Write a novel in a week...

I've been reading about someone who set out, last Sunday, to write a novel in a week - and they did it. Just over 60,000 words in 7 days. This is an amazing achievement. From a personal point of view, I know it's difficult enough to write a short story a day - and flash fiction at that, let alone 8500 words. I suppose it's all about focus and concentration. Most of the time, I feel like I'm living a kind of split-screen life, not fully concentrating on any one thing. It's not multi-tasking. At all. It's just being busy and not doing anything particularly well. It truly would be fantastic to be able to sit down and just write, but even with that privilege, I think I'd still struggle to get a fully formed first draft in a week, or even a month for that matter. But this made me think: the very fact that someone decided to try this marathon writing session should speak volumes for the changes taking place in the writing business - and it is a business - but does it, really? Shakespeare wrote loads, and quickly, because that was his business. So, the moral for today is this: I should stop fannying about and get on with the business of writing. End.

(If you don't believe me about the novel in a week thing, read about it here: http://novelinaweek.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/did-i-do-it-day-7-report.html )