I thought I had this somewhere, but I can’t seem to find it. Soooo I shall write it down here.

HOW LONG DO YOU WRITE?

One hour per day, Monday through Friday on average. This is often wondered simply for the amount of numbers I do daily. There are even some folks who have seen my numbers and the mention that I only do about an hour a day and think I should do more. But an hour is me stretching out as much free time to write as I can so it’s not as if I’m purposely slacking. I’m doing as much as I can. I’ve often struggled with doing more and getting headaches so I try to stick with just the hour. If I do write on the weekends, even that much can cause a headache. So per week my numbers are usually 5 hrs on average. That’s one hour per day. From 10 AM-11 AM has been optimal.

HOW MANY WORDS DO YOU WRITE? WHAT IS YOUR DAILY GOAL?

My daily goal is 1000 words. On average I hit between 1K-3K. There are many who advice increasing it or lowering it, depending. Say, if you’re not hitting it lower it. If you’re hitting it a lot, raise it. But my word count daily goal is my “satisfaction,” zone. I can go higher just fine. I can go lower just fine. Although like anyone else, not hitting at least 1K can get on my ever living nerves if I do it too many days in a row. lol I will start to feel bad, but at the same time if it’s going on for over a week, then I know it’s time to look at WHY.

For me though the word goal isn’t as important as just getting words down. So my focus is more on write between 10 AM – 11 AM. Whatever I can achieve in there, as long as it’s something, I am content with it. I don’t go for “I must hit one thousand words then I can stop.” I do have moments where I’m close to it so will push myself out to the 1K mark, but that’s rare. Mostly I’m happy getting anything in as long as it’s something. Then it becomes, “more than I had yesterday.”

HOW DO YOU WRITE?

Laptop. On my bed. Most of the time. I have the Word app on my phone and desktop, as well as tablet, so that if I want, I can easily switch. Short stories I will sometimes compose on pen and paper before I move it to digital.

The before process to my writing can be found in this post for some of it – https://kimberlysueiverson.com/2019/04/13/werewolf-2019/ I will try to write something up soon on another process I used for this book I’m working on now.

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE WHAT YOU WRITE? WHAT DO YOU WRITE?

This is determined purely by the little feeling inside of me and if I like the story. If I feel pulled to something, that’s the one I go with. If I feel only “meh,” I won’t. I can play with ideas, outlines, and think about it a lot so by that time it can kind of get boring, but there is still that pull toward one that I feel.

Same goes with genre, story, or book. I don’t purposely attempt to go with one over another or stick with one over another. For me it is purely a question on story. If I like the story idea, I go with it. I don’t think about genre or much else until I’ve written the book. I don’t say to self, “self, let’s do a romance. Let’s do a vampire story with spaceships.” I just start putting together ideas and if I likie, I writie.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU?

3-4 months average. I don’t set out to write fast, I don’t set out to write slow. I don’t set out to do anything. Goes back to the first question. I sit down at the laptop M-F between 10 AM (ish) and 11 AM (ish). That’s it. I write. Take today (October 18, 2019) I didn’t get started until after 10 am. Near 10:30. When I did, I sat staring out the window with the story open on Word. I stared and thought about the characters. I stared and thought about the story. I stared and let my brain wander. I needed to get from A to C today, but needed B. Needed the connection, needed to know which scene I should do next. I knew which would come, but I was thinking . . . am I far enough in the book to do ____. Or should I wait for a few more words?

Then the story clicked and the train began rolling. I put in 1133 words today (I share the numbers on my social platforms in case you’re interested). I started this book on September 2, 2019. It’s currently at 34K. I usually end books around 80-90K. I’m happy if I get to 70K and if I’m not, may purposely go back in the book and fill in more chapters where I can bring in new information to push the story out. NOT filler. Story. Huge difference.

I believe it was Law of the Beast I had to do that with. Either that or Birth of a Princess. One of the two. I reached the end and I was at 60K. I went, nope. Not ending it there. In edits I will add more, but that would be way more than necessary. So I took time to go back and judged who had more scenes in their POV and where I could bring in more, then asked what has happened between this last scene and the next, and was able to narrow it down.

But the books have been taking 3-4 months with this writing one hour a day, every day between Monday and Friday with that process.

If I didn’t answer a question you have on my writing process, drop it in the comments below.

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