Welcome to Episode 63 of Published. Today we're talking to Greenleaf’s Executive Editor, Erin Brown about finding time to write and publish your book when you're also busy in every other area of your life. Erin will tell us how she supports authors who are struggling with this and gives advice regarding time management related to the book writing process.

Welcome back to Published! This episode focuses on finding the time to write your book when you’ve got a demanding schedule, and why it’s worth doing so despite the demand it places on your time. Like any significant undertaking that’s worthwhile, writing a book requires focus and a plan—but the end result can be life changing.

· Let’s face it: writing a book is hard. If you’re struggling to find the time needed to dedicate to writing your book, this is the perfect time to connect with an editor who can help you navigate the process.

· Greenleaf’s Executive Editor Erin Brown will share how she supports busy authors as an editor, and what you can expect in terms of timelines and expectations when it comes to the book writing process. Let’s get into the interview!

1:20 – Erin, welcome back to Published! For folks who are listening to their first episode with you, give us a little reminder of what you do here at Greenleaf.

• Thank you for having me back! A little bit about me, I have been in publishing for over 20 years. I started out in New York at the traditional publishing houses, and I'm now lucky enough to be back in my hometown of Austin as the Executive Editor here at Greenleaf.

• In my role, I oversee the Editorial Department. Our editors handle all stages of the process. Some of our authors begin with just a nugget of an idea but no content, so we help them create a rough draft.

• We also do traditional editing such as developmental editing, where we’re working on restructuring content, and then of course copyediting, proofreading, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Along with being a writing coach, we’re also cheerleaders for our authors.

2:35 – We often hear from authors who are struggling to find time to write their book because of their existing professional obligations or personal life obligations. That can lead to them tabling the idea of writing the book or sticking it in the drawer, hoping that their schedule will clear at some point in their life. For context for those who may be in that situation, can you share with us how common that is and how often you see that with the folks you work with?

• About 90% of our authors, if not more, are in this position. The ideal writing conditions will never arrive. I think the biggest trap for all writers is when you say “I'll start writing when…” because it typically never happens.

• One of the greatest challenges that you have to overcome is finding the time to write so that it takes a year to write your novel or book instead of ten years. However, writers overcome this scenario all the time. So, it’s about motivation and focus. It can be done; 90% of our authors do it.

4:03 – In general terms, assuming most of our authors do have full time jobs and they're not full-time writers, give us a general timeline in terms of how long it would typically take to write and publish a book.

• If you're starting from scratch, as so many of our authors are, you have to take into account brainstorming, outlining, and writing that rough draft. I like to say minimum a year and that's just for getting the rough draft together.

• There are always exceptions. It depends on your genre, how much research is involved, or if something comes up like needing to stop and restructure your company.

• Then once you’ve completed the rough draft, you can expect another six to nine months, maybe even a year, before the book is printed and ready for bookstores or on Amazon. And that's if you have a publisher lined up. Self-publishing can be a little bit different but it's an investment of time.

5:06 – To your point, we have seen all types of things come up, not just restructuring companies. In one author’s case their house burned down; I think they are still in manuscript development. We had an author who adopted twins. So, life happens to all of us. Honing in on the editorial process of that larger process you just described, how much time should the author expect the writing and editing phase to take? Can you kind of walk us through the phases of that?

• As I mentioned, overall, the writing and editing phase can be about a year. We always recommend that writers devote consistent time every day to write if possible. For instance, if you’re most creative in the morning, you might need to get up two hours early. If you only have time on weekends because you're too busy running a company, for instance, commit to working for a consistent block each weekend.

• I think it's important to talk your family and coworkers and tell them you’re not to be disturbed when you're writing. It can be hard to hold those boundaries. But physically blocking out time in your schedule can be helpful because it's harder to ignore.

• Even when you're consistently writing, completing a rough draft can be a year minimum, especially if you're super busy with a “day job.” But of course, some writers can get into the flow and surprise us. We’ve seen super busy writers finish in anywhere from three to six months. I broke my foot and was laid up in bed for two weeks and I wrote a mystery novel, so you never know.

• If you're brainstorming and starting from scratch, and if you’re writing nonfiction, you definitely want to seek out a content or developmental editor. You’ll want to go back and forth with them a few times for revisions and that can take a couple months.

• Then, eventually you'll want a copyedit and proofread. And yes, everyone needs an editor, even editors.

7:38 – You mentioned the developmental edit and even I know that's a very high-level edit. I’m imagining that folks who are juggling their very busy lives may think that would slow down their process or get in the way of their flow. Can you give a little context about that experience? How often are an author and editor touching base in that process? How is having that editor involved in the very early stages of the manuscript development indeed a time saver?

• I think it's a time saver to get that feedback early on. You never want to complete a rough draft and then have someone come in with a fresh set of eyes and show you all the things they would have done differently, and then have to go back and completely rework it.

• Having someone there in the beginning stages ends up being a time saver because you finish your rough draft more quickly when you have someone holding your feet to the fire, holding you to deadlines, and holding you accountable. Otherwise, it's easy to extend your completion date forever.

• Editors and authors can discuss how often they want to touch base, and that obviously depends on the author’s schedule. You’re going to be talking more during the outline stage because that's where you're starting out. Then you can just touch base after every chapter. This could be every week or every month, whatever works with your busy schedule.

• You’re not obligated nor is it necessary to have a long Zoom meeting or phone calls that go on forever. This can just be a back and forth via e-mail, so it doesn't necessarily have to be a lot of time that you’re devoting to the communication with your editor.

