Lessons from Writing Three Novels at Speed

Dean Wesley Smith is an incredibly prolific writer. He writes with his cats. I write with my pooch. Dean is adept at writing into the dark at speed. In other words, he does not outline his work before writing, and sets for himself some remarkable word-count challenges. In a book of his I recently read, Writing With the Waltese Falcon, he shows us how he wrote three books—one in ten days, one in seven, and one in five while traveling on vacation. That’s incredible. In a column I share on SleuthSayers, the mystery blog, this week, I do a quick overview of Dean’s book and then share the story of my one and only experiment writing at speed. I shared that story on this blog a few years ago.

I am revisiting the concept and gthis story because Smith’s book inspired me to try my own experiment writing at speed. Unlike the previous exercise back in 2012, when I wrote a 70,000-word ghostwriting project in 14 days, this time around I am attempting to have a normal daily life and fitting in the writing where possible. The first project I’m trying to do is a short nonfiction book. When that ends, I’ll try a short novel project. Anything to get going again after the drama of the last few years.

Today’s post is called:

The Case of the Waltese Falcon

And here is part of what I’m saying:

What made the biggest impression on me as a reader and writer is how much other work he accomplishes in his regular work days. He takes careful notes of all his activity, and shares his daily schedule with us. He usually wakes at noon, checks in at the offices of his publishing business—then located on the Oregon coast—and does all the things the head of a small firm usually does. Bank runs, dealing with movers, buying office furniture, keeping up with emails and bills. (I believe that during this period he may have also owned and operated other businesses in town, such as a collectibles shop.) So that work also consumes his time. And of course he’s hanging with his wife and pets, enjoying decent lunches and dinners with family and friends, and watching a whole lot of television.

Usually he gets to his writing computer about 6 p.m. and writes in bursts of 50-minute sessions into the wee hours of the morning. He estimates that he required 42 such sessions to write the 43,000-word book. “In other words,” he quips, “I typed at the blazing speed of 20.5 words per minute.”

This impressed me because like everyone on the planet, I feel that I constantly have more on my plate than I can handle. Mr. Smith has a full day of work at the day job, but still manages to write prodigiously in his creative work. The delightful conceit of all of this is that while he is writing each of these novels, he is also writing the larger nonfiction book that details their creation.

Back when I was living in the NYC area, a friend went on a rant, pointing out how much I was accomplishing at every turn, how successful I was, and how decently my career was going. He finished this rant by waving his arms wide in his tiny apartment, and shouting, “And I can’t even find my socks!”

I love thinking about that line.

But these days, I swear, I feel like the missing sock is on the other foot. I don’t feel terribly productive right now. The Waltese Falcon concept is pushing me to get moving again.

Anyway, I hope you’ll check out the article. If you want to learn more about Smith’s books, go to his website. The original Waltese book has been split into three different books, and you can preorder them at this link.

You can read my earlier articles about that 14-day writing project here.

Now a National Bestseller.

TWO WAYS TO GET DENISE’S BOOK:

Unless Denise is coming to a bookstore near you, the best way to get a signed copy of her new book is to order from Malaprop’s, the indie bookstore in our hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. They are a great small business, and they have been delivering Denise’s books to happy customers for something like 15 years without a hitch. So you can’t go wrong. If you think you would like the book inscribed a certain way to a friend or family member, I personally, recommend phoning the store to make sure they have all those details down correctly.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS T-SHIRTS?

Yes, we went there! We’re selling cool new “Obstinate” shirts at our new Joe & Denise store. Eight different designs, and ton of different colors. I’ll talk about the store some other time, but suffice to say, you won’t want to miss what we’ve got going on over there.

Click the shirt to learn more!