Julia London Quotes

When I began to write and used a typewriter, I went through three drafts of a book before showing it to an editor.

I spend about a year between novels.

The outline is 95 percent of the book. Then I sit down and write, and that's the easy part.

Each of my books has taken me a different length of time to write - eight months for 'Seesaw Girl,' eight months for 'Shard,' three years for 'When My Name Was Keoko!' The publisher takes another year and a half to work on the book, so altogether each book can take up to three or four years to publish.

Each of my books took roughly one and a half years to write. Some may have taken a shorter time to write the draft and a longer time to revise, while others were the opposite.

The writing process, it's too mysterious to try and describe.

I had already drafted the manuscript that would become my first book by the time I graduated from college, but I had no idea what to do with it.

I worked in publishing before I became an author, so I knew how a book gets made.

I was now ordered to have my writings copied, and put into the printer's hand.

No matter how well a person writes, a successful book is a team effort involving many, many people.

I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book.

The trick was really finding the appropriate publisher for each of the projects I'd devised.

I became a connoisseur of that nasty thud a manuscript makes when it comes through the letter box.

Making books is hard work. Some books are, of course, more demanding than others.

Over a four-month period, I sat down and wrote every day. And then there was a novel, and all of a sudden, there were agents and offers.

Typically, a book takes me about a year to write.

When I began, I thought that the way one should work was to do all the research and then write the book.

I take a very long time to write my books - from five to ten years.

I have to re-write a lot. I couldn't tell you how many drafts I write, but I know I've done at least twenty rewrites on each book.

I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft. I can write more quickly than I can read.

The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.

I'm publicizing the book that's done. I'm writing the book that's in the hopper, and I'm doing a little advance research on the book to come.

The wheels of publishing never slow down.

Writing takes a lot of patience. It usually takes me a year to write a book. One time, it took me 14 years to write a book, not that I worked on it every day.

There are many challenges I face while working on a book. Working within deadlines and schedules is certainly one of the bigger ones for me. I want to create the best possible book I can for my readers with words and pictures - and that takes time to get it just right.