If you have a big book inside you, it need not take a year or even five, to write. Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange in 3 weeks!
While I don’t have any illusions of being able to duplicate that feat, it does give me something to think about. When I think about writing an amazing book, a book that changes the world, I always figure on a year minimum to write it. There is never any guarantee of success, in fact, you have less than a 1/100,000 chance of writing a great book, no matter how much energy, time, sweat, and tears you put into it.
When I look at it like a year project, that might go entirely to the birds, I just cannot get very excited about the idea. However, if I look at it as 3 weeks, a month, 2 months… then it becomes almost worth it to try. It might be a wasted effort, but at least it wasn’t an entire year wasted! At this age I don’t have too many years to waste. Neither do you.
Write something big next time. Challenge yourself. Make your head spin.
About
All content by Mike Fook. Mike writes fiction and non-fiction books in digital ebook format. Some advice for beginning writers - "Write Your Ass Numb!". Write what you love, and don't stop putting yourself out there. The world doesn't know you yet. The world is steeped in mediocrity. I encourage you to spit in the soup with some regularity. If you have any comments - feel free to leave them in comments, or send email. I usually try to say something confounding when I reply. Contact me at Google+.
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Mike, you might’ve covered this already in a previous post so forgive me if I missed it– but wondering: do you write at a set time each day, for the same amt of time, on a regular schedule for the most part?
Hi again,
I really don’t write at all most days. The reason is that I need a block of days, weeks really, where I can write the book straight through without interruption. At the moment I’m trying to finalize two books I have done already, so nothing new will get started until I’m done and can plan out some time to do the next book. The next book will probably take a couple months once I am ready to start.
You writing something now?
I’m not writing something now. Too braindead. It SUCKS. Love reading your blog because it gives me hope that I will be back at my desk someday, doing the only thing I’m halfway good at in this life. Are the 2 books you’re wrapping up fiction or non-fiction?
I really hope you do get back into writing. If anyone out there is a writer – please, for god’s sake, get into the game and start writing SOMETHING. Write short stories and publish them in Kindle Singles or the regular KDP program. Write anything that makes you happy, just to get it out there and get some feedback. In one sense, the negative reviews at Amazon totally blow. Occasionally they say something that is true, and you can fix. The books you publish are easy to edit any time you want. Edit and throw them back up there. Same book, better as a result… I think most people are scared to write because they are scared of failure. Not saying you are, but if you are – get something out there!
One book is fiction, it’s the sequel to Thailand’s Sickest. It’s called, Hell To Pay. Almost done, about 80 pages for the editor to go yet. The other is just a quick non-fiction I whipped up, and which will remain nameless for now. Not sure I’ll even use my name on it.
Three weeks is fast. I say one year for the entire process. I’m getting ready to release my second book. I’ve written the basic draft of both books in about two to three months, but then I let it sit, do a rewrite, go to editor, do a final rewrite, format, etc. About a year, and that might be pushing a bit.
Hi Dan,
The books I’ve written so far haven’t required much in the way of research. I write nearly all of it off the top of my head. Fact checking takes me max about one day. I’m not putting out something like Thomas Harris’ “Hannibal”. I do see that much more time would be necessary for a book written at that level. That is way beyond what I’m doing! Part of it is that I didn’t have the confidence I needed to write a book that takes a whole year. There is a distinct possibility, maybe it’s probability, that I would lose a year to one book that doesn’t give enough return on the time investment. It was better for me over the first 26 books to write quickly and write what I know. The next couple books will be considerably more involved. I’m shooting for 3 months. Good luck to you, I’ll check out your website in a minute here…