Ellen gets her rear in gear

You'll recall I posted a couple of days ago that I couldn't hunt for an agent this year because I probably wouldn't get a novel written. I thought about this for a while and realized I *can* write a lot faster than I usually do, even with the baby. Yes. I can. I'm basically a lazy person, but I can turn out a whole hell of a lot more copy than I usually exert myself to produce.

Furthermore, HelenKay's Call is very inspiring. She says in her blog comments, "(Kate Duffy) didn't buy the Lori Foster contest entry. We talked about what she did and didn't like, she asked me to send something else and that follow-up is the one that will be released in 4/06. We are still arguing over the merits of the contest entry :-)...
It is clear Kate recognized my name because of Lori's contest - Kate's memory is somewhat spooky in my view - and my climb to the top of the slush pile went faster because of being a finalist. So, I do credit Lori for a huge assist in helping me get published and in getting my name in front of Kate."

Hmmm. This should be a wake-up call to yours truly, since Kate was interested in seeing something else from me too. I've been muddling around with a novella, but if I'm going to get an agent, a novel is necessary. I haven't produced a full novel since I finished Never Love a Stranger, but if I'm going to get myself an agent, I need to write a novel.

Therefore, starting today I began a romantic comedy novel entitled I'll Be There For You and committed myself to writing what I consider a truly enormous amount every day-- twenty-five pages. (If you don't consider this an enormous amount and you turn this much out on a regular basis, I do NOT want to hear from you *g*.) I have completed twenty-four pages (almost 5000 words) today, edited it somewhat, and intend to finish the last page tonight.

Further muddying the waters is the fact that my NCP editor has finally gotten back to me on Farthest Space-- she likes it and sent a contract. So I have to get that finished, too. But I am still going to write my twenty-five pages of romantic comedy every day.

Can I really do it? Well, we'll see, won't we? Stay tuned:-).