Diarists of a creative bent have about a week left to participate in the second edition of a CD project that beats "the stuffing out of the old style Journal Collaborations."

Rien, a journaler from The Netherlands, is about to burn "Voice Project Phase Two," a follow up to the first effort that incorporated sound samples from diarists around the world into an extended mix of ecclectic trance music. This time, however, instead of random sound bites, Rien wants to hear stories.

"After all, we're journalers, right? Story tellers, reporters, [and] writers," he writes. "So send me your spoken journal entries, rants, views, poems, short stories and fairy tales."

Stories can be submitted in English, French, German, Spanish, or any other language, and although they may be set to music, participants' submissions will be included as-is.

"They will get the time to speak for themselves," Rien explains. "The end result should be like a spoken book, an index of journallers worldwide, with every participant having his or her own chapter/track/atmosphere."

Rien has provided several samples of stories submitted to date on the "Voice Project Phase Two" site. They include a story from Nita Daniels set to a Kronos Quartet piece, and one from Sean mixed with a track by Einsturzende Neubauten.

Submissions can be sent as WAVs or MP3s, ZIP compressed if possible, . The final CD will be sent free of charge to those whose stories are included, or otherwise sold for US$10 complete.

"Be heard or forever hold your peace," Rien writes. "You can of course take a gamble and wait for Voice Project III, but I wouldn't recommend it."

On the heels of NaNoWriMo, two new projects are again challenging journalers to write every day.

HoliDailies: Journalers Updating Daily in December is the brainchild of Jette, a 32-year-old diarist in Austin, Texas.

"All the participants have taken a sort-of-serious pledge to update their journal, weblog, or other personal Web pages every single day in the month of December," she explains.

Jette is quick to note that participants 82 at last count, linked via the Nibelung ring system can miss a day or two, and that each entry doesn't have to be a "huge long screed."

"This is a very laid-back Web ring," Jette notes. "You have enough to worry about during the holiday season, I suspect."

Meanwhile, The Ultimate Journaler Challenge looks well beyond December. "Its purpose is to gather together everyone who is currently updating their journal every day," explains founder Lynda, 22, of Atlanta, Georgia. And although similar to Holidailies or the Always 'burb, The Ultimate Journaler Challenge takes a different tack.

"I thought it would be very interesting to have a list of journals sorted by how many days in a row they've written," she explains. While Lynda has posted daily since Nov. 26, for example fellow participant Bev has been going since Sept. 22.

And if a journaler writes daily for at least two weeks, but later falls behind or stops updating altogether, they are still assured a place on the 'Bandwagon Page.'

"It isn't a contest, there are no prizes," Lynda writes. "If you want to see just how long you can go or simply want to make a promise to yourself to update daily for three weeks, this is a great place to make and keep that vow!"