A Dramatist, some Donuts and the DJ's

Canadians the country over have come to know Tim Hortons. Even international folks who travel here apparently remember it and pine for it. The donut chain born in 1964 of an NHL player of legend, has grown and evolved to massive company over the years. The very first store still stands to this day and this site of
history is soon to become a battle ground of epic proportions. Well maybe not epic, but definitely novel.

Starting at noon today a local writer and 3 radio show personalities are going to raise money for literacy. Lesley Simpson writes for a column every Friday on frugal living as well as a column on fitness as well as being a published author and illustrator of children's books. She is going toe to toe with these three professional motormouths in a battle to write the great Canadian novel. Over 48 continuous hours they will be confined to the premises of the original Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street, where they will grind out their works fuelled only by the food provided by the store.

Lesley will face off against DJs Jason Farr, Mike Nabuurs and Tom Park from 820 CHAM. Upon completion of these works, likely to be riddled with sugar and caffeine induced delirious ramblings, will be published on lulu.com where the proceeds from their sale will be used in support of literacy. Lesley's money will go to two local schools while the radio boys will be donating all their proceeds to a summer camp that helps disadvantaged kids. The real drive for the competitors will be in the victory though. A panel of judges will crown one of the books the clear winner, and champion of the event. Each of the participants is confident that they will be victorious. She will demolish her opponents as she "reinvents the novel". She claims that she will be restructuring the very foundations of how a novel is put together and is looking forward to the challenge. Her main obstacle would be the three other writer who are stepping into the arena. Jason Farr, a local morning show host has claimed that he will be scribing a work that "My book will be somewhere between the witty, contemporary sarcasm of (Kurt) Vonnegut and maybe a self-help book with one self in mind -- me,". "Albert Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge, so I'm above my competitors in that respect." Anybody who listens to his morning show will have no doubt that he can crank out that many words in such a short period.

Jason's co-workers Tom Park and Mike Nabuurs aren't to be shrugged off too lightly though. Tom claims that he has been unstumpable in his 16 years of commercial scriptwriting as creative director for radio. He figures that the book may well be a 260 second long commercial as a one minute one is about a page. Mike writes jokes for national broadcast claims that he grinds out at least 50,000 words in a week so he'll just have to compress that all into two days. Maybe the entire book will read as an extremely long joke, who knows.

Their tactics will range from music to eyewear to cope with the fatigue and inevitable distractions that come with writing books in front of the public. Crammed full of coffee and sugar, will they be able to complete their task? Will their minds snap and the donuts begin to fly? Only as the weekend unfolds will we really know how it all plays out. My hat is off to these folk not only for undertaking that gruelling task of trying to hack out a book in two days, but also for working to benefit a pair of good causes. Good luck and good writing to you all.