Quills and Questions #3 : How Long Does It (Or Should It) Take To Write A Book?

People ask me all the time, how long does it take me to write a book? 

I typically answer an average of 9 months. A condensed timeline of getting the final draft in place, editing, and formatting.

But that’s the pretty answer. Truthfully, my books are all over the place. The first draft for “Isle of the Dark”, I managed to write in 6 months… when I was 17. Then I sat on it, tweaking and self-editing for a year. When I met my publisher, it took him and his team an additional 6 months to edit, format, and launch the book in time for my 19th birthday. I was so giddy that “Isle of the Dark” was doing so well that I immediately started writing “Acceptance In Ice”… only to get 60 pages in and then not touch it again for over a year. The only reason I even opened the document again was because I had a glimmer of a plan to release it on IOTD’s second anniversary. 

Then I got bored and started “Sinner”. I had already been crafting the chapters in spurts over the last two years, uploading the early drafts of them onto Wattpad. But once I decided I was going to turn it into a full-fledged book, I took those early chapters down. (Which is probably a good thing, because not only did I rewrite most of them, but I didn’t want anyone to steal them.) I had no deadline for “Sinner”, so between all its rewrites, edits, more rewrites, and formatting, it came out in May of 2023. Just a little over a year after “Acceptance In Ice”. 

Truth At Sea was really the only book I had a short, hard deadline for, wanting it to be released for Christmas of 2023. So, I had from May to November to write a completely new book and go through all the processes. I could do it, right? 

I did… but boy was it stressful!

I pushed myself to have the fourth book for the Isle of the Dark Series done for the 5-year anniversary. And even though that gave me a year and 4 months to accomplish the task, it was still too tight. 

So, lesson learned. 

Don’t rush to finish your book because of a deadline, whether self-imposed (me, cough, cough) or if you think people won’t be interested if you wait too long to publish it. Take your time with it. It will be ready when it’s ready. 

I always thought that to be a successful author, you had to release a new book every year, or even every 6 months, like Nora Roberts. But here’s the thing: Nora has a team of people who do all the editing, formatting, and marketing for her. She can focus her attention on writing a book and nothing else for 3-4 months, and let her people do the rest. If you’re like me and are doing everything yourself as an independent author, it’s impossible to hold yourself to those same standards. Especially if you work full time, or take care of a family, or are juggling the selling/marketing aspects of this book business, the way I am. 

As long as you are working on your book and making progress, you are making your dream a reality. Even if that means only writing one page a day because the creative juices aren’t flowing. (That’s me, right now.) Or if you do a smidge of research for 10 minutes each day. Heck, even doodling in a notebook to figure out what sort of cover art you want. Every piece you craft, whether it be every day or only once a month, is building you up toward that goal of getting your book out there. So don’t worry about how long it takes. 

Now, if you are still sitting on your manuscript, and it's been 10 years? GO GET IT OUT THERE! NO EXCUSES, YOU’VE BEEN WAITING TOO LONG TO LET ANYTHING STOP YOU AT THIS POINT! DON’T KEEP READING– GO DO IT! RIGHT NOW! THIS IS YOUR SIGN!!!

As for the rest of you, chew on this tonight: When an Author tells you that it only took them 6 or 9 months to get the book done… odds are? We’re trying to sound more professional. We don’t want to confess we sat on the idea, the half-written manuscript, or even the finished product for who knows how long. Whether we were buried under real life, or too scared to kick it out there, or it took us ages to figure out how to go about the process.

So don’t worry about how long it's taking you.

You are doing fantastically. 

If you have any questions, I encourage you to reach out to me on my website’s contact page! I will answer you, and maybe the topic will become a future Quill’s and Questions Post! ;)