Posting Promises My Blog Can't Keep

I got myself in a real pickle. Let me explain.

Dean Wesley Smith was blogging his progress writing a 70k novel in ten days. No rewrites, no agonizing, just type and done. Inspiring.

Then a writer I'm following, Ryan Casey, did the same thing. Making great progress, all the while finishing up his degree program.

Keep in mind, I'm a children's book writer. Immaturity is my hobby. So I..

sorta...

challenged Ryan to a race. And he accepted.

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's not the speed but the outcome, we're all writing for posterity and shooting for Hemingway. I get that.

Both of us will be having our projects edited. Both shooting for a May pub date. Currently my middle grade mystery sits at 23, 113 words with a target of 25k. Ryan's at 16k.

Clearly, I'm cheating.

No, no I am not. I haven't so much as reread anything I've written—so it might be all run-on sentences and dangling participles. A ton of research still to do.

There will be ANGST. There always is.

This wasn't my original plan. I mean, really—I've a more than full-time job, children, a lawn to mow, why the heck would I think I could write a whole new novel this fast? My plan was to be finished by August and pubbed in October. Nice, leisurely pace. My last book took me a year in revision alone.

Yet, people I respect seem to think fast is the new awesome fluff in the peanut butter bestseller. We'll see.

Blame it on the peer pressure. If a writer jumps off the cliff, I'll be there bungee jumping right behind him.