More Student Questions

How long does it take you to come up with your books?

That depends. Some books seem to flow pretty easily - others are more painful (and slow, frustrating, and unpleasant) to finish. One of the books that took the longest to write was Grandparents' Day - and that's my shortest book! On average, though, it takes about three months for me to do the first draft of a novel. After that, depending on how many changes the editor suggests, it can take another year or so to do all the re-writing. Sometimes things go more smoothly and the rewriting is done much more quickly. After everyone is happy with the text, the production team goes to work on the book. Design, layout, proofreading, and cover design and artwork all take time - so it can easily be two or three years from the moment when I wake up with an idea for a new book until the day I actually get to hold a new book in my hands. Patience is definitely a virtue in this business! I might add that those timelines only apply to books that actually get accepted for publication. I have several that I've written, but which have not yet found homes with a publisher.