Original novel project

I will be redrafting the latest Chaos Irregulars adventure in a week or so. (I chronicle the exploits of this third-rate band of mercenaries in an ongoing series of novellas at BattleCorps.com.) (And "redrafting" as I use it is explained in my Live Journal post "what I do when I don't rewrite.")

Write-for-hire commitments after that are a set of short story pitches (one or two paragraph descriptions of potential tales -- the editor tells me which, if any, he wants me to write before I do any actual storytelling) for another Doctor Who anthology. A novel pitch (A 3-5k narrative outline of the novel I'd like to write, which the editor either approves or rejects) for a British dark fantasy game IP. (So far I've missed twice with this market, my stories tend to be too hopeful. The editor has said y'all are better at dark fantasy than Americans because you endure summers of 55 degrees with flooding while we bask in sunshine.) Beyond that, my schedule is free. (Very scary.)

Soooooo.
I'm blocking in Monday, July 30, through Sunday, November 4, to write an original novel.
Contrary to my earlier coversations, this will not be a romantic suspense.
Proposed project is a 90k mystery, set up to be first in a series, told in the first person and set in a mythical coastal Carolina town that's an amalgam of my wife's hometown and a half-dozen other regional communities with which we're familiar.

Deducting for GenCon and various family commitments, there are about 75-78 writing days between 7/30 and 11/4. This means my pace will have to be about 1200 words per writing day -- reality will be anywhere for 600 to 2400. Goal is to have the ms in the mail on Monday, November 5*. (Between now and then I'll determine to whom it should be sent.)

*= (Having written the 93k Wolf Hunters in 72 writing days and the 101,000-word To Ride the Chimera in 81, I feel 90,000 words in 75 days is a realistic objective. I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes.)