Advice from a working author
Filed under Tips & Tools on November 18, 2004
Tagged: Maiden of Pain, Paul S. Kemp
It still amazes me that folks read my blog, and not just how many, but who. I got a great email from Paul Kemp after he read the “Dear Diary” post. Seems he was in my shoes not too long ago, contemplating the jump into full-time authorhood and leaving his corporate job behind. Of course, he had a few books under his belt and Erevis Cale was just starting to gain widespread popularity.
He reinforced what I already knew in my head: very few writers ever make enough to pay the bills. It’s sobering information, but important to keep in the forefront of one’s mind when you have a family to support.
Realizing that, I asked Paul about how he juggled both the lawyer gig and writing. Not only was he kind enough to respond, but he gave me permission to post what he said.
“The schedule varies. In concept, I simply resolve to make time to write. It has to be one of my top priorities, otherwise it gets lost in the shuffle. Part of making it a priority is making up your mind that the work is serious and deserves serious attention. I don’t treat it like a hobby. Sometimes, I’m able to put in an hour or two even at my office during work hours. Otherwise, I reserve some time on weekends or evenings, after the kids go to bed.
In terms of production, that too varies, and the determinative variable is the date of the deadline. When I wrote “Resurrection,” the Spider Queen finale, I was putting 2000 good words down per day. Ordinarily, I shoot for more like a 1000. With edits, turnarounds, etc., that means I could probably write a good book in a 4-6 month timeframe, generally leaning more toward six months than four.
I don’t know what your production is, but when I started, the kind of word count that I produce today seemed out of reach to me then. I used to try to arrange my schedule such that if I did 250-750 words per day, I’d hit my deadline. But as I grew as a writer, expanded my authorial toolbox (and this happened organically for me), it became easier to put out more and more quality words. With this last Cale book, for example, I’m shooting for 1,500 per day on weekdays (when work downtime allows a
couple hours).Another reason my output has increased is that I’ve taken to investing a fair amount of time and effort into my outlines. They tend to run long — say, 20 typed pages — but that upfront investment of time really pays off for me. Some authors have much shorter outlines and do just fine, but I’ve found a longer, more detailed outline helps my production.”
This was very encouraging to me, as I currently fall into the 250-750 words per day category. Similarly, my outline for Maiden was 17 pages, another factor that reinforces that I can both write and work the 9-5.
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