Lauren Willig Quotes

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.

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.

I wrote each book in thirty-five days flat - just to get the darned thing finished.

I spend about eight months researching and outlining my book.

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

'Purple Plumeria' I dithered over for months and then wrote the whole thing between the beginning of July and end of August. The dithering and procrastination time was three times the writing times.

When I had worked on my first book, I had readily shown bits and pieces to everyone - for encouragement, to force myself to write.

When I first have an idea, I'll spit-ball it with my husband: he's my beautiful ideas sounding board. I usually have a year deadline from start to finish, so I'll piss about for three months and pretend to get started. Then there's four to six months of actual writing and, after that, submissions, edits, and eventually a finished product.

I still have this habit, I guess, continued from college, where I procrastinate up until the last moment.

During the day, if I don't have any other commitments, I'm usually at my desk writing, revising, or researching anywhere from four to six hours.

I used to get up and write every day, even if I wasn't working on a specific thing. Now, when I have a thing I'm in the middle of, I do that, but when I'm not, time can go by when I'm not writing at all.

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 am a big proponent of writing a great outline. That way you can avoid hitting a roadblock. There is no worse feeling than writing yourself into a corner but if you've figured it all out in the outline then you won't have that problem.

I really have reached a point where I can write a book about all of this.

I knew that if I was going to write a book, I was going to have to read one, too.

No one writes a great book every time out, or even a good book.

It takes me three months of research and nine months of work to produce a book. When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I'm gonna do 320, that's 160 days.

I like to have a title before I start writing.

I am a big outliner. For my adult book, 'The Visibles,' I did not outline, and it took me two years to write because I just didn't outline, and I had no path.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.

Even if you plan your book, the actual writing is unplanned.

My writing process, such as it is, consists of a lot of noodling, procrastinating, dawdling, and avoiding.

Now I'm trying to work outside first person. I do plan to write more books.

Normally, I spend a week on the outline and take two weeks to write the book.