The economic downturn may be an opportunity for aspiring writers and artists to enter the cultural life, says Maria Kubacki of CanWest News Service. (We concur—our first try at the 3-Day Novel Contest was right after the dot-com bust.) As part of a series on optimism, Kubacki interviewed our 2007 winner, John Kupferschmidt, on how web-driven writing events like 3-Day and Nano are helping people find their communities. Read the whole article at Canada.com.