Today I thought I’d address one of the common questions authors receive: “How many hours a day do you write?”
What do you think? Do authors spend eight hours a day writing as in most other professions? Or do they stay up all night burning the midnight oil? Or do they sit down and dash off chapters in no time flat? Before you read the following answers, make a guess in your own mind, or share in the comments (if you’re brave). Have your answer ready?
Now, here are responses from eight author-friends (and me):
How Many Hours a Day Do You Write?
D’Ann Mateer: Currently I’d say I write 2-4 hours a day.
Karen Witemeyer: I have a full-time day job, so my writing time is very sporadic. In an ideal world, I’d love to write at least 2 hours a day (although “writing time” for me usually includes email checking, social media marketing, researching, etc. so it would be more like 4-6 hours a day if that is included). However, with the day job, I end up writing much less on weekdays, and write for about 8 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday to meet my goal of completing one chapter a week. Someday, when I retire from the day job, I hope to have a more regulated writing schedule, but for now it pretty much comes down to whenever I can find the time.
Erica Vetsch: The true answer is—it depends. If I’m on a deadline of some kind, I can write from 4-6 hours a day. Mostly, I write from 2-4 hours on weekday afternoons. I do lots of other writing tasks like editing, marketing, blogging, etc, but for writing on the manuscript, I average about 3 hours per weekday. (Since I have about 10 days to finish this manuscript, I’ll write however long it takes!)
Julie Klassen: It depends on how close the deadline is! I suppose I average two or three hours a day actually writing—except when a deadline is looming, then maybe six or eight hours. Other time is spent editing, marketing, researching, etc.
Michelle Griep: Authors write a lot of words on many things other than their manuscript, but as for me, once I start a story, I put in a minimum of 4 hours every weekday.
Robin Lee Hatcher: I usually write about four hours a day, M-F. That is my time for getting new words on paper. I’m a morning person, so I usually write then, and I leave afternoons for the “business of writing stuff” (editing, revising, marketing, bookkeeping, cover design, etc.).
Jody Hedlund: I don’t necessarily write a certain number of hours a day. Instead, I write a certain number of words. Sometimes my daily goal will take me 4 hours and some days 8! It just depends on how well the words flow (and how diligent I am!).
Becky Wade: I tackle writing-related business in the mornings! It typically takes me anywhere from 1-3 hours to reply to email and address that day’s marketing To Do list (social media, blogging, interviews, e-mail newsletters, etc). Once I have that out of the way, I write. The time it takes to write on any given day varies widely, because I write according to daily page count goals. For example, I’m currently rewriting 20 pages a day. If I hardly need to make any changes to those 20 pages, I can knock them out in an hour and a half. But much more often, I decide that the pages need heavy editing. So I add content or cut/paste content or change the motivation/conflict/emotional slant of a scene. That can take ages. I’d say that, on average, I work at this job for 6-8 hours a day.
Dani Pettrey: I don’t write for a specific amount of time. Rather, I write to a word count of 2500 words a day during what I call “normal” writing. During the last month before deadline that amount increases quite a bit. I typically write 12 hours a day during that month as I’m trying to pull everything together and polish it.
Reading through these replies again, the answers seem to range from: A. two to three hours, B. four hours, C. six to eight hours, and D. up to twelve hours.
Do any of these numbers surprise you? If you are a writer, where do you fall? Let us know in the comments. And thanks to all the authors who contributed to today’s post!
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Loved hearing where others fall on the spectrum. I fall in the 2-4 hours a day writing. (Like Jody, I’m writing toward a word count. I sometimes hit my 1000 words in an hour, and other times, it’s like slogging through molasses and takes me 5 or 6.) Regardless, my work day is still 6-8 hours a day (and longer as my deadline approaches) because there’s SO much more to being a writer than just writing. As others have said, the extra hours are spent on research, editing, rewriting, marketing, social media, website, answering reader mail, conference preparation, reading for endorsement for other authors, and more. I do usually try to take a month off from writing between books (though all the other stuff still has to be done) but that’s a nice break and allows me to do more READING.
Isn’t that true? When the words and creativity are flowing, it feels so good to write. Other days it’s definitely *work*. Thanks, Deborah.
Interesting results! I don’t count hours, either, but I give myself a quota every day–either number of words on the computer screen (3,000 is normal these days) or number of pages edited (I do 5 separate edits before sending the ms. in). And when I’m done, I’m done for the day! Sometimes the work goes quickly, sometimes I’m still at my desk until 8 or 9 at night. It all depends on how many interruptions I had, if I had to track down some obscure fact, etc. But nothing compares to that wonderful feeling of being done and still on schedule!
Ah, yes, interruptions! It’s hard to get back on track sometimes, isn’t it? Sounds like you have a good system, Angie. Thanks for sharing.
I love this post because I think it reveals just how much our work hours depend on A) how close we are to a deadline and B) how smoothly and quickly the work flows on any given day. I found LOTS to relate to here!
Glad you enjoyed it, Becky. Thanks for being the first to respond to my request!
Such interesting responses! I could never be an author. I admire all of you, so please keep on writing because I love to READ!
Thank you, Betty. Will do!
Love this! I write almost every day and usually spend about 4-6 hours writing. 🙂
In the midst of all the writing, the simple tasks of the day need to be completed. haha! Eating, drinking water, laundry, grocery shopping, and family time. Most important of all…sharing time with the Lord in prayer.
Always more to do, isn’t there? Sounds like you have your priorities straight. Thanks for sharing, Melissa.
Looks like everyone has her own writing time mileage during the day. Some days you write more than others. I enjoyed reading everyone’s responses!
So true: mileage may vary! Thanks for commenting, Elisa. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
I suppose I’m an aspiring writer (it feels rather pretentious to say that considering the company I’m in lol) but with school, etc. I’m just focusing on writing something every day, be it a single paragraph or a page or two. I average probably 1-3 hours depending on the circumstances, frequently not even that much (I’m far too easily distracted haha) sometimes much more.
You ladies are always such a source of inspiration for me, especially you Julie! 🙂
It took me a long time until I could call myself a writer, too. Great job writing something every day. Keep it up! You’ll get there!
Thanks! That means a great deal coming from you!😁