I’m pretty meticulous about record keeping, especially when it comes to writing. For many reasons, I keep track of the time I spend in front of the computer. My records don’t capture all the time I spend plotting or thinking about scenes. That’s happening most of the time, usually in the back of my head. Yet the time that I do spend at a keyboard are logged. I thought you might be interested in the breakdown for 2011. It was a strange year for writing, but then again, aren’t they all?
Number of projects worked on: 11
Number of projects published or contracted: 4
Number of projects with offers: 2
Average time to write a full-length novel: 244 hrs (In Her Wildest Dreams took the longest ever at 352 hr.)
Average time to write a novella: 104 hrs (Blade of Moonlight took the shortest at 57 hr. The words were flying fast and furious.)
Average time to write a short story: 57 hrs
I’m not a fast writer, but I don’t consider myself the slowest. Things can move at a rapid clip if I’ve got a clear picture in my mind of where the story needs to go. Without pictures, though, there are no words. I don’t know how pantsers do it. I need a plot before anything will go onto paper. I refuse to sit frozen in front of a keyboard.
So what’s upcoming for 2012? Hopefully those two offers will turn into contracts pretty soon, and I’ll be able to tell you about them. I have a proposal that I’m mulling over in my head, and am working on a few surprises. Hopefully all those plots will clear up in my head soon and those average times will go down!