You Tell Me: How Long Have You Been Working On Your Manuscript?

The very first full length novel I wrote-I was twelve- took me about six months to write, not including revision. Needless to say...it wasn't very good. In fact, it was bad. I worked on a lot on poetry and short stories after that, slowly learning the craft, improving my pacing and many other things I had no clue how to do.

All throughout highschool I continued writing. Whether it was a simple freeverse poem or the beginning of a novel or a short story...I wrote like a fiend. But every time I tried to write a novel again I never got past that thirty paged hump. Now that I am more experienced I assume it was because I never planned at this point in my life. I just took off with an idea and hoped something amazing would happen.

I think the reason I wrote so much poetry in highschool was because of the simple fact that I could get it done in one sitting, whereas writing a novel was a much more daunting task. There would come a point where the middle would start to sag and I would just give up.

During these years, even though I couldn't finish a longer project, I learned that writing as much as I could was important. So I did my best to write every day, even if it was only a line or two.

If I had been more patient in highschool I could have easily finished quite a few novels. I wrote really quickly. I just gave up too fast.

It wasn't til November of last year I actually decided to stick with an idea, no matter how bad, and write for thirty days. I was going to reach the end this time. And in that crazy month I did come up with something that resembled a novel.

I'm starting to realize that every project is different in terms of how long it takes me to complete now. I just finished a short story that took me a little over two weeks to write. It was only 7,000 words. In twice that amount of time I wrote a novel. The next novel I am getting ready to write will take about two and a half months.

My point in telling you this? I'm not sure. I guess that when you are writing...be kind to yourself. If you feel things are going slowly there might be a reason for it. Give yourself time to let the deeper layers of your story come to you. Give yourself time to make it the best it can be. Likewise, if things are coming at you fast and furious...don't slow down. Don't worry about whether or not it is crap. Write what is in your heart. Save the criticisim for the rewrite.

I've ranted long enough I think. Now it comes down to the real question, the reason I posted this. How long have you been working on your current project? Or if you just finished...how long did it take you? It really interests me to see so many different numbers. I know people that can bang out a book in less than a month, and those that take over a year. How long does it take you?