Hackpacker

National Novel Writing Month is the brain child of Chris Baty, a San Franciscan who took November off to write a book and found a few friends to join him. It 's become a global phenomenon with more than 150,000 participants. Chris chatted about the future of writing, the Office of Light and Letters , book piracy and the bright future for the story in the age of laptops and Kindle. Hackpacker: What made you start NaNoWriMo? Was it a tool to beat your own procrastination? Chris Baty: The "why" of it all is such a good question. It wasn't because I had a novel in me that I was dying to write. I'd always loved novels and worshipped novelists but had never really thought I would write a book of my own. Until I started planning the first NaNoWriMo, I believed that novelists were a (superior) alien race that had been beamed down to Earth to delight and intimidate the rest of the planet. Then, in 1999, I quit my full-time job and try to make a living as a freelance wri

November will see the release of Peter Carey's latest, Olivier and Parrot in America . I was lucky enough to snag an advance of this thumping tome and it's an impressive work. One of the things I like about Carey is that he is very much an Australian abroad so his writing looks at being stretched between two cultures. In his latest Europeans head into the belly of America just as that nation was the hope for democracy. But don't take my word for it. Here's what the man himself has to say: Interview with Peter Carey from Granta magazine on Vimeo . Today another Australian writer kicks off a new project. Under the dubious title of Marieke Hardy in Your Hand , The Age has launched a venture into m-fiction, or stories delivered by text. While it may be a first for Australia, cell fiction is already popular in Japan where keitai shosetsu (cell phone novels) have pulled in millions of dollars from subscriptions of less than two bucks a novel. Fairfax are relying on disco

Way back in 2002 Jessa Crispin began Bookslut while living in Austin as a way of chatting with far-flung friends about books. She had more friends than she thought and now Bookslut is one of the most influential literary blogs. She's an upcoming guest at the Melbourne Writers' Festival so I wanted to know about her workshop and I ended up finding out that there is space for longer form content on the web, why it's better to graze the field than be a Trojan Horse and advice on how avoid stabbing your boss. Hackpacker: Bookslut has been insanely successful scoring more than 1500 unique hits a day just six months after it started in 2002 (and even more today) plus it recently won a Weblog Award in 2008. What’s made it so successful? Jessa Crispin: I really wish I knew how to answer this question, because I get it alot. I have no idea. We never did any marketing, and I never do anything that you're supposed to do to create a successful blog: I don't have comments open

Running underneath the recent film State of Play there's a struggle between old and new media. It's represented by grizzled newspaper hack, Cal McAffrey (Rusty Crowe), and up-and-coming blogger, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams). The two spar with their different approaches to a meaty political story (with a few nods to All The President's Men ) as McAffrey wisecracks about 'bloggers and bloodsuckers' rushing inaccurate stories to the web, while his editor (a suitably cranky Helen Mirren) points out that bloggers are cheap and file copy hourly. It's a grim insight into the changing world of media and one that's being played out daily if not hourly. A recent post, sorry, story in The Australian takes aim at Australian political bloggers for not breaking stories but 'obsess[ing] about the mainstream media and their reporting'. There's a waggling of a finger at 'group-think' which creates self-involved communities where there is 'not only no

In my inbox earlier today was an email from John McCain. It was sweet of him to think of me when he was so busy what with the looming election in his own country, but John (I figure we're on first name terms if he has my email address) is just that kind of old-fashioned guy. Here's what the geezer I've come to call the J-Mac had to say: My Friend, From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country. Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future. Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring s

Missed Sedaris at the festival? Wanted to see what Watson is like in the flesh? Over at Slow TV they've put a couple of festival sessions online so the festival can keep going. These readings by Watson and Sedaris (more inflight fun) kick off with David Rakoff, a Canadian working his way into America. The three readings make an interesting sketch of the States by outsiders who get a better view with distance. Slow TV is the video version of The Monthly , a magazine that relishes the longer form and gives Australian politics, culture and society a regular examination. Slow TV grabs lectures, debates and talks that last longer than the YouTube attention span. With broadband take-up creeping over 50% in Australia, Slow TV is one of the few Australian outfits creating content for a new audience. Another festival is looming with the National Young Writers' Festival program up. This year marks ten years of the festival and they've produced Herding Kites , an anthology of writing