I n T e r v I e W w i t h C H r I s B aT y
here in the Bay Area, packed up lovingly with stickers and other goodies on my coffee table, then shipped worldwide. SPM: Have you ever been approached by TeD* to give a talk? CB: No. TED people: Call me. SPM: Do you have any plans for other group projects/movements? CB: I did have an idea for a project I liked called one Good ing. Like NaNoWriMo, it would be based around a specific month. But this would be more about communitybuilding than writing. Participants would come up with a small task or project they could do to make someone in their neighborhood happier, or make their community a better place.
Bake cupcakes and take them over to a neighbor you’ve never met. Mow a stranger’s lawn. hold a whiskey tasting for the residents at the old folks home down the street. Something that wouldn’t be too onerous, that would connect you more deeply to the world around you. A month filled with non-random acts of kindness. here is a perfect example of the kind of thing I’m thinking of: www.caines arcade.com. Everyone would document their project on the one Good ing website, and favorite projects could be awarded mini-grants so they could keep going and expand. We talked about doing it at the office of Letters and Light, but it never quite got off the ground. SPM: What are your long-term writing goals?
CB: I’d really love to publish one or two of my NaNoWriMo novels. I’d love to finish and sell a couple of my Script Frenzy screenplays. I’d like to write a follow-up to No Plot? No Problem! about novel revision. I’d like to write a nonfiction book about something. But I’m not quite sure what yet. Llamas? Burritos? If you have any ideas, let me know! SPM: ank you, Chris. looking forward to your next bold project! ■ *TED Conferences include science, business, the arts, technology and global issues. The nonprofit started in 1984 to bring together people from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Conferences were released online through TEDTalks and now have an audience in the millions. For more information visit www.ted.com.
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SMALL PRINT MAGAZINE | FALL 2013
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