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There is a natural flow to every book. There’s even a natural flow to how most writers work. I know writers that take six months off between books. One writer finishes a book then goes back to college to get a new degree or course, and then goes back to writing. For most of us, we finish a book and take a few weeks off, maybe a month, or two, or we work on other projects while the next series book percolates in our heads.

Some writers like to write at night. Some do it because that’s the only time the house is quiet and they won’t be interrupted. Some writers write at dawn, though not usually by choice. I got up at 5 AM five days a week when I worked in corporate America so I could do my 2 pages which was what I did every day, just two pages, and then I’d get dressed and go to work. I am not a morning person, but I found that after a hard day in the cubicle farm I was too drained to write, so I wrote before work ate my creativity up. It was either that or not write at all which wasn’t going to get my first book written. Once my daughter started school my writing hours had to change to when she was at school, and then stop when she got home. Maybe another session after dinner and the kiddo was tucked in bed. Most writers don’t average more than four hours a day at their computer, often less. I am concerned that some of you out there are telling me you are comparing yourself to how I write. Fine, but bear in mind that every professional writer is unique and has spent years finding out how they and their muse work best. You need to find out how you and your muse work best.

I am actually writing beyond the natural rhythm of either myself, or this current book. Why? Because my deadline is breathing down my neck and I have made commitments to my publisher to make that deadline. Not to mention all the other people who will work on this book, and the bookstores that will sell it, and you guys who will read it. I miss the deadline and its like dominos it all falls down. Now there will be other dates and they would move it if they had to for me, but I prefer to make original deadlines. Partly it’s my nearly puritanical work ethic. Partly its if I miss this deadline then it puts me behind for the next book deadline. Again, the dominos analogy comes into play.

If I felt I had a choice I would not be pushing for the page count that I am. In fact, the day I did ten pages I remember thinking clearly, "Wow that’s a great days work, and its not enough." At this point if I could average twenty pages a day that would be about right, but I can’t. Even my muse and me and my work ethic can’t promise that.  In fact my work ethic has stopped cracking the whip and is feeling a little tired. So please, don’t compare your page count to mine, and don’t let my productivity make you feel like you’re slacking off, because if deadlines allowed I’d be doing less, too.

Comfortable pace is between 4 and 8 pages a day with the end of the book going anywhere from 8 to 20 pages. Yes, I can do the 20 page stretch but my problem comes because my publisher and agent begin to ask me to choose deadlines when I’m at the end of a book and I’ve hit that muse-driven stretch of unbelievable page count. I’m on a writer’s high for days and everything seems so fluid, so right. I’ve learned not to set deadlines when I’m in that mind set, because it only lasts a few weeks, or a few days, and then I’m back to a normal page count, but my new deadlines are set at that breathless pace that I won’t actually naturally hit until near the end of the book. I’m not the only writer that I’ve heard say this, that in that rush of creative flood you feel so buoyant, so certain, so optimistic, that you are certain you can turn that next book in no time. The trouble is the mood passes and your optimistic self has made a deadline that your pessimistic self has to deliver. So, please, don’t compare your page count or rhythm to mine right now, because even for me its artificial. I am writing ahead of my muse and my comfort level. I will pay for it later by the way, because as wonderful as the muse is she is not without cost.

I’ll leave you with a quote: "Never forget that the nurturing and preservation of your own muse is job one. Lose it and you may be losing a great deal." Robert Genn