How long Does it Take to Write a Book?

Something that people ask any writer is: 'how long did your book take to write?' It's a valuable question and one I always know the answer to as I keep a record of exactly how long I spend writing. Every book I've written, I record the date and time I started, the time I finished and my final word count. When I get to the end of the book and have to edit, I record that too. This is my record of the writing of my latest book: The Astrology of Indigos Everyday Solutions to Spiritual Difficulties Understanding the Alignment of Outer Planets and Cluster Charts As you can see, I started actually writing it on the 20th May 2013 and finished the writing on 6th September 2013. This means this book took 4 months to write. Some days went better than others. I also keep a record on a small white board in my kitchen https://twitter.com/maryenglish/status/375939741994086400/photo/1 I can also then work out what's the best time of day for me to write. Not what I'd like it to be, but what it actually is, which in my case is mostly morning and early afternoon. What I like about recording this data is it gives me something tangible to remind me that 'something is happening' and my book is growing. The trouble with writing is a book can seemingly grow so slowly, you lose track of how far you've got and how far you need to go. With this method I've got a nice reminder that I'm on track, things are progressing and I'll get there eventually!

20-5-2013 10.30am 117 11.30am 833 words 22-5-2013 12.10pm 12.30pm- 1,167 1-6-2013 1,224 7.10pm 2,598 7.25pm 4,627, 8.20pm 4759 12-6-2013 3.30pm 5,477 13-6-2013 6,045 28-5-2013 2pm- 6,366 14-7-2013 10.40am 6545 references 7,139 1.30pm 7279, 7,295 16-7-2013 12.40pm 2.10pm 8,041 17-7-2013 11.20am- 12pm 9371

20-7-2013 12.50pm- 5.30pm- 10,005 30-7-2013 10.53am-11.35am10,734 12.15pm- 11,413 3.30pm- 12,012 12,221 7.30pm 31-7-2013 8am 8.45am- 12,886 11am 13,507 11.20am- 12.15pm 13,862 1pm- 2pm 14,225 chapter three re-write 4pm- 13,954 6.10pm re-through 6.35pm 14,333 7.15pm- 14,683 1-8-2013 7.45am -10am 15,263 15,310 9.25am 16,107 4-8-2013 16.111 5-8-2013 12.40am- 1.15pm 16,279 listings 9-8-2013 3.55pm- 6.50pm- 16,617 21-8-2013 6.50pm 16,889 23-8-2013 4.10pm- 17, 328 6.30pm - 19,496 24-8-2013 4.10pm- first edit 19,333 6.16pm 26-8-2013 9.55am- 11.35am 20,077 28-8-2013 2.10pm 2.45pm- 20,474 30-8-2013 12.15pm 1.45pm- 20,935 31-8-2013 1.10pm 21,434 2.10pm 1-9-2013 11.05am 22,893 12.40pm- 8.30pm 23,110 2-9-2013 8pm 3-9-2013 10.10am read-through/edit 22,656 11.30am 6-9-2013 6am-11am read-through, edit on paper About the Author Mary English was born in London and educated in Switzerland at the American International School of Zurich. She is a professional Astrologer and member of The Astrological Association & The Society of Authors. She has over 30 years of experience in her field.She is also a qualified Homeopath. Her TV appearances include BBC's 'Kilroy' and BBC's 'Heaven and Earth'. She is regularly invited to talk on BBC Radio Bristol. She was a monthly guest on the Morning Show with Emma Britton on BBC Radio Somerset Sound where for over 2 years she gave live on air, the Month's Stars. Mary was the resident Astrologer for The Green Parent magazine.www.thegreenparent.co.uk for 5 years, writing their bimonthly Astrology column. She now is resident Astrologer for Talk Radio Europe, Spains largest English language radio network, broadcasting on the Costa del Sol/Axarquia and Costa Blanca/Costa Calida and reaching 1,000,000 English speaking consumers in the important 30+ ABC1 demographic on the Hannah Murray Show where she gives her BiWeekly Astro Stars http://www.talkradioeurope.com Mary is also resident Astrologer and writes a monthly column for Pukka Bath and Dodona Books Blog. Her websites http://www.maryenglish.co.uk

and http://www.ukastrologer.co.uk receive over a 100 hits a day. She lives in Bath in the UK and works from home, over the Internet, by phone and in person. She believes that Astrology helps people understand each other, which in turn makes the world a friendly place to live in. Her books are available from Amazon and all good bookshops and on-line in her own virtual store: http://www.greatastrologybooks.co.uk Mary English 2013.
This article must not be copied, stored on any virtual devices, posted onto any blogs, facebook pages, twitter streams or stolen and copied onto any websites, morphed into an app or writer's content in any way without express, written permission by Mary English. Failure to abide by this polite request will result in banishment to hell and a life of bad repute.