Cell Phone Novels

This is for all of us who have great excuses for not writing. Young women in Japan are avid followers of the work of a 21-year-old woman named Rin.

A fluke? Passing fad? Not according to the New York Times:

last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

After cellphone readers voted [Rin's] novel No. 1 in one ranking, her story of the tragic love between two childhood friends was turned into a 142-page hardcover book last year. It sold 400,000 copies and became the No. 5 best-selling novel of 2007, according to a closely watched list by Tohan, a major book distributor.

So, that novel is not out of reach after all, is it? Text messages to yourself. Carry a recorder. Carry a pad. Use your Blackberry.

How do you finish a report, a novel, a personal development book? As Anne Lamott says, Bird by Bird.