleader (read: jackass who has no idea what he’s gotten himself into), I should have some real skin in the game. I’m going to work on my comic-book. Moreover, I am going to ask Colleen herself to set my goal for me. Ms. Doran, bearing in mind that I have a day-job and can probably set aside 15 - 20 hours a week if I’m really good with my time, please tell me how many pages I should complete by the end of November.

I ask that the rest of you leave a comment in this thread announcing your project and your measurable goal for the month of November. Then come back every Friday to provide an update about your progress. At the end of the month I’ll post a wrap-up where we can all share how far we got and compare notes.

Also: don’t forget to sponsor the awesome Colleen Doran for NaNoWriMo!!!

Now if you will excuse me, I believe I am due for another anxiety-induced vomit.

North Carolina Democrat Kay Hagan, who running against Republican Libby Dole for a seat in the U.S. Senate, recently filed a defamation lawsuit in response to a campaign advertisement from Dole questioning Hagan’s faith in God. Hagan is also running an ad of her own to assure people that she is a God-fearing person.

Why should it matter whether Hagan believes in God? We may swear our politicians in using a Bible, but the laws they swear to uphold are those of the United States. The last time I checked, the highest law of our land, the U.S. Constitution, explicitly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The idea that calling someone an atheist is “defamatory” just shows how much religious bigotry still exists in this country. Prejudice against atheists is still prejudice, folks.

Bill Mulligan recently posted a comment in the previous thread in which he told me, “I always envy people like yourself with genuine artistic talent. I wish I could do what you do. I suppose not being able to has forced me to develop skills in other areas but I’d gladly trade those growing experiences for the ability to be able to draw something remotely like what I can see in my head.”

Regardless of how much or how little talent I possess, drawing is a skill which must be learned. There is very little about drawing that comes naturally to me. It is a skill I am forced to develop through practice.

Me, I envy people with genuine musical talent, and athletes. But I don’t have what they’ve got, so I have to develop skills in other areas.

In other words, Bill Mulligan and I aren’t as different as he may believe.

This blog has been collecting dust to say the least. In addition to posting only once in a blue moon, I’ve been lax in the upgrade department. Until this weekend, I was still running WordPress 2.0, and the latest version is 2.6.3!

I’d been procrastinating because the last time I upgraded this blog it was a tremendous amount of work, fraught with all sorts of problems and resultant heartache. So imagine my relief when I discovered that my Web host, GoDaddy, makes it as easy as the click of a single button in my hosting admin panel! A lot of people hate on GoDaddy but as long as they provide me with tools like that I’m stickin’ with ‘em.

I also upgraded the plug-in that enables my readers to subscribe to e-mail updates. The plug-in hadn’t been working for God knows how long, but I hope the upgrade will resolve the problem. Anyone who signed up for e-mail updates should receive one shortly. If you changed your mind and want to be removed, you should be able to do that using the blog’s admin panel. If you have problems, e-mail me at bill dot myers at billmyerscreations dot com and I’ll remove your e-mail address from the subscriber list myself.

Of course, I haven’t the foggiest clue why you would do such a thing. Over the next few days I’m going to post some new sketches, some political commentary, and some other cool stuff.