I wish I could write faster. Some authors churn out books at an incredible speed. I plod along in comparison--although under pressure I can get down one thousand words a day. However, for me that's a big struggle and things like laundry and supper may not happen under those conditions.
Most of the time, I am a seat-of-the-pants writer, though not completely because I do start with an outline. The problem is that sometimes my characters veer off from my carefully made plans. If they happen to have a good explanation for their actions, I will allow them to go their own way and then adjust my outline.
I do write everyday whenever possible, but sometimes that's unrealistic. I also like to sleep regular hours. I am not one of those writers who stays up until dawn.
I don't watch television, except for the news or some special shows. I had hoped that when I retired there would be more time for writing. Ha! I didn't think about how elderly relatives would impact my writing schedule. Still, there are plenty of other authors with real, full-time jobs who put out three books or more a year.
And I cannot imagine how they do it.
Still, I have a good time writing and I am not going to give it up any time soon.
So my fans will just have to be patient with me. :^)
How fast do you write?
2 comments:
I wrote three full length novels last year. My first novel I wrote in 2009 in 21 days and it was 104,000 words long. On a great day I can write 5-10,000 words. But those days are rare. They make up for the days were I only get 350 written. THis year I'm still working on one novel. Started in April and only just hit 80,000 but that was due to working on other editing projects and conferences. Still, I love the challenge of National Novel Writing Month with the goal of 50,000 in 30 days. My goal is to finish the novel completely but only twice have I failed to meet that goal (they got done in December). And yes - my kids eat a lot of pizza on those high numbered writing days and I'm not a great housekeeper! I struggle with depression though so there are days when I can't write anything. When I'm feeling good I blitz and enjoy the energy because it may not last. REvisions however are much, much harder. I love your writing, Penelope - slow or fast - panster or plotter - the end result is what's important.
Susan,
I wish I had your energy. :-)
I was happy to finish 30,000 words in NJRW's writing challenge in February. I've never signed up for NanNoWriMo because 50,000 words in November sounds impossible. I host the Thanksgiving dinner for the relatives every year.
I wonder how many writers are great housekeepers. Maybe that should be my next blog post. :-)
Glad you like my writing. I've only read one of your books, which was excellent. When's the next one coming out?
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