Extract from Chapter 6: How to find the energy for writing

I have now retired from my principal career, and I am free to write pretty much whenever I wish. But while I was still working for an employer I kept detailed records of the hours spent on writing; these records covered a period of some twenty years, and on average I managed to log up just over four hours a week.

Perhaps that doesn’t sound very much, but the simple fact is that if you can put in that sort of time commitment as a writer, year in and year out, you can produce a surprising amount of work.

In my own case, my output over the last twenty years in which I was still an employee included six novels, one academic book, five stage plays, three television scripts, and a host of minor projects. The books were all published, the work for TV was filmed and broadcast, and a couple of the stage plays were also produced.

Please note that I am not putting forward this record as an example of superhuman achievement. I am simply making the point that if you can find the energy, and fairly modest amounts of time, you can produce a significant body of work.

Most of my novels have taken me between 150 and 300 hours to write, although at least one took me 650; a stage play usually takes between 60 and 100 hours. So, on average, if you do four hours a week, you can complete a novel in a year or so, or a screenplay in a few months.


Next extract.