The 24-Hour Book

24 Hours


9 Writers


1 Book

So, a while back I got this email from Simon Groth who has something of an interest in The Future of The Book. Anyway, he approached me, (and a bunch of other victims writers) with this totally insane idea -

On 11 June 2012, if:book Australia will challenge a team of writers and editors to collaborate, write, and publish a book in a single 24-hour period.

You know the expression LOL, and how very rarely you actually do it? Laugh Out Loud. Well, I read Simon's email and I LOLed. Oh how I LOLed. I barked with laughter. I hooted. If I'd been drinking coffee I'd have done a shoot out through the nose over the keyboard spray. I answered yes, instantly. It sounded so insane that I was still chuckling as I shot back my reply.

Not laughing now.

Now, I visit the 24-Hour Book page and watching the countdown clock ticking away, the moment of truth growing closer and closer, and I'm thinking ...... WHAT WAS I THINKING?

Simon wrote this whole blog about was he was thinking. But it sort of came down to -

“because we can” and “because it’ll be fun”

And it will be.

Fun.

But it will also be .... kind of frightening.

I'm a slow writer. (Ask my publishers.) And those public writing exercises you do in classes ..... always felt like I wrote crap in them.

So this is all rather confronting. And did I mention - terrifying.

But, I won't be alone. I'll be sharing the fun and terror with Nick Earls, Steven Amsterdam, Krissy Kneen, Christopher Currie, Rjurik Davidson, Angela Slatter, Geoff Lemon, and Simon Groth. And while we eventually sleep Keith Stevenson will be leading his band of hero editors Jack Venning, Sarah Kanake, Laura Elvery, Chris Przewloka, Andrea Baldwin, Imogen Smith, Matt Shepard, Kelsey Bricknell, and Sasha Mackay through the night to make the morning publication deadline.

I've decided that I'm going to pretend I'm in a TV writers writers' room. I've always thought that being in the writers' room, planning a season of something like Buffy, or BSG, or The Wire, or The Killing, would just be amazing. Bouncing ideas, seeing how they build, how the creativity sparks and snaps and sizzles to produce something bigger than any one mind ... and we've been promised pizza, and alcohol to get us to the finish line .... so, what could go wrong?

Follow us live on Monday 11 June, 2012.

It'll probably be a bit like this -




And a lot like this.

Wish us luck.