Bonus Tuesday post!

I try not to inundate you with non-book review news here at Books j’adore. I realize it can get tedious to be bombarded by requests to sponsor, share, and vote for people online, and I enjoy knowing that so many readers come here twice a week to get a book fix without having to look at ads or buy anything. I love writing for you, and I love hearing from literary nerds all over the world.

That being said, I don’t get paid or compensated for this in any way. To make a living, I have a slew of  other writing gigs I mostly don’t talk about here (unless I’m under deadline and it affects how much I get to read). At the moment though, voting has just started for a collaborative novel I’ve been working on and it would mean so much to me if you would lend me (and the project) some (non-financial) support.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. (Five points if you can guess that movie reference.) In February, I followed a lead for a project run by Iain Grant (co-author of a wonderful book I reviewed called Clovenhoof and editor at Pigeon Park Press). The idea for the novel, entitled Ten to One, was that the book would open with ten writers, each with his or her own character. After every chapter concluded, the text would be posted, voted on, and the character with the fewest votes would be written out in the following chapter.

The audition process that followed the acceptance of my resume was grueling, but also incredibly exhilarating. Of course, it didn’t help that my computer died halfway through the process and I was frantically writing scenes, character sketches, and story arcs on my phone, but even so, I was desperate to get in. I have never wanted a job so badly in my life, and when I found out I had secured one of the ten spots over Memorial Day weekend, I flipped out. Since then, the ten of us (seven writers in England, two in the US, and one in Brazil) have been shaping the first chapter (yes, we already have a much larger outline for the rest of the book, but it takes a remarkable amount of dialogue to come to a consensus about each step along the way) and writing our scenes for Chapter 1.

That first chapter is now up for voting (most easily through Facebook here, but I believe also through the newsletter, which you can sign up for here). It would be wonderful if you took the poll (and although I love the other writers on this project, I have to say) to vote for me. If you go to either of those links, you can, and hopefully will, read all the sections of the chapter. The book is going to be so much fun. Oh, and just a head’s up – it’s a little salty; a few characters, like mine, use rough language, and there is some violence, although nothing too graphic. If you read all the pieces and decide to vote for another character, I won’t hold it against you (much). I’m having a blast working with these guys, and I’m happy to report that every writer will continue to be a part of the editing team even after they’ve been voted off.

Here’s what I’ll say about it before I go back to writing about books for you. Ten to One is a job, but it also feels like an amazing class where my brain is constantly exploding with exciting new knowledge, and as a bonus, I get paid to do it. I desperately want to move on to the next round and continue being a part of this incredible experience. Your votes will help me do that and will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for being a part of this crazy journey with me.

EDIT: If you want to vote for me, pick NELL in the polls (section 1.2). I realized that might be a piece of crucial information I left out there…