WEbook Blog: A Writer's Resource

WEbook Goes Global

We have some serious adventurers in our midst, WEbookers – and they can write!

WEbook top writer Sarah is bringing together stories of life in distant lands in the anthology Ex-Pat Journal. It’s one of the most active projects on WEbook, and if you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing out!

As Sarah writes in the project description for Ex-Pat Journal, “The best way to see the world is to be a local yourself.” She invites WEbookers to “tell us your experiences living and working abroad. Share your adventures from around the world and WEbook authors can help you become a published author.”

If you’ve ever wondered how long it takes to get from Nicaragua to Costa Rica on a bus (answer: a heck of a lot longer when there’s no air conditioning), or how to survive a year-long teaching contract in Korea (answer: carry a pastel blue thermos decorated with cartoon bunny rabbits wielding toilet plungers),  Ex-Pat Journal is for you.

Want to join the fun? Take a look at Ex-Pat Journal’s most recent submission, “Living Uncomfortably in Cambodia.” In this thoughtful and funny piece, georgie explores the ins and outs of class difference in a country “deeply scarred from 30 years of war and genocide,” where “nothing is quite as it seems.” (And if you think you can’t laugh out loud at an article with the words Khmer Rouge in it, georgie will prove you wrong.)

When you visit Ex-Pat Journal, be sure to bring your red pens. All the stories are active works-in-progress, and improving work through feedback and revision is at the heart of what it means to be a WEbooker.  Help TsungChi wrap up his curious tale of an injured cow, a Thai policeman, and 2000 Bhat – and suggest some ways for WEbook featured writer MotherJungle to answer lingering questions about the root of spiritual truths, found in the beautiful simplicity of a child’s birthday party in Costa Rica.

If you’ve ever lived abroad, you’re invited to contribute to Ex-Pat Journal. And keep your eyes open – one of these days, I’ll chime in and tell the whole story of my stint as the honorary postmistress of the Osaka Prefecture in Japan.

-- Melissa

WEbook Grab Bag

Way to go, WEbookers! You officially made it impossible for me to pick just one “featured project” this week. There’s just too much interesting writing happening on the site!

Like Gumshoe Gertie and the Oriental Daggers, an old-fashioned whodunit with a decidedly new-fashioned heroine. Author gumnaam is working on Chapter 2 now – go check it out, give your feedback, and help gumnaam figure out what Gertie should do about the naked corpse in her office.  Who knows? Gumshoe Gertie could shape up into the hottest beach read of the summer -- and we’ll all be able to say we knew it when.

If you’re in a more serious mood, I recommend WEbooker davidgrundy’s article “An Echo in Another's Mind: My Grandfather and Glenn Gould's Bach,” in Rhyme + Rhythm = Reason for Living, a collection of essays about the power of music in everyday life. Full disclosure and own-horn-tooting: I am not only the proud leader and editor of this project – I’m also a contributor! After you’re done reading about how Glenn Gould helped davidgrundy find communion with his emotionally distant grandfather, you can read about how Def Leppard changed my life in “I’m Hot, Sticky Sweet.” While you’re at it, check out the other submissions in Rhyme + Rhythm = Reason for Living, and write one of your own!

Finally, work up an appetite over at Food for Thought: Stories You Can Taste, where project leader Gila and her fellow WEbookers are sharing their culinary trials and tribulations. If you’ve ever wondered what happens if you make matzo balls with scrambled eggs, this is the project for you. Read about the father-in-law who won’t pick up the check at his son’s rehearsal dinner, the aunt who criticizes everything her niece puts in her mouth, and much more. Then share your own tales of “food don’ts that real people do.”

It’s easier than ever to read and write on WEbook – and it shows! Browse Active Projects for more great reading. Don’t forget to let the writers know what you think of ‘em – and if you’re feeling authorial, post a contribution or start a project of your own.

--Melissa

If You’re a Runner and You Know it, Grab Your Pen

This morning, the season’s first purple crocus popped its head out of the dirt in my neighbor’s backyard. Forget that cowardly groundhog -- spring has sprung! And right about now, half a million perky, ponytailed aerobics instructors are looking out at empty, mirrored rooms, wondering: Where is everyone?   

We’re all in the park, of course – running!

