Rochelle MelanderWrite-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It)

I suppose the author has to be congratulated for having her book published. But I would have thought it a good idea to tell us how to write a book in 26 days. But no such information was available. In general it was just the same old writing book claptrap.It is another one of these books by authors who have run out of writing steam and ideas.If a books title says do this; it ought to have showed you how to do it. It ought to have been written in a more organized manner. But like nearly all the writing books on the market, it is like a cheese-burger. You know you've eaten something but shortly afterwards you can't quite remember what it was and you are looking out for something nice to eat again.There's only one book you will ever need to read about writing. All the rest are only good for the compost heap. Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. She instructs, teaches and forces you to write. If you do what she suggests; you will be an excellent writer. You will produce good writing and you'll do it consistently.But just a word of warning be careful to what you commit yourself. I commited myself to it for six full years and found that I didn't want to be 'a writer'. There's stuff I will and do write about but 'a writer'? no thanks. There's not enough taste, flavour or substance in spending all that time writing about things that never happened. At least on the fiction side of the ledger.If you want to 'know' about writing. Write! Everything else is a complete and utter waste of time. Mind you, all the pretender wannabe writers and coffee drinkers and writer's festival attendees will choke on that.I've given up writing as a career. I've sold every writing book I had. And trust me there were a few boxes of them.I've never felt so relieved in my life in getting rid of such a pile of useless crap.

Want to write a book? No better way than to just do it! But read this first to prepare for the project! The author gives tips, rules of thumb, and order for the first-time writer to stop dreaming about writing and to get the manuscript completed. Every writer should read this and have in their collection.

Write-A-Thon gives me the boost I needed after I read Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I'm working my way through it and can already see how this can help me stay on track and accomplish what I need to on a daily basis.Melander puts everything into a nice, neat, little package that the user can't confuse with anything else. The exercises do what they are intended to do. I'm only a few sections into the book and already see the difference, in attitude toward the work, if in no other way. And there are plenty of ways to this one.I've thoroughly enjoyed it up to this point and can see no reason why the rest of it won't be a joy as well.

What I love about this book is that it lays out an easy to follow the plan. As I continue to follow the chapters I can feel myselfgrowing as a writer every day. I'm excited to see my end product after I complete my marathon!​

The book has a lot of advices, some a bit repetitive, but nothing more. I don't see why the time limit in the title, as it doesn't really give an schedule of how to achieve that, just motivates you to find a way.

Not sure it will help me write a book in 26 days, but the information is helpful.

Write-A-Thon is a book that will get you writing - lots of interesting and motivating exercises. It's motivated me to sit down and be serious about my writing. Write-A-Thon is filled with resources and ideas to clear away the blocks and start writing!

I have never come across book that lets you know how to get a novel out and not dance around it and your writing issues - that as effective as this!I've got a Project Journal now, and a Story Bible! And I sort of had one before on some loose notes at the back of my drawer... ahem, just call me professional. But as I read this book it came naturally to get everything out and ready, and I was excited to do it.Melander gets you excited about writing, and getting in the mind-set to write! The tone isn't condescending or high and mighty but just the perfect amount of "this is what you need", "this is what you can do to change it" and "just do it"!This is no boring How-To - but a book that gets you excited about writing, prepares you and then lets you know just what to do when you got your rough draw done, in 26 days.I found the Part One: Training my favorite, it was exactly what I needed, a little kick on the butt. The titles tell so much so I'm going to bring them up so that you can see for yourself that it's all taken care of: *my favourite chapters are in the [ ] *Attitude Training: Get Rid of the Excuses [ Take Yourself Seriously ]Writing Training: Learn the Basics [ The Project Journal ]Course Training: Plan Your Novel [ Three More W Guestions ]Course Training: Plan Your Non-Fiction Book [ Find Your Purpose ]Life Training: Schedule The Marathon [ Create a Life Priority List ]Part Two: The Write-A-Thon is all about Melander coaching us readers throughout the 26 days, with almost like pep-talks and inspirations to keep us going for day to day! These aren't just to keep going, but very informative of what you can do while in writing process, one I really liked was the following: 'Want to write better? Get a day job. Or sign-up for a volunteer gig. Just get out of the house and do something! I'm not kidding.'And.... "'Don't get it right. Just get it written.' ~James ThurberThis is a section I know I'll spend the rest of the month with as I'm writing my NaNo.Part Three: Recovery, has titles like Why Revise *this about gave me a heart attack as I couldn't even contemplate not revising, as what comes out in the rough draft is just mush*, Write It Right: First Lines and How To Get Your Query Rejected. This part has absolutely valuable information that all new novelists should know! And I am glad that I now do!This book is amazing, I can't tell you how happy I am to have read this! If you have any desire to write, or write a novel then this book is for you - do not miss it! It's one of a kind in the "How To Write Books" sections, if you come across it I highly recommend you get it. A giant thank you to Rochelle Melander for writing this, it might be thanks to you that I get my first novel out.

As an unpublished fiction writer, I am still committed to a writing career despite being a busy mother to two smallies. I have been wishing for a book like Write-A-Thon for years, and am so glad to have it in my writer mama's tool box. It's not designed for mothers in particular, it just happens to fit my circumstances perfectly right now.Not only does Write-a-Thon give me concrete tools and easily-implemented solutions to commit to a regular habit of writing, it consoles, motivates, and compliments my every effort to balance all parts of my life. I have experienced a recent burnout from writing, so I'm finding that Write-A-thon is a very human way to help me get myself on track again.Right now, I am on day 4 of NaNoWriMo, so I write when the kids are in bed, but this book is seriously right beside me throughout my day. I'm getting so much support and enjoyment from this book, it is packed with advice given in a solid fashion. It is a bonus for me that the author herself is so accomplished, and is herself a parent. She knows what she's talking about. Invest in this book and your career and life will thank you! Best of luck.