God, no. I never drink coffee.

I'm going to do my best. But I am not going to pull all-nighters, because my writing sucks during all-nighters.

Betsy, I haven't addressed your dilemna because...I have no real frame of reference. I can free write, but it's tripe. I am constitutionally incapable of writing to spec under pressure. I would be horribly miserable, and I can't think of a reason I'd agree to do that to myself, unless it was, um, to save the life of a loved one? Or a puppy?

"Write 4,000 words in 48 hours or the puppy gets it!" Yes, I'd do it then. But not voluntarily. So all I can do is wave pompoms and cheer you on.

I can't write fiction. At all. Betsy is like a superhero.

A superhero who sucks. Superman sprawled flat against the side of a building.

I think you should write about a superhero who sucks. Because that, my friend, is a funny visual.

You may have wondered why, as the song has it, Captain Marvel has no balls at all. It's Superman's fault.

100,000, to me, isn't a novel. It's damned near an epic.

Plainsong was 70,000 words. Weaver was 68,500. Famous Flower is 76,000. Matty Groves clocks in at, for me, a whopping 85,000 or so.

Non-fiction is entirely different.

I have no comment on the "turn of the critical thing and write" because that's basically where I live anyway, mostly. I think I do, anyway. I could be wrong.

I don't suck. I doubt Betsy sucks. In fact, I know Betsy doesn't suck.

Not sure why speed is so valued.

What is different about non-fiction, word count-wise?

Not sure why speed is so valued.

I think it's for those who fear they'll never finish a book. It's not the speed so much as the time-compressed, "get it all done in one shot" idea. The theory being, I guess, that then you have a complete book to work with, to revise and polish, rather than worrying you'll never type "the end". There's a similar process called Book in a Week that I read about in RWA's magazine a few years ago.

What is different about non-fiction, word count-wise?

Word counts often have to do with price points, especially with paperback originals. If a publisher wants all of its historical romances to sell (this year) for $6.99, they want them all to be about the same length, partly for the consumer, who doesn't want to feel ripped off for buying a 50,000-word book at that price, and partly to budget the production costs (printing, etc.). For hardcover, one-shot books (in that they're all unique, not that the author will only ever write one book), the price point can be whatever is called for.

There are plenty of lengthy nonfiction books, and plenty of pretty short novels. For a nonfiction book like yours, Allyson, I'd think anything over 50,000 words would be fine.

I think it's for those who fear they'll never finish a book. It's not the speed so much as the time-compressed, "get it all done in one shot" idea.

Exactly. Precisely what AmyLiz said. And the other half of the theory is that the time deadline means you CAN'T ruminate.