Meme - Day 23

Day 23 and still going ... almost done.

23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?

I do Nanowrimo each year, so I usually start planning in October. I plot, do character profiles if I need to, and things like that. I begin to write on November 1st, with the aim of 1667 words per day. I get insanely competitive with myself. The first time I did Nano, I was terrified I wouldn't be able to finish, so I pushed myself and finished on day 22. I tried to beat my time each year. The shortest I've ever written my Nano novel in is 7 days (which is very physically painful and I don't recommend it for many reasons).

Other novels that I've written have taken a lot longer, but I don't work on them every single day. Nano is a great format for me to get into a habit of writing every day, even if it only lasts for 30 days. I need that kind of challenge and time competition to get really motivated to write something I otherwise would procrastinate on.

The editing is what takes so long now. I find now that I'm conscious of a lot of the writing mistakes I make, I am getting better and faster at editing my own work. Rewriting is something I haven't perfected yet - I really hate doing it - so if anything needs extensive re-writes, I am very slow with it. I've been working on Brookline University: Sophomore Year for over two years at this point.