3-Day novel contest kickoff in Toronto and Vancouver

A launch party and pep rally for the annual 3-day Novel Contest is to be held on Thursday, August 27 at 7 p.m. at the Victory Cafe, 581 Markham Street, Toronto. A similar event will be held in Vancouver on Friday, September 4 at the Lugz Coffee Lounge, 2525 Main Street, where last minute registrations can be dropped off.

The contestants and observers will be fueling up for the gruelling competition, which started as a bar bet in 1977 and has grown to attract hundreds of writers to the lunacy of writing a novel in a mere 72 hours over the Labour Day weekend (this year September 5 - 7).

This year some contestants, not content with their impossible task, will be tweeting about it.

Many entrants plan to post Twitter updates of their progress (or growing insanity) during the upcoming contest. If you want to do the same, try using the hashtag #3dnc to be part of the larger conversation. But don't spend too much time on Twitter (or Facebook or the chat room) ... if you aren't writing your novel, you're better off walking, eating, sleeping, weeping or otherwise refuelling your brain.