I sort of hate answering this question. It is one authors talk about a lot, and one I don’t usually answer. But I’m answering it here today…

Aliana asked me…

How long on average does it take you to write a book (a stand-alone story)?

I write fast. I write really fast. Part of writing, for me, is figuring out where the story is going to go. Once I know where the story is going, it’s quick and easy to write. Most of the time.

I can write 2000 words in an hour.

That means very little I know. My books range from 50,000 to 72,000 words total. Most are close to 65,000. If I can write 2000 words in an hour, that’s about 33 hours of writing.

That would be nice.

I’ve written a book in 10 days before. More than once. It’s not easy. I don’t like doing it. But it’s possible for me. I can write 10,000 words in a day.

Five hours of work is nothing, right?

Well, that’s five hours of solid writing. I don’t usually have those hours. I have hours where I write 1000 words. Hours where I write 2500 words. Hours where I write 100 words. Hours where I write 0 words.

My goal is to write 5000 words every day. Sometimes I hit it. Sometimes I don’t.

But that wasn’t the question, was it?

I give myself three weeks to write a book. Start to finish. Yes, then there’s editing. There’s also planning. There’s cover design. There’s formatting. Writing is not all that goes into a book. Of course. But writing is what I do.

Three weeks. It’s close. If I took longer, I’d need to space my releases out more. For this year, 2016, this is working for me. Next year, my books are going to be a bit longer. I’ll need more time to write them. That’s why I’m spreading out releases to every six weeks. For now though, three weeks to write is working for me. I hope it’s working for you, too!

Thanks so much, Aliana, for your question! If you have a question, send me an email (mary (at) maryethompson (dot) com) with Q&A in the subject, or post it in the comments below, and I’ll answer your question right here on the blog!

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