Are any of you familiar with the method of Steve Manning to "Write a book in 14 days?". If so, does it work? Is it worth the $?

His website is http://www.WriteABookNow.com.

14 days??? What fun is that? Sounds like it would kill the passion. I'll have to check it out just from curiosity.

I am familiar with this premise and tri8ed it not because I wanted to but because I was under a deadline. It went something like this..

Wake up disconnect phone ringer, grab a cup of tea-instant, no time. Hit the computer running, type, type, type, bathroom break and eat a fast sandwich, no time to cook...no TV, bed early, talk to no one, see no one. Did this over and over for the 8 days it took me to finish the project...I will never do this again. It took all the fun and adventure out of writing. I for one am an emotional/passionate writer. I talk about my work, get feedback as I go along and to me this IS the only process thats right for me. This is my experience to date with this mans idea. Maybe men are different than women in this instance too...

Glad to hear about the Steve Manning Way. I have toyed with the idea of sending for it. I, also, am a writer that likes feedback (am in a critique group) and part of the fun of writing, even though it is to make money, is the journey. I love the research, getting to know my characters, my issues and plotting it all out.

I am sure I would not like to work on my books like that. I understand you can do it that way, but not enjoyable and I cannot disconnect from the world like that.

There is a national/world challenge for writers every November. It is National Novel Writing Month and you can find information on it at www.nanowrimo.org. You sign up to writing everyday. The idea is to try to write 50,000 words of fiction for the month. If you do so by midnight November 30th they'll validate your count and you get to use some icon of theirs and be in their hallowed list as well as get a certificate. You are the real winner because you will have worked on your book all that time.

There is a guide to the month long noveling called, "No Plot? No Problem" by Chris Baty. I have it and it's a good book. Signed up last year but was unable to participate due to time constraints. Am going to try again this year.

Sandpiper

Fourteen days seems almost too good to be true -- and we all know what that means.

I have written quite frantically when I was on deadline for my book. I signed the contract with less than half the book written and had about two months to finish it. I thought I had oodles of time. NOT. But, I had thoroughly researched everything so I had that behind me.

What I did do was something that Stephen King recommends in his book, "On Writing." I "wrote through." By that, I mean I kept writing, allowing the characters to go pretty much where they wanted to go and kept up till the end. I think it is a better book because of that. It did require some editing in the beginning of the book but only because the characters decided they weren't quite what I thought they were.

The other thing is that I'm a great procrastinator. Now I'm sure no one else here is, lol. And I found the deadline really helped keep me on focus. Somehow, self-imposed deadlines don't seem to work. Now that I'm posting to my blog three times a week (and totally commited to doing that), I'm enjoying how it's working out. I'm thinking it will ultimately help me when I'm ready to begin the sequel to my current book.

Blessings, Francine

I can't imagine writing an entire book in 14 days. I think I would get writers cramp. Then again, if I didn't have a husband, four kids, two dogs, a fulltime job, a house, mice, rodents, little ants (and whatever else lives here)....... to feed and take care of then maybe I could do it.

But that can't possibly include the editing editing editing.

Teresa

It's obvious Manning doesn't have kids, or if he does, he must have a 24/7 nanny. I guess it's possible to write an entire book in 14 days. Joyce Maynard went to a hotel for two weeks and wrote BABY LOVE. She didn't have any distractions. We all don't have that luxury.
And maybe if you do follow Manning's system, you will be able to write a book in 14 days. (Does he mention word count? What constitutes a book?) But that doesn't guarantee an agent or publisher will look at it, doesn't guarantee a contract. Sounds like he's the one making money.
Sorry, I'm feeling curmedgeonly today.
Marie

My writing teacher and I had a great time with the nanowrimo.org contest last year (that stands for National Novel Writing Monty) and each wrote 50,000 word novels in 30 days! And both of us work full time at "day jobs". There's a lot of online encouragement, a great excel speadsheet to track your progress. Of course, it's quantity over quality (no hyphens, no apostrophes!) but the end result for each of us was a good first draft for our next novels. And there was even a party at the end. We plan to do it again. It would be fun to have all the Boomer Women join together in the fun this coming November. Karen

Oops! That's MONTH not MONTY. That is truly a Freudian slip. I just broke up with a guy named MONTY. I do need to extract him from my memory cells.