Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

on June 29, 2006

Okay, the rumors have to stop. I’m nipping them in the bud . . . now.

A good cyber-buddy of mine (with a book coming out next month . . . check it out) emailed me after I posted on one of my many email loops. I’d mentioned I had a book due in seven weeks. She commented that she’d read somewhere that it only took me two months to write a book.

Uh, no.

I did write a book in six weeks. It was the unpublished futuristic that garnered me my only editor request for a full manuscript out of the fifteen unpublished contests I finaled in back in 2003. I was in the middle of THE PREY, got stuck, and wrote the first draft of FATAL SECRETS in six weeks.

But that was the only book I wrote in less than two months. (Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I never ever heard back from said editor after sending her the manuscript.)

My stories sit in a crock pot and stew for awhile in my mess of a brain. I’m constantly thinking of plot threads, my characters, situations . . . so when I sit down to write, I don’t stare at a blank screen. I have ideas to explore . . . and if I go down the wrong path, that’s okay. I just backtrack. Two steps forward, one step back . . .

Now, to squelch the rumors: it takes me on average 250 hours to write a book. If I wrote four hours a day, every day, that would mean I could write a book in 62 days. I wish. I average 15-20 hours a week WRITING time (not thinking time), which puts me between 12 and 16 weeks to write about 450 pages, and my writing speed increases as the story progresses.

Now that the myth is debunked, onto more important things . . . THRILLERFEST!!! I’m joining Deb and Nat in Phoenix for the First Annual conference for International Thriller Writers. I’m really, really excited to be on a panel called “Thrillers with Heart” with Sandra Brown, Heather Graham, CJ Lyons and Debra Webb. Please pray that I don’t put my foot in my mouth.

I’ll blog about my festivities, maybe over the weekend if I have time; if not, next Thursday!

I think I’ll have internet service, so I’ll stop in and visit later today . . . until then . . . be good 😉