Seventy Days of Sweat Part Deux

Once upon a time there was a young writer — let’s call her Leanna — who had a deadline. Now, she wasn’t new to this experience. She had a few books under her belt, and knew how to begin, continue, and finish writing a book.

But here’s the thing. Writing a book teaches you how to write that book. The next book? That’s a whole new course of study. And with this book, Leanna was having a problem. A plotline wasn’t falling into place, or a character wasn’t behaving the way they were supposed to. And no matter how many times Leanna rewrote that section, it didn’t end up working. So the deadline grew closer, and Leanna was stuck running in place.

Enter the first Seventy Days of Sweat. Using the template, Leanna was able to finally shush that internal editor (always a tough proposition for her!) and move forward in the book without fixing that scene first. And the rest of the book came together.

So now the next Seventy Days of Sweat Are upon us, and you can sign up here. I’m a sponsor this time around, but I won’t be participating, because I’m in the midst of revisions, wedding, traveling to Europe, etc. But I want to be involved, so here I am, acting as coach and cheerleader. Go! Write! Win!

(You can even fold it into NaNoWriMo if you want. NaNo is also gearing up now.)

Here are the rules:

1) You agree to write from 750 to 1500 words a day (depending on your project needs) between October 15, 2007 and January 15, 2008 (93 total days – 70 challenge days = 23 free days). The goal is to finish with between 60K and 100K words, whether a single book, multiple novellas, etc. Whatever combination gets you there!

2) There will be check-in posts here every Wednesday and Sunday. Stop by and in the comments, let everyone know how you’re doing.

3) There will be additional posts on the site throughout the week. Stop by as your writing time allows, or add the blog’s feed to your reader.

4) If you have time and would like to meet your fellow writers, click on the blog of the sweating challenger who has commented above you on check-in days and offer some rah-rah go-go encouragement.

Those of us running Sven’s gym are Alison Kent, Jo Leigh, HelenKay Dimon, Larissa Ione, Stephanie Tyler, Shiloh Walker, Lauren Dane, Jaci Burton, and Portia Da Costa. Expect to see us popping up on various sweating challengers’ blogs over the next 70 (93) days.