. . . when you’re working full time and commuting two hours a day?
Forensic evidence suggests that I started my novel in April 2016 and finished its 123,000 glorious words in September 2017. So, 17 months. Seven thousand words a month. Less than 2,000 words a week. Maybe a page a day. Is that impressive, or awful?
After discussing the final chapters with my cold-eyed writing group, I now need to begin the second draft by recalibrating the climax. Also, I need another title. How many months is that gonna take?
Richard Bowker 
Stephen King claims he writes no less than 2000 words a day. But Graham Greene and Hemingway have been pegged at 500. Tom Wolfe took 11 years to finish A Man In Full. And today we are advised that Nicole Krause’s new 290-page novel (about a blocked writer) is her first in seven years. To me, time is basically irrelevant. The miracle is that the novel was written at all.
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To me, the novel finally exists when the first draft is done. Before that, it’s just a possibility; when you’ve got a draft, it’s real–even if you then have to change everything.
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A small eon?
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Who you calling cold eyed?
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Dear Rich: Yeah. What Jeff said.Remember: we know where you live! (And if we forget, other M will give us instructions!)
“Cold eyed”. Hmph!
And by the way, Jeff, shouldn’t “cold-eyed” have a hyphen…?
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Just listen to yourself. Cold.
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