01-24-2013, 10:20 AM
Laura, as a published author, I can assure you that writing does not take a long time. In fact I wrote 13,000 words of my 52,000 word (300+ page) book on how to write, edit and self publish a book in 12 hours of nearly straight-through work. That was my record for a day, somewhere around 13,000 words.
If you type 25 words per minute, you can write a 50,000 word book in about 34 hours worth of typing. Make that your job, and do it even just 4 hours a day, and that's only 8 and a third days to type up a 50,000 word book. Not very long at all. I type 72 words a minute, hunt and peck. I can therefore write a 50k word book in less than 12 hours of actual typing at full speed.
That it takes a long time to write a book is a myth. It's not the writing that takes the time, it's the editing. Writing is a cakewalk in comparison, once you get past the fear of "It's so hard!" and "What if I make a mistake?"
Fear paralyzes most writers into a cycle of perpetual note taking and micro-editing.
The fact is, to get a book written, you need to do the research, know what you want to say, have a good outline, and then just fill in the outline. Either leave the editing and formatting to someone else, or use a program like LyX that formats for you as you fill in the outline, and schedule your editing time just as you would writing time.
For me, it usually takes about 7x longer to edit than to write. That's because I have a tendency to edit seven times, and because I have a tendency to add more than I cut during my edits.
It's worth it to hire an editor.
And, I highly recommend LyX.
Just remember that most editors will need the manuscript in a .doc format. Formatting a 50,000 word book using LyX, however, can be done in under 3-4 hours.
If you type 25 words per minute, you can write a 50,000 word book in about 34 hours worth of typing. Make that your job, and do it even just 4 hours a day, and that's only 8 and a third days to type up a 50,000 word book. Not very long at all. I type 72 words a minute, hunt and peck. I can therefore write a 50k word book in less than 12 hours of actual typing at full speed.
That it takes a long time to write a book is a myth. It's not the writing that takes the time, it's the editing. Writing is a cakewalk in comparison, once you get past the fear of "It's so hard!" and "What if I make a mistake?"
Fear paralyzes most writers into a cycle of perpetual note taking and micro-editing.
The fact is, to get a book written, you need to do the research, know what you want to say, have a good outline, and then just fill in the outline. Either leave the editing and formatting to someone else, or use a program like LyX that formats for you as you fill in the outline, and schedule your editing time just as you would writing time.
For me, it usually takes about 7x longer to edit than to write. That's because I have a tendency to edit seven times, and because I have a tendency to add more than I cut during my edits.
It's worth it to hire an editor.
And, I highly recommend LyX.
Just remember that most editors will need the manuscript in a .doc format. Formatting a 50,000 word book using LyX, however, can be done in under 3-4 hours.
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The scientist has a question to find an answer for. The pseudo-scientist has an answer to find a question for. ~ "Failure is the path of least persistence." - Chinese Fortune Cookie ~ Logic left. Emotion right. But thinking, straight ahead. ~ Sperate supra omnia in valorem. (The value of trust is above all else.) ~ Meowsomeness!
The scientist has a question to find an answer for. The pseudo-scientist has an answer to find a question for. ~ "Failure is the path of least persistence." - Chinese Fortune Cookie ~ Logic left. Emotion right. But thinking, straight ahead. ~ Sperate supra omnia in valorem. (The value of trust is above all else.) ~ Meowsomeness!
