I can turn out around ten pages a day. That is ten actual pages, not double-spaced comic sans pages, mind you. Sometimes that seems like a lot. A great deal of action can happen in ten pages, or a dialogue with two or three really great lines, or an inner monologue that gets to the heart of some personality quirk or psychological tension.Those days I can whip right though it and wonder where the time went. Then there are days when ten pages can seem to take forever, when I have to switch perspectives three or four times just to slog through it. At the end, though, there is another chapter, so yea me.
Then again, what is that worth? Ten pages in a day? That’s about nine hours at my desk, including time to check email and take care of a few other issues. So it takes roughly six hours, cumulative, to write and rough edit ten pages. As a wage, that is pretty bad. But as a part of the creative process, I wonder how it shakes out? Regardless, it doesn’t seem to matter if I am loving a scene and the words are just flowing along, or if it feels like my fingernails are being pulled out just to come up with another sentence. One workday equals about ten pages. At least I am consistent, I guess. Maybe I should learn to type faster. Anyone know where I can pick up a copy of Mavis Bacon?
If you write, or know of an author that has quoted a page or word number, let me know.
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