The writing itself, once you get down to it, doesn’t take long. It’s everything you do to avoid writing that takes up all the time. If you put your mind to it you could write a book on a weekend!
So I wrote sometime last decade in a workshop manual for my workshop of the same name. The manual was written on a weekend so I know it is possible. It’s around 10,000 words long and shows you how in the first weekend to make a story map, write your synopsis, chapter outline and start on Chapter 1. Then if you set aside a weekend per chapter, in three to six months you will have your first draft in your hand! I’ve taught this workshop many times over since then, in fact I’m teaching it this weekend in Sydney at WEA. Keep your eyes peeled for soon I’ll be bringing it out as an e-book so it will be available for all. Here’s another quote…
When you finally allow yourself to be in the writing zone, everything else will fall away; there will be just you and the writing, and you will wonder what took you so long.
