For my first novel Tied, I reserved my writing time for weekend mornings. I got up at 6am on Saturday and Sunday and wrote for a several hours. My first draft took eight months. For my second novel, Vermin, I’m doing it differently.
When I wrote Tied, I was working an office job eight hours day, Monday through Friday. I’d get home exhausted and have no creative energy left. When I began Vermin, I decided I needed to cut back on my work hours. Instead of an eight hour day, I decided upon a six hour day, and luckily my employer was flexible enough to accommodate me. Now I get home and have those extra two hours to write. This allows me to write every day and keep my head in the story.
The loss of income is hardly noticeable and well worth it. The proof is in the statistics. My writing app tracks all sorts of data and the image above reflects my progress after eight weeks. To compare, with Tied, I wrote 65,000 words in 8 months. With Vermin, I have written almost half that in two months. I’m on track to finish a first draft in four or five months. That’s a huge improvement. More books in less time.
Now, I’m looking ahead and wondering what it would be like to write full time.
Happy writing! 🙂
