I worked out that it can take me 8 weeks to write 80,000 words.
Therefore, I could quite possibly release a book every 3 months, if I have enough ideas and motivation.

But it’s not that simple.

In those 8 weeks I will have created a story with a beginning, middle and an end.
I have real characters and a place in time.
I will have poured my heart and soul into that story.
Every emotion I want to portray is drenched in each line.
I will have set the scene, ensured the story has chronology and it actually makes sense.

Ultimately, it is the story that I want to tell.

But, that’s not the story completed.

I need to edit my work: to find all the spelling mistakes and grammatically errors.
To review the flow of each sentence, the use of descriptive words – should I add more, less or change them?
Decide if I should cut words, paragraphs, or scenes out of the story because they are irrelevant to the overall story?
I rework paragraphs to make them read better in my head, sometimes reworking them into something else completely.
I wonder if there is too much dialogue and not enough description or vice versa?

I read and rewrite, reread and rewrite, then reread again for weeks, till I am sick of the whole process and lose some objectivity.

I get stuck in the detail, I have lived and breathed this story and it is hard to be objective.

When I finished writing my first book, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with it.
All I did know is that I wanted someone to read it, so I sent it to a couple of close friends.
They liked it and gave me positive feedback.
Today, upon reflection, I am amazed they could get through the whole book due to the number of errors I had made.
Afterwards I decided to leave it alone: I wasn’t sure if I wanted to publish my book and I didn’t know what the next step was anyway.

Once I started writing something new, I realised writing wasn’t going to be a one off, then I knew I had to do something about it.
I reread that first book again and found a whole host of changes that I wanted to make.

This process is actually advocated by many authors: once you have written and edited your work, sit on it for a while, reread it later and decide if more editing is required.
It’s amazing the things I did not notice a couple of months previous, now glaringly out at me from the screen.

I had become too intimate with the story. Stepping back and returning later, gave me a whole new perspective.

There reaches a point when you can do no more.
It is the best version you can produce: then it’s time to send it to the editor.

Out of everything I have learned on this journey this would be my number one piece of advice: GET THAT BOOK PROFESSIONALLY EDITED.

It is a huge chunk of money and its possible you may never see the return of that money in book sales, but if you are serious about writing, you have to get serious about editing.

Still, finding an editor is not as easy as it may seem.
There are numerous editors to choose from online.
But, how would I know if they were any good? I didn’t have the type of money to guarantee that.
How experienced were they with my genre?
How suited were they to edit my type of book?
To work with me – would they understand that I can’t deal with crushing criticism?

This was a big decision and turning point in my writing.
Once I employed the services of an editor, I was committed to publishing my book.
I searched carefully, not only because it was a big investment but the book was also really important to me and I needed to find someone whom I thought would take care of it.
A blog post I read on the subject linked me to the Editorial Freelancers Association and I decided that the editors listed on there could be trusted with that task.
I reached out to a couple of companies that appeared to be what I was looking for.
One refused me, based on the fact that they were too busy.

Note: this is a common theme I find with editing, book covers and proof reading. The people you employ to do this work for you, may not be able to do the work you when you want, so you need to be patient and plan ahead.

The other editor was available.
Sending my book to a stranger was terrifying.
I had to deal with the idea of humiliation: Is my work really good enough to go to an editor?
Will they send it back?
Will they laugh at my attempt to write?
Will there be so much work to do to the book, that I will be disheartened and give up?
I still didn’t know if I could handle the critique, but I’m glad I decided to take that leap of faith.

I went for the comprehensive edit – it was my first book and I needed all the help I could get.
There are different types of editing, which can do different things or a combination of things for your story. The type of editing you need is another consideration.
This link to Kindlepreneur with Dave Chesson, explains the types of editing.

By using an editor, I have learnt that:
I use too many words: at least 10,000 words will be removed from my finished story.
My writing is usually solid and there are no holes in the story.
My punctuation and grammar are atrocious and even things I have researched online may not actually be correct facts and will require more research.
I need more dialogue and less description.

I have learned and grown as a writer through the feedback and amendments made, so that, I make far less mistakes than before and the quality of my writing has improved.

Once you receive your completed work back from your editor (usually after two rounds of review) it doesn’t matter how hard and how many hours you have spent writing your book, it is a euphoric feeling, receiving that completed work and reading through it again.

I wonder how someone could make my words even more beautiful, even more lyrical.

Truly, the ability of an editor to manipulate your story into something that is still authentically you, but better, is unbelievable.
Somehow they make it the best possible version of your words, your voice that there ever could be.

It is beautiful to read and for an author who has probably read that book at least fifty times and your enthusiasm for the whole thing is wearing thin, somehow they make you fall head over heels back in love with your story.

How long does it take me to write a book – honestly about six months.