Friday night we were joined in studio by Curtis Chen, better known to you twitter types as sparCKL. The two episodes can be easily broken down so I think I’ll do just that:

In the Tech episode we talk to Curtis about writing, his site 512 Words or Fewer and Puzzle Hunts.

SLL Episode 141: 512 Words, Stories and Puzzles with Curtis Chen

Watch the Tech Edition

In Afterhours things got away from us a little, but before we got out of hand Curtis read his 512 Words or Fewer piece “The Wren and the Hen and the Men in the Pen”. Other than that (which was my favorite part of the show) Dr Normal introduced us to his alien “friend”, he ranted on his opinion of the work of Joss Whedon and then we talked about the sad, anger inducing, untimely end of the Cort and Fatboy show. For those of you who missed it Bobby “Fatboy” Roberts joined us on last week’s episode. You can find the Tech Edition and Afterhours episodes with Bobby and Will Radik here.

SLL Episode 142: Afterhours with Curtis Chen

Watch Afterhours

Cort & Fatboy: We’re sad to see you guys off the radio, but we’re hoping you’ll pop back up soon to bring us all the smartassery the Portland people have come to love from you guys. The SLL Studio is open to you if you need it.

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Maybe it’s the smell, or the infinite possibilities of books and the stories inside them, but I’ve always loved the library. I spent every Saturday at my small local library as a kid. The library in the town I lived in was only open for 4 hours on Saturday, so, I raced down there to get new books and return the others. It was run by the nicest woman, who didn’t think the Dewey Decimal System really ‘worked for her’ so she ran it how she liked. Sometimes she organized it alpha by author, genres together, and, well, sometimes not.

Things are much different in the Multnomah County Library system. In fact, this week the publication Library Journal gave the Multnomah County Library 5 stars, the highest possible ranking for the way they manage the more than 20 million materials through the system. I’m guessing the Dewey Decimal system ‘works’ for all the Multnomah County Librarians, unlike my childhood librarian.

In the email celebrating the Five Star rating, they mentioned a whole bunch of other things going on at the library other than just books. Here are a few of them:

• Couponing 101: At the Central Library, May 9, learn how to cut coupons to save money.
• Looking for a job? The library has a special computer lab just for job seekers at several of their branches and the central library.
• Kids Clothing Swap on May 30 at Central Library –Bring some of your kids clothes and look for the gently used ones others bring. It’s all on the honor system.
• Novel Writers Workshop, May 23. I’m taking this one in preparation for NaNoWriMo 2009. Also, mediaChick recently took another class in this writers series and gives some of the tips over on her blog.
• Speaking of OurPDX’s own mediaChick, she and Melissa Lion are teaching a social media class on May 9 at the Rockwood Library.

I’m constantly amazed at all the amazing things the Multnomah County Library has to offer — no wonder it got five stars.

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(C’mon – where else but OurPDX do you get titles like that?)

Every time the global economy collapses, I always do two things: Stop showering, because what the hell for, and start writing a potentially unfinishable novel, because why the hell not. Well, that and an ancillary task that involves solace in the company of soul food and cooking sherry, to which my various organs will later testify during their brief furlough in a very unlucky donor-recipient’s body.

If you have significant vices that will be taking over your approaching holiday season, why not join the rest of us all-ages spinsters, wafflers, and on-grid/off-grid PDX nere-do-wells (with short attention spans) in a rousing chorus of that Haley Mills classic, “Let’s write together, Yeah Yeah Yeah! This Month Only! No Credit Checks!”

National Novel Writing Month (or, “NaNoWriMo” – say it, don’t spray it) (NaNoWriMo.org) is, “a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.”

Thus, at the stroke of a dark and stoooooormy midnight begins a frenzy of writers using knicker-tickling adjectives and medically questionable uvula exercises (it helps if you make clicking and purring sounds while writing – try it) to express what has, until this moment, been locked away in the dark recesses of their truly fictional minds. (Wait. that came out wrong). The Portland contingent is gathering force in the writing underworld, not unlike a killer scribbling fungus. That uses Twitter.

Need a subject to write about? Need a character? Need a mortgage? No Problem! That is WHY you should join the us. NaNoWriMo writers include experts in all currently unemployable fields, including my writerly self (Want to hire me? Did I mention I can cry on demand?), just waiting to offer free advice and creative solutions to your storycrafter’s woes. We’re like quilters, really, in that way.

Need more? Not sure if this is for you? Why sign up today? Well my friends, if you sign up in the next 20 minutes I’ll give you this steaming hot idea totally free…A unique, engaging, and original concept that is guaranteed to kick-start your very own Motorcycle Diary (but you must act fast):

You could write a series about a detective cleaning agency called “Dustbusters” (if there is indeed, something strange, in your neighborhood), whose main character falls into a hole and cleans his/her way out of this mess he/she has gotten into, thanks to those meddling kids, who are also pre-pubescent wizards attending magic school, where they have a flying stick program and haunted bathrooms.

See how easy that was? I just wrote that, just there. And you can too!

But wait – you want more? Well How About THIS:

The wonderful folks at CubeSpace are going to GIVE YOU $100 Dollars! OK, my words, not theirs. But they are…I better let them explain:

“CubeSpace is reaching out to all of you budding novelists out there. In honor of NaNoWriMo, CubeSpace is offering a special deal for writers. Anyone who is registered for NaNoWriMo can get a membership at CubeSpace for only $150 (normally it is $250). That means unlimited usage when we are open, M-Th 7am-9pm, Friday 7am-7pm, Saturday 10am-6pm. CubeSpace offers both WiFi and ethernet connections for users. We have a phone-free quiet space, as well as a phone-area (with active noise dampening) for those who need a little background buzz to get their writing juices flowing. We also have a large communal gathering space with comfy chairs, coffee, tea, juice soda and snacks and a Wii.

Want more information, check out our website at www.CubeSpacePDX.com, send us an email at info@CubeSpacePDX.com, or give us a call at 503-206-3500.”

So, if you plan on developing a pathological post-election avoidance of global situations that you really can’t change with intermittent fits of eye-rolling and cheap sessions of pre-interview palm electrolysis, and you need something meaningful to do between the manifestations of your recently renewed interest in vigorous prayer and bead-rubbing (do with that what you will), why not pick up a pen, friend, and write your life’s work alongside other wayward Portlanders during National Novel Writing Month?

(Did I mention also too that run-on sentences are actually encouraged, and also, you can drink all of that crazy Joe’s six-pack either alone or with us others who are also too in Portland, also???)

Join NaNoWriMo. Do it for the children. And please leave a comment and tell us you signed up, lest Betsy fire me only a couple of weeks in. OK I’ll shut up now.

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