Have you ever wondered how long it takes to write a novel?
Not just the writing though, but the entire process. The concept, the writing, the editing, the re-writing, the cover design, the publishing, the marketing, and on, and on, and on.
Well, I can’t say how long it takes everyone, but this post is going to discuss the timeline for my writing.
(Note: Keep in mind I was working 55-65 hours per week as a professional engineer, for 89.9% of this time, I did the math)
In the beginning…
If you asked me how long it took me to write Hope In Every Raindrop, I’d probably tell you about a year. Of course, if I said that, I’d be wrong.
Just the other day I was looking through all my notes, and discovered the very first thing I wrote was dated June 30, 2013. Here’s what I wrote:
“A best selling author struggles to find her next great story until she happens upon America’s rarest dog breed and the man that raises them.”
I quickly opened an excel spreadsheet, typed in “6/30/13” and “5/26/15” and did a simple subtraction function.
695 days!
That’s 1.9 years. 22.8 months. 99.3 weeks. 16,680 hours. Truthfully though, I only averaged about 2-3 hours per night, 5 days a week. So it’s really more like 1,737.5. But still, that’s a lot. If Malcolm Gladwell is right, then I’ll be an expert in another 3, 305 days (assuming I write at the same rate). Luckily, Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule is wrong.
The timeline
If you’re thinking 695 days to write a novel seems insane, then we’re on the same page. Because honestly, that does seem insane. Of course, working 65 hours a week in corporate America is also insane, but that’s another story for another time.
For now, let’s break down those 695 days and see what all they consist of.
- June 30, 2013 – start writing
- July 28, 2014 – compile first complete draft
- November 16, 2014 – send completed manuscript to editor
- March 23, 2015 – final edit complete
- April 27, 2015 – send advanced copies out
- May 26, 2015 – publish
Looking at the dates above, it looks a little better. We’re talking about 393 days of actually writing the story, 111 days of self-editing, and 127 days with my editor that included 3 edits and a final proof read.
Takeaways
I learned a lot writing Hope In Every Raindrop. Ultimately there were 3 takeaways:
- You need a system in place to organize your scenes, research, and general thoughts. I used Evernote, but going forward I’ll be using Scrivener. (But I still love Evernote)
- Editing is hard. Without my editor, there is no way I could have finished.
- See takeaway number 2 🙂
So, what do you think? Is that a lot of days?
If you’ve written a book (or short story, or anything), how many days did it take you?
I was just talking with one of my writer friends yesterday about how long-suffering the journey of publishing is. 🙂 Like most things, you don’t fully understand what goes into it until you do it yourself. Quantifying the amount of time it takes to write a book seems impossible. There are so many countless, multi-faceted dimensions that go into finalizing a story. So many stages & levels of editing. Not to mention, most of us are squeezing writing time into the nooks and crannies of our lives around our day jobs, family life, etc. I wrote the first draft of my first novel in a month and wrote the next two books within that same year. Of course, then I spent two more years (of mainly Saturdays) rewriting, editing, polishing, going through critiques, working with editors, doing more rewriting, more editing, more polishing, and on & on. 🙂 If you’re going to be a writer, you gotta be in it for the long haul. That’s for sure! 🙂 So glad you stuck with it. It’s a long, arduous journey, but definitely worth it.
Even now I think I am overestimating how much I can get done each day for my next book. #thelonghaulislong
I haven’t dared time myself, start-to-finish, writing a book.
Editors are a race apart. So are proof readers. But we need them as well 🙂