How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven.” (Eccl 3:1)
Authors are often asked, “How long does it take to write a
book?”
The best possible reply is, “How long is a piece of string?”
This is even more true if the question is “How long does
it take to publish a book?”
As to the writing of A MIDSUMMER EVE’S NIGHTMARE, in a way
the answer would be “Most of my life.” Each book in the Elizabeth & Richard
Mysteries has a literary figure in the background— they are both English
professors, after all— so in a way the writing of this book began with my own
encounter with the Bard of Avon.
My freshman year in college I thought myself far too
sophisticated to take a children’s literature class, it had to be the
Shakespeare seminar— the irony being that, later, as the mother of 4 children,
there was nothing I really needed more than a children’s lit class.
In a way, though, that Shakespeare seminar was a
children’s literature class for me. As soon as our children were able to sit
through an evening performance my husband and I were taking them to the magical
Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon (where Elizabeth and Richard go on
their honeymoon in my novel). With some good preparation before hand they loved
the plays. Then Boise opened its own Shakespeare Festival so we had all these
riches on our own doorstep.
All of our children still enjoy Shakespeare, but most
especially our middle son who married a Shakespearean actress who also directs
grade school children in wonderful productions such as “Macbeth” and “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream” and has taught their 2-year-old son to quote
Shakespeare.
So that’s my lifetime background, but how about writing
the book? Well, again I have to start back a bit (these things are never
simple). In 1992 I published a romantic intrigue CASTLE OF DREAMS (not my
title) and wrote the second book in the series A MIDSUMMER EVE'S NIGHTMARE. For
a variety of reasons Castle didn't sell well and the series was canceled.
"Oh well," I thought, "At least I got to spend the advance
money." Eventually the manuscript went off to the writers' archives at our
local university.
With the advent of the Ebook age I got a publisher for the
old Castle story. Completely rewritten, recovered and renamed it is now THE
SHADOW OF REALITY, book #1 in The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. Now it was
time for Book #2. I rang the Boise State Univeristy archives. The same
librarian is still there and he even brought the manuscript to me.
After retyping, rewriting, heavily editing and much
improving, A MIDSUMMER EVE'S NIGHTMARE went off to the publisher.
"Eighteen years in the writing" would be an overstatement— or maybe
an understatement— but it's definitely been worth the wait.
Buy A MIDSUMMER EVE’S NIGHTMARE here: http://ning.it/M2R34L
Buy THE SHADOW OF REALITY here: http://ning.it/M2Rs7s
Follow Donna Fletcher Crow on Facebook: http://ning.it/M2RCM4
Donna
Fletcher Crow is the author of 39 books, mostly novels dealing with British
history. The award-winning Glastonbury, an Arthurian grail search
epic covering 15 centuries of English history, her best-known work, is now available
in ebook format. Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 11
grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
Her
newest release is A Darkly Hidden Truth,
book 2 in her clerical mystery series The Monastery Murders. She also writes
the Lord Danvers series of Victorian true-crime novels and the romantic
suspense series The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries. To read more about these
books and to see book videos for A Darkly
Hidden Truth and for A Very Private
Grave, Monastery Murders 1, as well
as pictures from Donna’s garden and research trips go to:
www.DonnaFletcherCrow.com.
