[writing] the secret to getting yourself published

Vancouver has the answer.

Their Three-Day-Novel-Contest started as the clock ticked over into Saturday, ran through the Labour Day weekend until midnight on Monday, at which point all writing stopped. "People were seeking a way to join with other writers and participating in an event like this was a way to do that," said organizers. Winners will be announced in December with the winning author receiving a publishing contract.

Tips for getting through Day Three included:

"Take three deep breaths," the contest website suggests. "Guzzle coffee, black or with sugar. Don't punish yourself. Do that on Tuesday. Get back to work. Take phone off hook. Pull drapes. If you feel lonely — an outcast — you are. That manuscript is now your only friend, the only one who cares. Finish it. Let it have a life, even if you don't. Bravo."

The rules of the game were quite simple: Write what you could in three days. Everyone was on the honour system. One early entrant was easily caught because of the tome he handed in.

"Judges were suspicious when George Telford, a feisty senior from Nova Scotia, submitted his 1,000-page manuscript Dreadful Things," the contest guide says. "It was easily proven that no one could write 1,000 pages in just three days and an angry Mr. Telford attempted to save some face by claiming to have misread the contest name, believing it to have said the Three-Year Novel Contest."

The contest began in 1977 and has been run through a variety of small publishing companies including Anvil Press, Arsenal Pulp Press and Bluelake Press. Each book is read by at least two judges who determine if it should continue through what Edwards calls "the purging process."

When it gets down to about 20 entries, new judges — generally operators of small publishing companies from across Canada — are brought in.