The EMPIRE Strikes Back (UMS v.3)

[Shannon]

How long did you expect the 2nd draft to take?

I find that it takes 50% of the time of the 1st draft, but only because my process is particular.

First draft: Blurt it all out on the page, off the top of my head.
Second draft: Make my first draft much more intelligible and coherent.

My first draft took about 20 days, and I was surprised about how smoothly I've expressed my ideas; even my ordering of ideas have unfolded themselves. Perhaps 3 to 5 more productive writing days and Draft #2 will be over.

It's only during the third draft that I concern myself with whether the things I've written are 100% accurate or empirical; this is where I slow down and ask: Is what I'm stating even true? How can I prove this to the reader?

I'll often compile a reading list during this draft, then read all those books, take notes, before entering draft #4.

Fortunately, this is not that kind of book, since I'm creating a language framework.
My biggest challenge will be to build flowcharts and diagrams that are non-contradictory.

Then that is quite a jump in speed!

For me, if I have enough knowledge to just do a brain dump for a first draft, I always get that draft finished within 12 hours to 7 days, depending on how many words it takes and how focused I am on getting it done.  It is always the 2nd through 7th drafts that take forever for me, because my 2nd and 3rd drafts I am adding huge amounts of material I didn't think of until then, and the actual editing is overshadowed by all the additions.  I can usually do the first draft in 4-6 days of serious 8+ hours a day writing work per day, but the next 6 drafts may need 4 to 6 months of serious work.