Recently Devon Monk was a guest on the website (a great site for urban fantasy and paranormal readers and writers!) I met Devon in person at Orycon in 2009 and I instantly became a fan. She took time to talk to me, the newbie writer and was not only extremely friendly, but also very helpful. (plus she's a fellow needle-crafter, so that raises her status to uber cool in my book!) 
Devon is the author of the Allie Beckstrom Series, with four books currently on shelves and another coming out later this year. She has another two books in her steampunk-western-fantasy series set for 2011 and 2012 releases. With such a high rate of output (6 months per book) I was really curious about her writing and editing schedule. This is something my writing friends and I often have trouble with, the discipline of getting things done. Devon’s answers were so inspiring, I asked her if I could share her words of wisdom through my blog and she graciously gave me permission.
Here’s what Devon had to say about her writing schedule:
“My writing schedule is structured by deadlines. Right now I have a book due on June 1st. That means 4k word day, six days a week, minimum. I write in the morning, take a break for lunch, write until dinner, break. Some of that time goes to online stuff, or emails. But if I don’t have my word count done for the day, I write until midnight (I get up at 6:00 a.m.)”
When it comes to editing, Devon had this to say:
“Edits are also dictated by deadline. I usually have 4 weeks to turn in a revised book, so I break my 100K book into daily goals and try to do more than I think I should (just in case a day gets eaten by “real life”) During this, I am still on deadline to get my min. word count for writing the current book done.”
As if that wasn’t inspiring and helpful enough, she also summed up with this:
“At three books a year, it’s possible for me to write 2,000 words a day and hit all my goals, but there are days when “real life” (sickness, disaster, etc.) steals my time, and then the daily word count must change to make up for it.
Short answer–word goals work better than page goals for me, except in edits, when it’s hard to track words, and page goals make more sense.”
Thanks to Devon for taking the time to answer my questions and for motivating me to get my butt in gear!
Now that we've all been inspired, everyone, get to work! And then go buy Devon's books. ;)
I'm quite proud of myself, since I started off loathing editing this novel for a fifth time, but my productivity went from 12 pages a day to 25 pages a day and I'm actually a teensy weensy bit enjoying it. (don't quote me on that)
