Starting tomorrow morning, I am going to go internet dark for ten days, except for a couple things. I will check support email for StoryBox at the end of the day, at which time I will also update the progress bar on the new project that you can see listed to the right.

I am going to spend the next 10 days writing The Sacrifice of Mendleson Mooney. “Ten days?” you ask. “That’s crazy!” you say.

Yup, ten days. And it’s not as crazy as you think. While I’m writing, I typically average about 750 words an hour. I typically sit at my computer for ten hours a day, too. I spend a great deal of that time reading the news, answering email, talking with friends (which wastes not just my time, but my friend’s time) and reading all sorts of things about writing. I’m just wondering, what if I spent ALL that time writing? What could I get done?

There are countless writers who have written books in short periods of time. Some of the most beloved books in history were written in a near blink of an eye. I read a book recently, Afterthoughts by Lawrence Block. In it, he describes, several times, writing books in anywhere between a week and a month. I wondered if I could do that.

Combine wondering what I could get done if I just wrote with wondering if I could emulate Lawrence Block in some fashion, and I end up here, at the beginning of a challenge. Write a complete novel in ten days.

I think I can do it. I have the plot mostly fleshed out. The cast of characters is set. I know (unlike some of my other works) where this one is going. If only I can keep my kids out of my office. Ideally, I’d go to some remote location and try this, but I don’t have the money.

Here I go, head down. See you in ten days.