“How can you write so much? Your output is ridiculous. How much do you write—time and words—per day, a week, a month? I’m not just talking about how much but also how you manage your writing time. I realize you’ve got time to write because you live like a caveman. But still, once I sit down in front of my laptop I have problems, working on too many things for instance, my essay’s getting too big; my stories getting too long.”

First young man, let me state the obvious reason in the disparity of our output, namely that I AM JAMES LAFOND and YOU ARE NOT!

Seriously, that is part of it—my specific malfunction. You see, I wanted to write my entire life, but was not able to pursue it as a fulltime occupation until age 47, just about at the age when I began to realize that I am almost dead! Hence, I am a driven, compulsive writer. If you, young man, slave away at your thanklessly appointed and soullessly pointless tasks for the next 20 years you may—finding yourself bereft of hungry spawn—morph into a compulsive crack pot writer. I am simply trying to download what is in my mind—forever unsuccessfully I might add.

Needing to write is better for output and quality than wanting to write. Find a way to stoke your need, keeping mindful, that for us working class writers that it often takes some years—weighted down by day-to-day concerns as we are.

The following is what my writing schedule has looked like for the past two months, a symbiosis with the rest of my life that has evolved over five years now. This ‘schedule’ has self-structured around the remnants of my former purgatory-like existence.

I work 29.5 hours per week and coach for 6, meaning that 35.5 hours are off the table as far as physically writing. This time does, however, serve its purpose. We will return to this ‘mundane matrix’ later.

Monday: 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. [11]

Tuesday: 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. [4]

Wednesday: 5:00 to 5:00 p.m. [12]

Thursday: 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. [2]

Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. [10]

Saturday: 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. [2]

Sunday: 6:00 to 11:00 a.m. [5]

This is only 46 hours, so there is a lot more to the results than the number of hours. I have written as much as 75 hours, and these are usually my best weeks. I do this by not sleeping on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. This past Tuesday night I wrote until midnight, when I hit the floor, having fallen out of the chair in a dead sleep. I only do this when I ‘can’t help it’, you know, when I’m compelled, like when you ‘can’t help’ the fact that you missed another training session with your old coach because that girl you met in that D.C. sorority house was just so cute…

The only sensible way to quantify this is words, per hour, and per week. As you can see by the rhythmic peaks and valleys nature of my writing, over the course of a week a given day can be very different. I typically produce, after proofing and editing, 25,000 words per week which comes to just over 500 words per hour, which is not much. My best recent period was in December a few months ago when I was writing Incubus of Your Sacred Emasculation and had two 30,000 word weeks back-to-back. I have yet to top my best month, when I wrote Thunder-boy, which came to 97,000 and some words at the end of the summer of 2011.

That 25-30,000 word figure, when expressed in book terms is a novella or self help book of perhaps 180 pages, my preferred length. However, I don’t produce one a week, as much as I would like to, but rather none some weeks and more than one on others—like when you were fighting those two buthas over in Park Heights. When you are hooked into a dynamic process loss of control becomes endemic to your situation. But, just like with those guys, there are ways to gain control, which we will get to.

Orson Scott Card used to move away from home when working on a major novel. That and my pauper lifestyle might be a clue as to the rest.

-You must have a life style and a job that permits you to expend more mental energy and more hours on your writing than that occupation.

-When your family members tell you that you are writing too much, ignore them.

-When your love interest tries to come between you and your writing, let her know she is second.

-When anyone says a discouraging word about your writing: the quality, quantity, time spent, pointless nature of, etc., pretend you are a three year old who has just been told to stay out of the candy dish—and go for it. Channel all of the negativity that the numerous invalidating people in your life are going to heap on you into motivation. When you are a writer you are the out of town fighter every day of your life—with the entire world against you. Learn to thrive on that, like beating up some muscle dude in front of his beautiful girl—make it your environment.

This is what I termed using the ‘mundane matrix’ above.

-When you are not in a position to write, but can read, read. Do your research when you would not otherwise be able to write. I read on the bus, at bus stops, while walking through this savage town, and during my lunch and coffee break at work. Toward this end audio books are a help.

-Work a job that permits you to daydream. I do not recommend trimming trees with a harness and chainsaw while imagining your next chapter. Grunt labor is preferred, as is low end customer service as it introduces you to so many characters.

-Write fiction and nonfiction. This is a must if you are a learning writer. It also increases the quality of both disciplines.

-Write in multiple genres in both fiction and nonfiction. I have a dozen novels and a half dozen nonfiction books going right now. This permits me to write something even if I am momentarily suffering from writer’s block concerning my current primary focus.

-Write every day. This makes you better and faster at the same time.

Disclaimer: every editor will tell you different.

Most writers write a book. Then, book in hand, they seek a publisher, an agent, an editor, a proofreader. All of these people cost money to interact with, which requires you to work additional hours to finance the shopping around of your book. Also, the author’s writing time is now focused on advertising and promoting and networking, rather than writing. Now, a year into shopping their book around they are usually disappointed to find they have no book deal, and must then spend additional time and resources publishing it themselves.

However this all pans out, when next this writer decides to get back to plying his craft, he is rusty at best and probably dispirited.

When I finish writing a book, I drink two beers and eat something salty and unhealthy, write a few short pieces, and then begin the next book, usually three days later. I stay focused on writing. I am not a graphic art designer or book designer. I’m a goddamned goon in these fields. When I publish my own book I limit cover design to 15 minutes! I mean, it’s going to suck in any case. Why burn a day to make a book that looks a little less shitty?

One thing specific to me is that writing fiction fatigues me. So I do not push fiction when I get tired, but switch to nonfiction to keep writing without losing passion for the story. This is why novelists often have an upper limit on a daily word count [usually about 1500 words] that seems very low to an essayist, and conversely appears to be astronomically high to a poet. More emotive writing forms yield lower word counts and hence less practice with the basic mechanics of writing. This is the crux of my opinion that writing nonfiction is good cross training for the fiction writer.

Juggling is an apt term if you are a writer that always seems to have more than one iron in the fire. As with juggling you need to keep more than one ball in the air, and more than three is a recipe for disaster. So, keep a folder in your files for projects you set aside while you focus on the other three.

The other good analogy is fighting multiple opponents, particularly when completing a work is concerned.

Learn how to break works into subsections, so, when they get too big, they can be made into a series.

My editor at Paladin Press, Jon Ford, told me that when writing something that began to get bigger to, “Cut off the head!” Toward this end writing in a linear fashion, as opposed to how news paper articles are structured can make cutting off the head more practical.

Work in small places, just like in a fight, don’t reach, but keep the action in your wheel house, where you have leverage. When you feel yourself losing leverage step off at an angle to get a read on the situation.

The most important thing when working on multiple writing projects is also the most important thing for a fighter; having the instinct for knowing when your man is ready to go, so that you can turn up the heat and get it over with.

About two years into writing full time I discovered this ability. Now, when I have a story that is about ready ‘to go,’ I either go into a sprint mode finish, setting aside all other concerns, or if I have another commitment, I stop poking at this one, put it in the ‘ready to go file,’ and come back when I have the time to finish it.

I hope this helps Oliver. It’s going to be tough for a father with an active young child, who is still attractive enough to have to fend off nubile female advances. For the former drain on your time might I suggest a very durable household pet which your child might hunt while you write. For the later—you know, I heard your coach has more free time on his hands since his writing speed has increased, if she’s into the psycho Santa Clause thing…

Good luck Bro.