author productivity Quotes

Well, first you have to love writing. A lot of authors love having written. But I enjoy the actual writing. Beside that, I think the main reason I can be so prolific is the huge amount of planning I do before I start to write. I do a very complete, chapter-by-chapter outline of every book I write. When I sit down to write, I already know everything that's going to happen in the book. This means I've done all the important thinking, and I can relax and enjoy the writing. I could never write so many books if I didn't outline them first.

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.

Louis Brandeis really inspired me to write this book [Louis D. Brandeis: American Prophet]. It was a crazy deadline. The editor said I'd miss the hundredth anniversary unless I pumped the thing out in six months, because I'd been delaying and dilly dallying for so long. So he both inspired me to get up early and write.

Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.

The fastest I've ever done a book is a 112,000-word book in about a month.

Kindle, isn’t it?” the waitress asked. “I got one for Christmas, and I love it. I’m reading my way through all of Jodi Picoult’s books.” “Oh, probably not all of them,” Wesley said. “Huh? Why not?” “She’s probably got another one done already. That’s all I meant.” “And James Patterson’s probably written one since he got up this morning!” she said, and went off chortling.

The thing is - do we really need another writer who writes a book every eighteen months, whether the quality is wonderful or not? I mean, maybe. But I can name twenty off the top of my head who do it. Maybe what we need is a writer like me who goes very slow, as well.

The idea of being productive, the idea of producing many books is going to lead you toward you becoming a better and better writer.

Research is a lifelong occupation so it's hard to factor it in, but I reckon most books take 5 months from start to finish.

Graham Greene at 82 years old was still writing, and I don't think anyone can deny the force, the expertise, and the unique quality of his writing, if you take his complete oeuvre.

My house has too many distractions. There's the email. There's checking my Amazon ranking. I know I'm the only author who's ever done that, ever. There's the fax. Too many distractions. I like to go out and write.

I'm astounded by people who take eighteen years to write something. That's how long it took that guy to write Madame Bovary, and was that ever on the best-seller list?

Usually it takes me about nine to 12 months to write a book.

I seem to produce a novel approximately once every three years.

Counting the ones I've co-edited, I guess about 28 or 29 [books I've written].

It would be a fallacy to deduce that the slow writer necessarily comes up with superior work. There seems to be scant relationshipbetween prolificness and quality.

Women writers should write a lot if they want to write. Take the English women, for example. What amazing workers.

Most writers can write three times as many books as I have and still live a life.

I write at a pace that suits me, and sometimes it's two books a year, but most often it's one.

The books I've written the fastest were the best reviewed and sold the best.

Shorter work - personal essays and book reviews - allow me to take a break from working on a book, which is good for the book and for its author.

Some people take 10 years to write a book and some can do one in under a year.

I've always been a very prolific writer.

A fortunate author can write maybe twelve novels in his lifetime.

Actually, the 14 novels were written over a period of just over 6 years.