Last November I participated in National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short). I’ve always wanted to write a novel, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. The core concept of NaNoWriMo is that, while there is a time for careful writing and editing, there is also a time for boundless creativity. NaNoWriMo is all about output; quantity is emphasized over quality, and it has to be if you are going to finish a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days.

It was crazy, but fun, and at the end of 30 days, I had a novel that I could be proud of. It was coherent and complete, and that’s about all I was asking of myself. In the mean time I’ve done some editing, but the text itself has remained pretty much what is was as of November 30, 2009. Now, thanks to some cool technology, and some risk-free publishing services, I can actually share my novel with others.

Before I continue, let me be honest for a moment. This is not a professionally published novel. If I were reviewing it on the blog I would probably say something like:  “While there are some interesting ideas in Canvas, the writing is really uneven, and mostly mediocre. The few moments of quality aren’t enough to make me recommend this book.” At the same time, though, I’m pretty excited about having written a book, and I want as many people as possible to read it. If reading a flawed novel written by someone you know interests you, I’ve listed possible acquisition methods below:

  1. You can purchase a paperback copy from Amazon.com, to put on your bookshelf next to Johnny Tremain, for $8.00 (not including shipping. It does qualify for Super Saver shipping if you have anything else to buy). Also, if you live near Houston/know me in person and you want a paperback copy, let me know because I can order them through CreateSpace (the company that actually prints the book) for a little cheaper.
  2. You can purchase the Kindle edition from Amazon.com for $0.99. If you are considering this option, I highly recommend you look below.
  3. You can download the ePub version directly from me (*temporarily disabled). This will work on most eReader devices that I’m familiar with.  If it won’t work on yours, you can use Adobe Digital Editions to read it on your PC.

For the sake of full disclosure, I should note that I do, technically, make money if you buy a copy of this book, but I promise that’s not why I’m posting this (see:  free version (*temporarily disabled)). I literally make less than $0.10 from each paperback sale, and something like $0.34 from the Kindle version. I made the for sale versions as cheap as possible because I’m far more interested in people being able to read it than I am in this becoming a source of income.

So there you have it. If you have decided to read it, I hope you enjoy it. If you read it and don’t enjoy it, rest assured that I agree with your criticisms without even knowing what they are. Finally, I hope that everyone joins me for NaNoWriMo 2010!