• Having this fresh set of eyes is valuable because writers are so close to their work, and they often can't see the issues that their readers will notice. The editor is not only providing their writing and editorial expertise but they're acting in the role of your target reader. They're asking the questions that your audience will ultimately ask early in the process so that the writer can fix any of those problems and add clarity before the book is complete and before it ever finds the reader.

• Setting aside harder sections of your book keeps you moving. A tip I always offer is saving the hard stuff and the details for later because then you're not going to get bogged down and stop writing. Just handle that along the way or later.

• As editors we know how to present our ideas to authors so that they can really see that we're working with them and we're trying to make their book better. So they know this is making it better, this will take it to a new level. It's not a negative thing. We're in a partnership together to take something good and make it even better.

12:24 – There may be folks who are listening who cannot possibly envision how they would make time for this process. Can you shed a little light onto some of the ways that you accommodate these very busy folks and how you work with them as an editor?

• Again, it's rare that we encounter authors who have lots of time. So, it's usually the case that we need to accommodate very busy authors. Of course, we're very understanding of hectic schedules and so we follow up on deadlines very kindly.

• We do follow up on any missing deadlines and we're used to adjusting deadlines a little when an author is busy. We strive to hold firm, when possible, but we're not going to make an author feel guilty if they don't make it, because life happens.

• One of the roles of an editor is to hold the writer accountable and I think that's what an author is ultimately looking for. They want someone that's going to make sure that they're hitting deadlines, moving forward, and staying motivated.

• We try to be understanding but we also want to keep deadlines set so we can follow up and keep these very busy authors moving along.

13:49 – What are the best practices for getting the most out of one’s writing time?

• One thing you can do is make writing your first thing every day. One of the best ways to create a new habit is to do it first thing. If you're one of those people that's creative in the mornings, get up and consistently write. It doesn’t have to be for 2 hours; it could be for 15 minutes. Get into the habit of doing something every day, if possible.

• Also, planning your writing sessions. You can also do it in smaller sessions, like I mentioned, it doesn’t have to be a huger block. A lot of writers, especially who are busy, get very intimidated because they don’t have a two-hour block to write, so they just won’t do it.

• You can have a voice recorder and do it on your phone while you’re puttering around. You can speak into it, even if it’s only a couple thousand words or an intro. Smaller writing spurts are okay when you’re short on time as well.

• Leave the smaller details for later. Zip through that first rough draft. I always say give yourself permission to write badly. Just try and get the raw content down during that first draft. Again, if you have an editor later, they’re going to be helping you smooth it out, and get in there line by line, and of course copyedit and proofread. So, for that first draft just get it on paper.

• This can be a tough one but it’s very important. When you’re writing and in the thick of it, cut back on TV and other time-consuming entertainment. It’s very tempting to binge watch Game of Thrones, but if you're in the middle of writing you'll need to eliminate some of those distractions.

• A great writing environment is key. A place that's free from distraction is essential. You might think that nice music will work, and sometimes it does, but I find a quiet place is good.

• There are also studies showing that warmer temperature is more conducive to writing. Warmer air keeps you from making mistakes and it also makes a person more generous, which means it could improve the quality of your writing.

• Don't write in bed, it could be very comfortable, but it is also not conducive for long writing sessions.

• Especially for busy authors, if you've had a very hectic day, give yourself a breather before you’re writing. If it's not first thing in the morning, come home, take your dog for a walk, pet your cat, do some gardening. Get into a good headspace before you sit down so you can focus on writing.

• There are lots of apps that you can use to keep track of your writing time. If you start logging how much you’ve written and when you’ve written it, you can see a pattern. And then you can figure out when you’re more productive.

• Have a daily plan. Kind of like using an outline, have a plan for the day: I'm going to write this chapter, I’m going to write a thousand words, whatever it is. Go into writing with a plan and then you have a reasonable goal that you can reach. Small goals are very helpful.

• It’s great to make notes even if you’re not using an app. Write down when you’re the most productive. You can really pay attention to that and start making sure that that's when you're writing, that’s how much you’re writing, and that’s the environment you’re writing in.

19:46 – You've given us some awesome advice. Any parting words of wisdom for how to make time for this difficult task of writing a book?

• I think just really using the tools that I've mentioned. Don't use lack of time as an excuse. So many of our writers have incredibly hectic schedules and it is possible to make time for writing with planning, consistency, motivation, and setting strong boundaries with those around you. Remember that those conditions will never be ideal.

• It was funny because when preparing for this, I was thinking of my 7th grade History teacher Mr. Rodriguez (shout out to Mr. Rod here in town) he was a little bit of intimidating, but he would always say, “Life's not fair, you make it fair.”

• I use that phrase in lots of different situations, but I think there's never enough time, you make that time. And it’s so true. You just have to do it and you can do it. Trust me, I've seen it happen time and time again, every day, so it's possible. Do it and make that time. You can make it happen.

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ABOUT ERIN

After graduating with a BS in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin, Erin moved to New York City where she worked for almost a decade at two major publishing houses: William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, and Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press. There, she edited mysteries, women’s fiction, literary fiction, romance, thrillers, nonfiction (business, self-help, political, and memoirs)—almost every genre under the sun. After returning to Austin, she worked as a freelance editor for many years, helping authors hone their work. When she’s not buried (happily) in manuscripts, Erin can be found mastering a new yoga pose or walking her bearded dragon around the neighborhood.