Which of these things is not like the others?

I’m not like the other Textnovel Divas. These girls are fast… fast writers, anyway. Just for instance, Shannon finished 13 to Life in five weeks, and Saranna DeWylde recently wrote 10,000 words in a single day to finish How to Lose a Demon in 10 Days.

10,000 words has sometimes been my annual total.

The thing is, to quote a poster one of my critique partners gave me, “Writers write; everyone else makes excuses.” Yes, it was a hint - and I took it in the spirit in which it was intended. She loves me and wants to see me increase my productivity so I can reach my writing goals. I want the same thing. Towards that end, I’m a big fan of Club 100.

Club 100 is the brainchild of romance writer Beth Pattillo. It involves a simple challenge: Write at least 100 words a day for 100 days. Each person sets their own rules about how many days they want to write – some write every day, while others allow themselves weekends off, or a “floating” day off once a week. Similarly, some writers only count words on their fiction works in progress, while others count “business” writing like query letters, or even blogs. In other words, everyone gets to set whatever rules work best for them.

Club 100 members have a yahoo loop where we post our progress and give each other encouragement. When someone hits 100 days, besides praise and adoration from the group, they get a cyber tiara. For my first tiara, earned last December 22, I chose diamonds. Unfortunately, I haven’t put together another 100 day string since, but when I do, my next tiara will be emeralds – to match my eyes. Many of us find that once we sit down to write 100 words, we fly right past that target and write a lot more. Others often write close to the minimum – but even at only 100 words a day, the words pile up quickly and manuscripts get finished.

To read more about Club 100, check out http://www.bethpattillo.com/id8.html. Fellow tortoises who’d like to join can send an e-mail to Club100writers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. The more the merrier - we’d love to have you!


On another note… today will be a big day for me. I’m waiting to hear whether Confessions of the World’s Oldest Shotgun Bride has made the top 5 in the Dorchester Publishing Co./Textnovel.com America’s Next Best Celler contest, and whether the potential buyers have accepted my counteroffer to buy my home in Virginia.

If both answers are no, I’ll have to drown my sorrows in several chocolate martinis.

Of course, if both answers are yes, I’ll have celebrate with several chocolate martinis. And a split verdict will also require a chocolate martini or two or several.

Meantime, a chocolate martini salute to fellow Divas and finalists Saranna DeWylde and Courtney Sheets. If I can’t win, I hope one of you does. Cheers!