You should know how long it takes you to write an article, how many writing sessions of 1-3 hours, and you should also know how many times a week you can schedule a writing session. For me, when I'm teaching, this is usually 3 or 4 times a week. The ideal is usually somewhere between 2 and 5. One is not quite enough for continuity, 6 or 7 don't allow you much room for the ideas to "settle down."
So let's work with this numbers a bit.
1 week at 3, 400 word sessions = 1,200 words. (five weeks for 6,000 words.)
1 week at 4, 500 word session = 2,000 words. (three weeks for the same.)
So working with those two parameters you can write an article in about four weeks or a month.
Now this is extremely hard work, writing 2-3 hours 3 to 4 times a week and actually producing decent quality scholarship. Very few people write this much, this consistently. You'll always need extra time if things don't quite go right (they never do). It helps to know, however, how many writing sections you can typically fit into one week.
3 comments:
I have thought about it a lot, and I do know that I could definitely produce an original article about once very two months. I have the scholarly base, the ideas, the knowledge that I have accumulated over time to enable me to do that. I have also read the posts where you announced that this is what you were going to do (write an article a month). That didn't happen for you but as a result you did manage to publish a book + several articles.
I'd so love to be the person who says, "I have several ideas that I have developed over the years that could easily coalesce into an article per 2 months", but when I start thinking that way, I feel too confident and maybe too self-sufficient.
If I were completely honest, I'd confess that I self-sabotage on purpose as to not get people to think that I bite more than I could chew.
Letting the ideas settle down is absolutely crucial. I can do more with 2 sessions and then a day's break than in 3 days in a row.
Absolutely. I think I'll write a post on letting the ideas settle.
... and another on self-sabotage.
Post a Comment