Find the focus, energy, and drive you need to start--and finish--your book According to a recent survey, 81 percent of Americans want to write a book. But finding free time to write can be difficult for Americans. According to Gallup's annual lifestyle poll, 60% of working Americans say that do not have time to do what they want to do.  So many would-be authors start writing only to stall out due to writer's block, mental fatigue, and other challenges. Write-A-Thon helps you overcome those stumbling blocks and complete your book once and for all. And you don't have to type away for years on end. Here's a plan that will help you write your book--in twenty-six days! Write-A-Thon gives you the tools, advice, and inspiration you need to succeed before, during, and after your writing race. Solid instruction, positive psychology, and inspiration from marathon runners will give you the momentum to take each step from here to the finish line. *Start out well prepared: Learn how to train your attitude, your writing, and your life -- and plan your novel or nonfiction book.*Maintain your pace: Get advice and inspiration to stay motivated and keep writing.*Bask in your accomplishment: Find the best ways to recover and move forward once the marathon is over and you have a completed manuscript in hand. Writing a book in twenty-six days may seem impossible--especially if you don't write full time--but in Write-A-Thon, Rochelle Melander will teach you the life skills, performance techniques, and writing tools you need to finish your manuscript in less than a month--guaranteed! Write-A-Thon gives you the information, inspiration and tools you need to write a good book in less than a month. Want to know the secret to writing successfully? You're holding it. --Donna Gephart, children's book author, wrote Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen (Delacorte Press/Random House) in 29 days. donnagephart.com It doesn't matter whether you're just starting to write, or if you've been writing for years --this book is one of the best resources you'll ever find. Ever. Rochelle Melander preps you for writing a book in 26 days, but you'll want to savor this book and refer to it often. --Libby Fischer Hellmann, SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE Write-A-Thon is wise, user-friendly, witty, breathtakingly thorough, and fun. Melander eases the way with profound and playful exercises, and insights that land like light suddenly illuminating a pitch-dark tunnel. --Robert McDowell, author of the forthcoming The More We Get Together: The Sexual and Spiritual Language of Love . Whether you've been writing for years or are just getting started, you can write a book in a month with Melander's Write-A-Thon as your guide. Motivating, insightful, and fun to read, you'll keep this book handy for years. --Kelly James-Enger, author of Goodbye Byline, Hello Big Bucks Write-a-thon is the tool every writer has been waiting for. Whether a professional or a wanna-be writer, you will find the practical help, the inspiration, and the kick in the pants to get writing. This book is more than a book--it's a whole a new life built out of words. --Jane Rubietta, author I've always liked marathon style writing. In college and graduate school, I chalked up my all-night writing marathons to procrastination. But in the past 15 years, I've been blessed with publishers who have given me insane deadlines! I've completed nearly every one of my thirteen finished books (ten of them published) in less than three months, most in 6 weeks, and one in just nine days.   When I found out about National Novel Writing Month, I discovered that I am not the only crazy person who likes to write marathon style. Every November (and now during the summer Camp NaNoWriMo), a whole bunch of folks attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I signed up, figuring it would be one way to finish my mystery novel.  I failed miserably--my poor victim is still languishing naked in a hunting cabin in the mountains of western Pennsylvania because I couldn't find the courage to have my murderer kill him.   So, I tried to figure out how to succeed at writing marathons. I began researching writing, how famous writers worked, and what psychology had to say about how writers could work faster more efficiently. In 2007, I taught a class to help other writers successfully complete National Novel Writing Month. I have taught that class in local bookstores every year since. In the meantime, I began collecting all of my research and ideas in a project notebook. I had been thinking about writing a book on writing since 2006, but I was not sure what kind of a book I wanted to write. Then it hit me: I'd write about writing books fast. But could I do it fast? Yes -- I could and I did! I wrote Write-A-Thon in 26 days during National Novel Writing month in 2009. I am delighted that it is now going to help other would-be writers get inspired to write their books fast! Rochelle Melander, the Write Now