If you’re out there, too, you’re in good company at WEbook. Check out My Running Life, where project leader JenWilloughby and her fellow WEbookers share their tales from the trails. Read about krysk’s return to running after a cold-weather hiatus. Share WEbook featured writer MotherJungle’s travails and triumphs as a running newbie. And find out what keeps WEbooker MHeinz out on those L.A. sidewalks even though, as she says, “I’m not sure I like to run.”

When you’re done reading, help JenWilloughby “see into the hearts of other runners.” Pick up your pen, stretch those writing muscles, and share the story of why, how, and where you run. Then put those shoes back on and treat yourself to a nice, long…walk.

Now, doesn’t that feel good?

--Melissa

Gunhands Update!

Gunhands Part I: The Legend is Born, featured in last week's blog post, has been tricked out with some nifty new features!  Project leader schang1 can now create character profiles and a detailed scene-by-scene synopsis, based on the forum brainstorms.  We'll be seeing a huge amount of growth over at Gunhands in the days to come -- so go read, write, and help create some arch-villains. Just don't ask how Gunhands reloads...

-- Melissa

WEbook, Meet MotherJungle

I’m not the first person to be impressed by WEbooker MotherJungle’s writing. Years ago, she wrote a story for ARTnews, about art from a dog’s point of view. She says it was “a silly piece…in response to [an article by] Steve Martin.” Well, apparently Steve Martin didn’t think it was so silly. A few weeks after she submitted the article to ARTnews, MotherJungle got a call from International Creative Management. The agent on the other end of the line said her article was “one of the funniest things he’d read.” Did MotherJungle have anything else he could take a look at?

“The silence,” writes MotherJungle. “ I’ll always remember the silence. I had nothing.”

Lucky for WEbook, MotherJungle has been writing up a storm since that long-ago phone call. You can read about spirituality and community in Costa Rica in her article for WEbook’s Ex-Pat Journal, “Costa Rica has Taught Me a Thing or Two.” Or go to The First Year to read “Math Wasn’t Like This in My School,” a touching story about a young teacher, a student with a butane lighter, and the most important equation of all: Trust. 

MotherJungle hails from Minnesota, and has lived in Costa Rica for ten years. She left the States “with a husband and three dogs.” Now she’s single with two kids. Her youngest son was born with Down Syndrome, and MotherJungle says that “the incredible help I get for his care heavily tilts the scales to stay in this safe and peaceful Central American country.”

MotherJungle first realized she was a writer when she read Bird by Bird, Ann Lamott’s classic memoir about the writing life, on a long flight to Florida twelve years ago. And she’s not just a writer! She’s also produced and hosted two radio programs at an international radio station in Costa Rica, and she’s working on her third, SunStruck Radio. (Listen to the podcast here.)

In addition to “Costa Rica has Taught Me a Thing or Two” and “Math Wasn’t Like This in My School,” MotherJungle has also written articles for WEbooks My Running Life, Motherhood, and Bouncing Back from a Breakup.  

Wow! What a WEbook resume!

Keep an eye out for this top writer – I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more of her on WEbook in the days to come.

-- Melissa

The Gunhands Phenomenon

The American Heritage Dictionary says a phenomenon is “An unusual, significant, or unaccountable fact or occurrence; a marvel.” Well, WEbookers, we have a phenomenon in our midst, and it is Gunhands Part I: The Legend is Born.

The brainchild of WEbook top writer Schang1, Gunhands Part I tells the story of Gunther Hans, WWII sharpshooter and victim of a freak accident that leaves his guns fused to the acid-eaten stumps of his wrists, and his mind consumed by a passion for revenge.

In answer to my burning question: “Are you serious?” Schang1 assures me that he is “DEADLY serious. Like Gunhands himself.” And he’s not the only one. Gunhands Part I currently has ten WEbookers collaborating in an active forum discussion, brainstorming plot ideas and building a roster of characters such as Rayford Ironshell, a cross-eyed American fighter ace and the best sidekick a mutilated revenge-mad German could hope for. Schang1’s first submission to the project is written in screen-play format; as he points out on the forums, “They made Snakes on a Plane.”

Secure your invite to the Hollywood premier of Gunhands Part I by joining the fun now. Get over to the project forum and help Schang1 and his friends decide whether the Female Assassin should be played by Lucy Liu or Roseanne Barr.

Only on WEbook.

-- Melissa